Tenores de Oniferi

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I first heard the tenores from Oniferi on the small Italian Taranta label (see our Ballos Sardos Vol.1 review), and so it's good to find them being given some international exposure by this larger American one. It's also good that the general record buying public now has the chance to hear something other than their opposition from Bitti. Because what you get here is quite different - the Oniferi singers are younger, faster and harder ... both more suited to a 'World Music' audience and closer to (my experience of) the tradition. It's a good trick if you can do it. Oniferi is a town in the central Barbagia region of the Island, and smack bang in the middle of the area where the cantu á tenores is still performed. The boche (lead voice) is Francesco Pirisi, who is 40 and his twin brother Giovanni sings contra. They were born in the neighbouring city of Nuoro but had moved to Oniferi by the time younger brother Carmelo (mesu boche) was born in 1962 - you can't beat a family band! The bassu is Raimondo Pidia, born in 1961 - so this is a very young group ... and they sound like it. Don't think that this means they are a sort of Sardinian Young Tradition, merely that they have none of the pitch inaccuracies or loss of tone we English may have come to associate with traditional singers. Certainly, I find this CD much more enjoyable and exciting than the Tenores di Bitti albums available from the major labels. This is not to denigrate their work in any way - the 'Ammento

top songs

albums

Polyphonic Singing From Sardinia

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Antologia della Musica Sarda

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Global Voices - Traditional

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Antologia della Musica Sarda Antica e Moderna CD1

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Polyphonic Singing from Ssardinia

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A s'andira

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Sardegna - Antologia della Musica Sarda [Disc 1]

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Sardegna - Antologia Della Musica Sarda - Music Of Sardinia (Disc 1)

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Global Voices: A Vox Set (Promotional)

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A S' Omine

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Sardegna - Antologia della Musica Sarda

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A s'omine

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