Italian bagpipes: Zampogna 6 palmi made and played by Gianluca Zammarelli king of ciaramelle

I'm trying to make a wrongly-kept secret known by uploading this to reach out to wider audiences because nobody would otherwise know how insanely cool Italian bagpipes are. So for the record, I did NOT record this. Don't judge the visuals, I didn't record it.
Here's a video I found in the hadal zones as it were on Facebook. Those of you who don't know, my favorite instrument in the WORLD is the Italian bagpipe, called a "Zampogna". This is a clip of a set made by one piper named Gianluca Zammarelli, who hails from the western portion of the Lucania territory of Italy (in Cilento, Salermo, Campania). He makes OK zampogne (plural), but is better known as the best maker of the zampogna's "wife" so to speak, the "Ciaramella". Instead of a Ciaramella, he is playing a zampogna (bagpipe) he made, and the size is 6 palmi, in the key of G. I'll explain what Palmi is in a moment).
The tonal quality of this particular set could use a bit of improvement. First of all, out of the two chanters and the two drones, the bass chanter is loudest on its lowest note, which doesn't really make the best balance of volume up and down the bass's scale. This is particularly characteristic of instruments made by, or patterned / based from, instruments by the Forastiero Brothers, Carmine Trimarco (1864-1960), and many other makes of the Lucana style zampogna of this size. Ideally, all bass notes should be equally forte (loud and clear), as heard on instruments by only Mazzillo or his stepsons, or the Cannazzaro family. Mind you, zampogne of smaller sizes even by this maker (Zammarelli) do have more even bass chanters. Also, with double reeds which power this zampogna, the later they start sounding given an increasing amount of pressure, the louder they will be. In my opinion, a zampogna would sound best if the sopranina drone (the highest of all the pipes) is the weakest reed - usually it's the strongest, unfortunately - followed by the two chanters coming in together, and the tenor drone being loudest (because it's categoricly weaker than the other 3 pipes, especially if it's the quietest reed).
Behind the size, "Palmi" is a very old Italian measurement, which varies between 25 centimeters each (short palmi), and 26.5 centimeters each (long palmi). The difference between two tones generated by those two frequencies is an entire half step or semitone, and this measurement was not written in stone so it varied anywhere from 25 to 26.5 centimeters. So the variation in pitch within the palmi measurement gives you as much as an entire half step. Mostly this often refers to the size of double-reed zampogne a chiave like this (having the two chanters in octaves), although single reed zampogne do have some other way of measuring them. In Lucania, the size of a ciaramella (its "wife" more or less so to speak), is named after the accompanying zampogna. For example, while a 3-palmi zampogna is called a 3-palmi because it is actually 3 palmi long, in Lucania, the equivalent ciaramella, which is realistically 25 centimeters long, is also called a 3 palmi. In central Italy, everything is named after the ciaramella's length, so in this case, a 3-palmi zampogna in central Italy is called a 25, because the matching ciaramella is 25 centimeters long. As an analogy, in a familial context, if a man's wife for example is 5 foot 2 tall, in central Italy he would be called a 5 foot 2 husband, in other words a man who satisfies or suits his 5 foot 2 wife rather than his own height - not that this actually happens with people, but just putting this in perspective. Opposingly, in Lucania, if a woman's husband is 6 foot 2 tall, she would be called a 6 foot 2 wife, in other words a wife who satisfies or suits a 6 foot 2 husband.
So in the case of this particular zampogna, because it's in the key of G natural, it's 6 long palmi (rather than 6 short palmi). Notice the distinction. Again, each short palmi is 25 centimeters - whereas each long palmi is 26.5. Quite a difference when you multiply these by 6. This would be 159 centimeters in terms of long palmi. But on a short-palmi instrument, 6 short palmi would equal 159 cm.
#Italian #bagpipes #zampogna #zampogne #Lucania #Lucano #Lucana