SPARTIMU

Five voice male a cappella group from Corsica.

Spartimu is devoted to traditional polyphony, and for many years has explored the oral traditions of Corsica.

They grew up listening to, and are great fans of, A Filetta, which performed at the recent Perth International Arts Festival, and were featured on ABC-RN the Music Show.

Traditional Corsican polyphonic singing was nearly extinct until its revival in the 1970s. It is now a central part of Corsican national identity. Cantu in paghjella is on UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. “The paghjella is a male Corsican singing tradition. It combines three vocal registers that always enter the song in the same order: a segonda, which begins, give the pitch and carries the main melody; u bassu, which follows, accompanies and supports it, and finally a terza, the highest placed, which enriches the song. Paghjella makes substantial use of echo and is sung a capella in a variety of languages including Corsican, Sardinian, Latin and Greek. As both a secular and liturgical oral tradition, it is performed on festive, social and religious occasions: in the bar or village square, as part of liturgical masses and processions and during agricultural fairs.”

With a repertoire based on musicological research and the practice of "Cantu in paghjella”, Spartimu has travelled musically from Europe and the Mediterranean to the peaks of the Caucasus. The links thus made between the music of separate regions and apparently very distant practices have become a trademark for Spartimu, attracting a more and more curious public to hear where their research has taken them and how they have interpreted what they have found.

Spartimu is regularly invited by international festivals, and has performed in Sardinia (MusicaSulleBocche Festival), Vilnius (Lithuania) at the Skamba Kankliai festival, and at the State Conservatory of Tbilisi (Georgia). They have just returned from performances at the Rockefeller Chapel, Chicago University. This is their first visit to Australia.

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