The “La Notte della Taranta” Popular Orchestra, specialised in the popular music of the Salento area, will perform at the Olympic Games of Pyeongchang (South Korea) with a band of seven artists next 23 February. The performance will take place at the PyeongChang Olympic Festival Park, set up by the organizers of the Olympic games, along with musical groups and dancers from all over the world.
The seven musicians chosen by the La Notte della Taranta Foundation are: Giuseppe Grassi (mandola), Attilio Turrisi (guitar), Carlo De Pascali (tambourine), Giuseppe Astore (violin), singer Alessia Tondo and 2 dancers (Lucia Scarabino, Stefano Campagna), will offer Olympic Game-goers the opportunity to experience the spirit and hypnotic rhythm of the ‘Pizzica’, with two performances on the large stage of “Art on Stage” and one performance on the Global Market Place Performance Stage, where it will also be possible to taste and purchase the products of all the Countries participating in the Olympic Games.
The extraordinary participation of the La Taranta Popular Orchestra was made possible thanks to the cooperation between the Italian Cultural Institute in Seoul and the Korean authorities. On Saturday, 24 February, the band will perform at Seoul’s Library Starfield.
“La Notte della Taranta” is one of Italy’s major music festivals and one of the most important events in Europe dedicated to traditional culture. It is held in Salento and is dedicated to promoting and rediscovering the popular music of the Salento region and its fusion with other types of music that span from ethnic music to rock, from jazz to classical music. Every year, the Festival ends with the“Concertone Finale di Melpignano” (Big Closing Concert in Melpignano, Lecce), that takes place at the end of August and attracts almost 150,000 spectators.
