The Nicknames
Witches... were one of the personalities that made San Fili famous with the neighboring towns. San Fili was known as the town of the ...Witches.
The first Friday of every month and, often, the third Friday, San Fili was the destination for many customers that needed the help of the ...witches.
These very smart women were able to obtain the trust of the customer and required payment in goods for their services and never received or requested monies.
[(They would take away the Malocchio, cure the Male dell'Arco and add or remove Fatture etc.) Added by the Translator.]
The Bagpipes
It almost never happens again,the opportunity to re-live the magical atmosphere and emotion that the bagpipe players created in the streets and houses of our town.
It was just few decades ago that the bagpipe was the prince of the instruments of the music and local folklore.
We have traced Franchino Bartella,"U Verre", the last bagpipe player of San Fili, and Mario Storino, son of " Tuture 'e Cancarena, who have shared their memories with us in front of a nice glass of red wine.
San Fili was a poor town, without any major resource. There were numerous flocks of sheep and shepherds that daily would take the sheep to the pastures before dawn. Our two friends estimated that almost 70% of the shepherds knew how to ply the bagpipes. To kill time, the shepherds would sing the traditional songs that their fathers sung and the bagpipe was the favorite instrument of accompaniment.
Life was not easy; during the cold winter nights groups of shepherds would visit some of the well to do families with the hope to taste a little salame, some fruit and a glass of wine. This activity obviously escalated during the Christmas season but to a certain extent it was present throughout the year. During the Fair of Santa Maria, in August, and any other public holiday or personal celebration was a good time to see and listen to the shepherds ply their bagpipes. Additional rhymes were added from time to time, some funny some sad...
"You walk back and forth, a hundred time you do it
I hear the breath of your sleep..."
Often the more educated people of the town would write love poems or very funny satires: rhymes that were passed by word of mouth until they became part of the repertoire of every shepherd.
To play the bagpipe it is necessary to have a strong body and great lungs in addition to a musical tendency. The 'vuossula', that is the piece of wood that connects the bag to the pipe was, often, made of cherry wood. The pipes (the right one to use as soloist, the left one used for accompaniment, the whistle and the 'furmu' blinds, that is without holes) were made of apricot , mulberry or almond wood. These were the so called 'Curcia' Bagpipe and were very common in our town even though they were harder to ply. We have seen a very good specimen of this type of bagpipe with the pipes made of cherry wood finely inlaid with a floral design.
It was very emotional to find the old bagpipe belonging to Franchino Bartella, to see the big bag made with a goat skin inflate under the strong breath of the player; to finally hear the penetrating sound expand in the fog of a 'vineddra' and the strong voice of Mario Storino sing old traditional songs. At the same time we were very sorry to find out that no one of the young generation of San Fili, knows how to play the Zampogna. Now if only someone with strong lungs would come forward...
This article was originally published in 'L'Occhio' n.1,95 by Giovanni Gambaro.