Music for Dancing

Since the 90s Apulian/Roma musician and producer Claudio ‘Cavallo’ Giagnotti has worked to innovate the hugely popular pizzica salentina, exploring its dark, electronic possibilities in order to transform it into a contemporary dance/trance form, true to its origins in possession music. Elettro Mascarimiri is his current project, and here southern Italian traditions meet Balkan rhythms, Latin genres (cumbia, forró, calypso) as well as Middle Eastern musics, creating what Cavallo refers to as Gitanistan, the global world of Roma music.

From the Apulian tamburello (frame drum) to Moroccan qaraqab (metal castanets as used by the Gnawa) and from oud to a variety of voices and electronica, the album builds a tense, exhilarating sequence of atmospheric rhythms, including samples of environmental sounds from cities and markets. Salento, Cavallo’s home region of Italy, is famous for the sun, but his is music of the night. As it proudly proclaims this is music for dancing, listening to it seated on the sofa may not be the best use of it, so slip it to the DJ of your favourite club or bring it to the party.