Notte della Taranta, a great success in the name of Generation Z: Geolier highly anticipated by fans, Angelina Mango and Gaia thrill

Yesterday evening, Saturday 24th August, the square of Melpignano (LE) exploded in the name of “Generazione Taranta”, the leitmotif of the seventeenth edition of “The Night of the Taranta”. A sold out event in the name of change with the arrival of the Maestro Concertatore Shablo.The producer, with the support of the very young Riccardo Zangirolami as director of the popular orchestra, has resumed (and succeeded, in part) the path started by the record edition organized by Dardust. A square, that of Melpignano, which immediately transforms into a large extended family. Between pizzica steps, fingertips on tambourines and handkerchiefs in the sky, the audience of “Notte della Taranta” celebrates the end of summer.

According to data provided by the Police Headquarters and the Fire Department, 100 thousand people were present in a continuous flow in the concert area and 150 thousand in total from 5:00 pm to 5:00 am in the entire Griko village where the giant screens had been set up. A figure confirmed by the BusForFun company that managed the parking areas: + 89% bookings for buses, + 34% bookings for cars. A constant dialogue also recalled by the images proposed by Galattico with the violinist from Nardò Luigi Stifani, the tributes to Giovanna Marini and Tora Marzo (the memory of Ernesto Assante was absent in the square, as anticipated in the conference), from the dances of Kameatka, from the cosmic liturgy between sea waves and red sunsets, dazzling scenography of a sound path began with the powerful Pizzica di Aradeo which in the verses announces the journey: “lu tamburrieddhu miu vinne te Roma me l’ave nduttu na napulitana” (my tambourine came from Rome and was brought to me by a Neapolitan woman).

They are the voices of Antonio Amato, Giancarlo Paglialunga, Salvatore Galeanda, Enza Pagliara, Stefania Morciano, Alessandra Caiulo and Consuelo Alfieri to weave a great web of emotions with the interpretations of Tarantella di San Nicandro, Pizzica di San Marzano, Taranta di Lizzano, Pizzica di San Vito, Pizzica di Villa Castelli, Pizzicarella, L’acqua te la funtana, Pizzica di Taranto, Pizzica di Stifani, Mamma la rondinella, Pizzica degli Ucci. An evening that in addition to entertaining the 100 thousand people present in the square was able to reach a much wider audience thanks to the live simulcast on Rai3 and Rai Radio 2 with Ema Stokholma as host. The concert broadcast in prime time on Rai 3 scored a 9.01% share in the first part and 10.09% in the second for a total of 982 thousand viewers.

A stylistic choice, it must be admitted, that did not entirely benefit what happened in the square. Compared to previous years, the presenter did not become the linchpin of the show but, through connections from backstage, introduced the performances (32, to be precise). And here the public had some difficulty in understanding the evolution of the show, since Stokholma’s interventions could be heard exclusively through Rai channels and not in the square.

Great anticipation obviously for the big names in the line up, first of all Angelina Mango, Gaia and Geolier. The latter, despite not having rehearsed on the stage of Melpignano and not having any choreography masterfully curated by Laccio during the show, captured the attention of thousands of young people who came for him despite his early absence during the final choral performance. The Geolier Effect Continues and, once his name was pronounced, a wave of placards and shouts reached him, especially from the artist’s fellow countrymen fans. It seems in fact that many buses arrived from the Neapolitan city to support Geolier.

Angelina Mango has bewitched the audience of Melpignano with her unstoppable energy and incredible vocal range which characterizes her on the notes of “Su picculina” in the Salento dialect and the Sanremo success “La noia”. Mango feels at home on stage and, between the enthusiasm of the dancers and the orchestra, she infects everyone present. Gaia changes her look compared to the previous day’s tests and shows herself with a long dress more covered than the white top of the general singing the hit “Chega” and the traditional song “Mena Mena Mò”. She too perfectly at ease on the stage of Melpignano, aware that that is the dimension that reflects her and puts her in a new light.

The revelation artist was also present on stage Ste, a voice to keep an eye on (which could easily appear in the list of guessing games of the young people of the Sanremo Festival) on the notes of “Tammurriata nera” and the single “Lose Control”. The music makes space following the indications of Shablo between percussions, sounds in the console under a careful and confident direction. The orchestra becomes more and more the protagonist, leading the choristers to take the audience by the hand and accompany them in the magical world of pizzica and taranta. Together with them on stage also the guitarist Luca Faraone who, between solos and complicity with the musicians, has reinforced the message of the slogan of this edition aimed at the youngest.

And as in any backstage, even in Melpignano there was a coming and going of famous faces and authorities: the president of the Puglia Region Michele Emiliano together with the president of the Fondazione La Notte della Taranta Massimo Bray, the honorable Antonio De Caro president of the environment commission of the European Parliament, the mayor of Rome Roberto Gualtieri and for the first time the mayor of Lecce Adriana Poli Bortone, the coach of the men’s national volleyball team Fefè De Giorgi, the physics professor and social phenomenon Vincenzo Schettini, the correspondent of Le Iene Niccolò Torielli. Because if it is true that events like this guard the roots of our country and tell a cross-section of our society, one thing is certain: the “Taranta generation” approves indeed.