Tarantino Night: Concert Success in Melpignano

With their own performances, the explosive Angelina Mango, the high-performance Giulier, the innovative Siti and the sensual Gaia gave depth, colour and joy to the most anticipated Italian event of the summer. The Concertone della Notte della Taranta at the end of August in Melpignano was a success with the public (official data have not yet spoken of nearly 200,000 people) and with the television ratings.

For the first time in its 27-year history, the final event (50 live shows in 19 cities of Salento) was broadcast live (prime time) by Rai Tre and, with almost a million viewers, achieved a share of over 9 percent. Only Rai Uno’s “Sister act 2” (1.5 million viewers, 13.5 share) and on Canale 5, the show hosted by Gerry Scotti (1.5 million viewers, 12.5 share) beat Rai Due’s “Deceptions and Lies” (just over 700,000 viewers, almost 6 percent).

The theme of the 2024 edition was “Generazione Taranta”, and the innovation brought by the four big names, to which Luca Varone’s rough guitar was added, produced the grafting of traditional sounds and their supporting rhythm, pizzicato, with urban music presented by the main concert artist Chaplo.

The pizza is represented on the large stage set up in front of the 17th-century Carmine church by two giant spiders in iron and papier-mâché, yet pizza remains the common denominator of the concerto. It could not be otherwise, since it is a direct emanation of the mythical spider bite. However, as in recent versions, innovation is the present and future of the night. Not only and no longer the focus is on the sound of the tambourine and on the texts – of course valuable – of folk songs born of work in the fields, the struggles of the peasants and the theme of universal love, but also the patchwork and new contaminations of sounds and words. In two words: tradition and innovation.

Totti Belloni
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