The association Archivi del Sud

Archivi del Sud is a cultural association which was born in 1990. Its headquarters are in Alghero. It started its activity of research in 1992 with financial aid from the Regional Council for Public Education, and now from the the Ministry for Cultural heritage and Activity and from the Ministry for Universities and Scientific Research.

The project has two main areas of research:

Literature in the oral tradition of Sardinia:
Research on the sound archives conserved in firms or by single individuals, safeguarding of sound documents by way of conservation on digital support;computer cataloguing of the material treated on a suitable database; diffusion of the activity amongst the public, in particular schools, libraries, research centres, by way of publication on compact disc of a selection of tracks.

Musical workshop:
Research on musical instruments, techniques of execution and repertory of Sardinian traditional music; annual workshops with musicians from different types of musical training (traditional, jazz, classical) and of different localities (Sardinia, other Italian regions, Catalonia, Argentina); elaboration of new compositions taking inspiration from the heritage of traditional music. Furthermore professional recordings have been made of traditional musicians and singers which have then been recorded on Compact Disc..

For both the sectors of research of Archivi del Sud activity of gathering material from the field with digital registration of documents is conducted continually; seminars and conferences are organised; the association has also contacted similar centres of research in Italy and abroad. Its directors are Enedina Sanna, Enzo Favata and Marina Favata who deal with the literary, musical and pedagogic sectors respectively.

Activities

1991	Research regarding ethnic music and its blending with other genres; the results were published on compact disc (Jana Project - on the label il Ponte Sonoro) and broadcast on national and international transmissions.
1992	Alghero: organisation of a series of conferences "The six sides of the World": eight meetings to face different themes (Arab culture, ethnic music, electronic music, electronic visual arts). In this context the association organised a debate which reunited all the cultural associations of the city of Alghero with the aim of finding a common policy for activity in the city.
1993	Two principal directions of reserach are undertaken: a) one dedicated to the possible evolutions of music of Sardinian origin; in particular the characteristics of a traditional wind instrument, the benas, are studied in order to insert it into contexts of modern music, with the application of digital techniques. Apropos of this the instrument was used in the musical elaborations of the group "Jana" (presented in Italy, Spain, Germany and Japan) and, by way of the association, the instrument became known to Stephan Micus, a musician of world reknown, who has since included the benas in his discographic work. b) The other direction regards literature; bibliographical research and interviews with experts on traditional Sardinian fiction; in a parallel fashion relations were established with the faculty of Arts and Philosophy of Cagliari for the publication on Compact Disc of the sound documents regarding the non-sung oral tradition. November Organisation of the first edition of the International Festival of Percussion "Tam Tam" in which various genres of music were represented (jazz, contemporary cultured music, ethnic music, non-cultured music).
1994	For the second series of conferences of "The six sides of the World" a seminar was organised on "History of the music of the Islamic world - the Arabic musical tradition" in the Conservatory of Sassari under the direction of Paolo Scarnecchia; a conference-meeting with Ignazio Delogu, a bilingual writer in Sardinian and Italian; a conference with Marcello Madau (the trade of Archaeologist today); a conference with Martino Corimbi with the Cuncordu choir of Orosei (an example of recuperation of the heritage of traditional music). 23rd and 24th April Organisation of a conference in Alghero on "Comparison between Sardinian, Maghrebine and Catalan literature - themes of bilingualism, of identity, of the relationship between tradition and modernity in contemporary authors". The papers of the conference were edited by Enedina Sanna, publishers Cuec, Cagliari, 1996.  In the music workshop research sessions were carried out continually in the electric-acoustic field, with the involvement of many Sardinian musicians. The association promoted the participation of the Sardinian groups Jana and Calic at the Festival of Catalan Music and Culture in Barcellona during the Expocultura '94. Enzo Favata, responsible for the music sector, oversaw the recording of the repertory of traditional songs by the Choir A Cuncordu of Orosei and of the traditional repertory for organ played by Totore Chessa, later recorded onto Compact Disc. School year '93-'94 Storytelling workshop for children of the elementary school with the aim of rediscovering the oral art of telling stories (with final production of original fables) overseen by Marina Favata and Adriana Casu. December Organisation of the 2nd International Festival of Percussion "Tam Tam", on 3rd and 4th December in the Civic theatre of Alghero; Organisation of the Festival of Arab and Sardinian music and comparison with Dar al-Maghreb al-Mashreq, on 28th-30th December at Quartu Sant'Elena; Organisation of seminary on "The fable as educative and teaching tool" -Alghero.
1995	February Exhibition Canne a vento on the launeddas and installation of contemporary artists (with patronage of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and the Archaeological Board for Sassari and Nuoro) - Alghero 22-26 February and Nuoro 29th February-6th March 1995. August-December Didactic workshop of music and images realised for the Commune of Banari for young people of 16-24 of age - production of a video - overseen by Enzo Favata and Alessandra Sento. December Seminary of educative techniques on "The child and play" aimed at teachers of the elementary school - playschool in Olmedo 12, 13 15 December (overseen by Marina Favata).
1996	June Presentation to the press of the compact disc and booklet on the traditional tales of Logudoro August-December Didactic workshop of music and images realised for the Commune of Banari (2nd course) aimed at young people between 16 and 24 years of age; production of a professional documentary on Banari Arte 96 overseen by Enzo Favata and Alessandra Sento. Enzo Favata, responsible for the musical sector, produced the recording of the repertory of traditional songs by the Orosei Tenors. October Presentation of the CD/book "Contami unu contu" in the Teatro Ferroviario in Sassari (speeches by Enrica Delitala and Paolo Pillonca).
1997	Gennaio January Presentation of the CD/book "Contami unu contu" in the Aula Magna of the University of Arts in Cagliari (speeches by Enrica Delitala, Giovanna Cerina Pirodda, Cristina Lavinio, Pietro Clemente). April Presentation of the CD/book "Contami unu contu" in Roma in the State Record Library, amongst those present, A.M. Cirese. Ottober Presentation of the CD "Contami unu contu" vol. I Logudoro and vol. II Baronie in the University of Siena in collaboration with the local Sardinian club. December Presentation to the public and press of the CD "Contami unu Contu" Vol. II Baronie in the "S.Satta" Library, Nuoro.
1998	Production of CD "Contami unu Contu" vol. III Campidano. Presentation of the project "Contami unu Contu" at a seminary promoted by the Ministry for Public Education "School, Europe, Mediterranean" - Sestri Levante, 22nd-24th October; Novembre Seminary of study: Techniques of narration - by Mara Baronti (Teatro della Tosse); From fable to story to the theatre - by Franco Enna (Didactic director and writer); Techniques of cataloguing sound documents - by Véronique Pérennou (Dastum - France).
1999	March-April Series of conferences entitled "Voyage in the sounds of Sardinia: stories, songs, music of the oral tradition" in nine centres in the province of Sassari (overseen by Enedina Sanna and Enzo Favata).

Co-operation

Throughout the years the association has formed relations of exchange and co-operation with other centres of research, in particular:

•  Department of History of Popular Traditions of the University of Cagliari; 
• State Record Archives - Rome; 
• Department of Popular Music of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona; 
• Laboratory "Telemme" of the University of Aix en Provence; 
• Superior Regional Ethnographic Institute of Nuoro; 
• Music Conservatoryof Sassari; 
• Institute of Arabic Language and Literature of the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy of the University of Sassari 
• Archaeological board for Sassari and Nuoro; 
• Association "Dastum" of Rennes - Brittany; 
• Sardinian Language Group - a group of linguists from the University of Amsterdam 
  

Bodies which have financed the research programme

From 1993 The Council for Public Education of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia;
From 1998 Ministry forCultural Heritage and Activities
For 1999 Ministry for the University and Scientific Research.

For individual initiatives:
local bodies (Communes, Provincial Administration for Sassari).

Current Activity

ONE THOUSAND AND ONE VOICES
Seminary on the art of oral
storytelling
Alghero Ottober-November 1999

The association Archivi del Sud, with the help of the Regional council for Public Education and the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activity is organising a seminary articulated in six meetings which will have the following theme "The art of oral storytelling".
The initiative is based on research programmes that the association has conducted annually since 1992 and which regards the problem of the gathering and safeguarding of sound documents with particular reference to the oral traditions of Sardinia.
This year's seminary will be a follow-on from the reflection on oral narration already referred to last year. The meetings will all be held in the conference room of the Popular library of San Michele starting at 5 o'clock, with the following programme:

Thursday 14th October Elisa Nivola (University of Cagliari)
First day: where the drama of the communities that have lost their narrators, and have left their vast and rich heritage of tales be forgotten, is told.

Friday 15th October Mara Baronti (Teatro della Tosse Genoa)
Second day: the narrator, that the year before enchanted us with her art, returns to offer us new stories, learnt as far away as in the distant and fantastic India.

Friday 15th October Fable workshop
Third day: where Cogna, Nora, Teresa, Naima, Dina, in their mother tongues, tell stories and legends as if in the evening which has now become dark, in the firelight, they would like to make a child fall asleep or ...be terrified! In this way we will hear, for our pleasure, the sounds of different languages: Wolof, Arabic, Sardinian, Alghero Catalan.

Wednesday 27th October Enrica Delitala and Chiarella Addari Rapallo (University of Cagliari)
Fourth day: where it will be explained how it is still possible today to discover the stories of ancient times, by way of the fragments that the memory conserves. How it is possible to reconstruct the links, which are both fragile and tenacious, with our stories, our history.

Friday 29th October Nonò Salamone (Sicilian singer-storyteller)
Fifth day: it is well to remember that although Sicily and Sardinia can call themselves sister islands in suffering and the passion of its men and for the hard beauty of its landscape, the passing of the centuries have underlined the distance between them, which is larger than the tract of sea between Trapani and Cagliari. In our island, for example, the figure of the singer-storyteller does not exist. Nonò Salamone is one of of the practitioners of this art which is not well known here: he will give us an explanation as well as a demonstration.

Thursday 10th November Nacer Khémir (Franco-Arabic narrator)
Sixth day: where the life is told of a man who is a producer, painter, sculptor, writer, and above all, a narrator who from Tunisia to France never stops walking, crossing lands and meeting people. Where he travels he leaves as a gift his stories.

The seminary is free but can welcome a limited amount of participants, therefore inscription is necessary. A certificate of attendance will be released at the end.
For further information:
Archivi del Sud, via degli Orti 41, Alghero, tel. 079 986585
e-mail: archividelsud@tiscalinet.it