Vincanto is a band founded in 2003 by three young Tuscan musicians with the aim to study and rediscover traditional orally transmitted Italian songs. At first their work focused on Tuscany, particularly through the research undertaken by Caterina Bueno and Dodi Moscati, but they soon started looking at other Italian regions and to source songs from direct witnesses whenever possible.
Vincanto have played hundreds of concerts in Italy and abroad, and have been hosted by some of the most symbolic venues for the Italian folk music tradition, such as Istituto Ernesto De Martino in Sesto Fiorentino, Circolo Gianni Bosio in Rome and Folk Club in Turin.
Over the years, the trio has explored a variety of themes, particularly Italian emigration, the Italian Resistence and the life of women in the rural world. Their research has led to thematic concerts and theatrical performances, often in collaboration with actors, directors and associations whose main focus is the promotion of traditional music and culture. In 2004 they released a book/CD with the troubadour Serafino Soldani, followed in 2013 by “Musica Popolare”, an album focused on the Tuscan repertoire. In 2014 Istituto Storico della Resistenza di Grosseto published “Pueblo Que Canta No Morirà”, a DVD of Vincanto’s show on the Spanish Resistence, while in August 2017 they released “Il Canto Rovesciato”, their latest album.
Vincanto have a strong focus on education and they regularly hold workshops for children, teenagers and adults of all ages, applying the most innovative musical teaching methods to the traditional repertoire, with the particular aim of promoting the social aspects of choral singing.
Over the years, also thanks to the regular attendance of workshops led by Francesca Breschi and Giovanna Marini, the band has developed an original way of proposing songs from the tradition, merging philological coherence and freedom of expression. Their approach promotes the idea that music from the oral tradition represents a world with its own aesthetic and peculiarities: these need to be enhanced in their specificity, as that is where their value lies. Vincanto do this through a research on timbre, harmony and also on the socio-historical context of the songs they choose, reducing the instrumental component to the minimum and displaying the beauty and complexity of the repertoires of the Italian oral tradition. Rid of useless embellishments, supposedly meant to “elevate” or make the songs more accessible to a wider audience, these repertoires shine as even more relevant in their content and contemporary in the form.
Members:
Ilaria Savini – voice, percussions.
Alessandro Cei – voice, guitar
Simone Faraoni – voice, accordion, soprano and tenor flute, percussions.