Cantu a chiterra

The cantu a chiterra (Sardinian for "singing with guitar") is a typical Sardinian form of monophonic singing in Sardinian language and Gallurese, accompanied by a chiterra sarda, or Sardinian guitar.

Competitions#

After centuries of existing in familiar setting, the cantu a chiterra also developed during the twentieth century as a singing competition, with the guitar (sa gara), taking place in front of an audience, usually at religious festivals, in forms that are still in place. The gara is a musical competition where two or three singers, accompanied by a guitarist, compete with their improvisations on pre-established musical themes to show the quality of their performance. The competition requires that each cantadore (singer) performs one verse at a time, alternating with the other competitors (usually being assigned three stanzas each). The musical reference model (variant) is not a form fully and completely defined, but rather a set of pre-established forms of musical structures (meter, melody, harmony) relatively undefined. So that is it allowed to each cantadore to improvise at will on the model of reference.

Performers#

Some of the best known performers are: * Gavino De Lunas (Padria, 1895 – Rome, 1944) * Maria Carta (Siligo, 1934 – Rome, 1994) * Francesco Demuro (Porto Torres, 1978)

Bibliography#

Gavino Gabriel, Canti di Sardegna, Milano, 1923
Bernard Lortat-Jacob, Improvisation et modèle: le chant a guitare sarde , in «L’Homme», XXIV, 1, 1984.
Francesco Gianattasio – Bernard Lortat-Jacob, Modalità di improvvisazione nella musica sarda, Culture musicali n.1, 1982, pp. 3/36
Bernard Lortat-Jacob, Voci di Sardegna, Torino, 1999,
Paolo Angeli. Canto in Re, la gara a chitarra nella Sardegna settentrionale, ISRE, Nuoro, 2006.