Ariondassa (the meaning of the name is a play on the names of the music groups Rionda and Ariondela) was born in 1998 by the union of four "historical" musicians of Piemontese folk music: Vincenzo "Chacho" Marchelli, Lorenzo "Lampo" Bojoli, Rinaldo Doro and Simone Boglia (no longer with the group). The groups of previous membership (Tre Martelli, La Ciapa Rusa, Ombra Gaja) of these musicians were among the best in interpreting the traditions and the so called "folk revival", both on a publicized level and for quality learned from the field.

Ariondassa presents, with their common and simplistic style, the melodies and songs that marked the times and the seasons of the "Peasant Civilization": love, work, immigration, war, ages of the storytellers and peddling musicians… In a homogenous way, the sounds of the common instruments such as the hurdy gurdy, melodeon, piffero (rustic oboe) and bagpipes are mixed with the extraordinary interpretive abilities of Chacho Marchelli, authentic "natural talent" of the traditions of common Piemontese songs. Other "poor" instruments, taken from everyday life like the "Ravi" (simple dried pumpkins and played like a kazoo), the "Tachenettès" (cow or pig bones played against each other) or the "Fruja" (rattle of wood and metal) are used to demonstrate the culture of the people in the fields, the vineyards and the factories who invented these musical objects with the few things they have available.

In addition to the personal research done on the Piemontese traditions, Ariondassa makes use also of the collaboration of the "Centro Etnologico Canavesano" (C.E.C., with their offices in Bajo Dora, Torino) and of its founder Amerigo Vigliermo: who has been doing music research for forty years and is director of the "Coro Bajolese" and supplies extensive materials from which to work from and to return to the people that which is theirs, with particular attention placed on the works of great collectors from the centuries past such as Costantino Nigra and Leone Sinigaglia.

Ariondassa, in their eight years of activities, has held numerous concerts both in Italy and abroad (Switzerland, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, U.S.A), has participated in radio and TV transmissions on both Italian and foreign channels (RAI 1, RAI 2, RAI 3, RSI, SDF…)

In these last few years, Ariondassa has started to set up sister cities and cultural exchanges with different groups of foreigners: the Catalan El Pont D'Arcalis (maybe the most famous group of Catalunya with whome Ariondassa shares a repertoire and friendship, in a joint concert and a CD taped in Barcelona), the Kanta (a trio from French Britian-Welsh, formed by Katell, Gladez and Brigitte Kloareg) and the Kinkerne (a historical group of Savoy, formed in the early 70's by Jean-Marc Jacquier, the greatest researcher-guardian of the traditional music of the Alps). In the very near future: a project will be created that joins the music "epic lyrics" gathered by Costantino Nigra in Piedmont at the end of 800, comparing the various versions of the same songs known throughout Europe, with the different interpretations of the groups listed above. A long job but necessary and essential for the current and modern vitalità of these songs: "before the dark falls", as Luciano Gibelli said.

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