In the essay «Music and Gastronomy» Vito D'Agostino explores the link between Community identity, food practices and forms of popular expression. The community of Campagna recognises itself in a series of shared signs - festivals, religious rites, typical dishes, songs - that help define a common imaginary. In this perspective the music and the food are not mere aspects of daily life, but instruments through which the community narrates itself, It reworks its past and makes its “identity” recognisable.
Starting from this framework, the author dwells in particular on popular Campagnese cantatas, religious texts and theatrical performances that animated the streets and squares of the village until the 20th century. The result is a living snapshot of a world in which the sung word accompanies work, play, festivals and the preparation of food, interweaving the symbolic dimension and concrete life.
Sources: Vito D'Agostino, «Music and gastronomy», in Identità campagnese. Culture, religion, society. Fonti e documenti, Campagna 500°, vol. 5, edited by E. Catone, B. D'Agostino, L. Luongo, scientific direction by G. D'Agostino, Campagna, Edizioni Giordano Bruno.
The folk singing campagneso was born in a largely non-literate social context and spread by oral tradition. The texts are not attributed to a single author: they are continuously reworked by the singers, which add, modify or replace verses and images according to the situation. Precisely because of this collective and “moving” nature, cantatas do not fall under the logic of copyright, but belong to the community that creates and passes them on.
The popular music of Campagna is located in a broader Mediterranean and southern cultural space, but presents recurring characteristics. D'Agostino recalls the prevalence of solo singing with a possible choral response, the alternation between soft and “close-voiced” emission and an often free structure, linked to the breath of the text rather than to rigid rhythmic patterns. From metric point of view, many songs are composed of stanzas of eight verses, mostly endecasyllables, articulated in couplets. The accompaniment of the four-bass organ and other popular instruments emphasises the rhythm and supports the dance or audience participation.
The author also distinguishes between songs with a narrative character - which tell love stories, everyday events, episodes related to work or peasant life - and songs with a lyrical character, in which love intonation, mockery, satire and ironic comment on reality prevail. In many cases the texts are improvised on the spot: names of people, allusions, references to recent events transform each performance into a unique event, closely linked to the social context in which it takes place.
Alongside narrative and lyrical songs, an important place belongs to the religious songs, particularly linked to the cult of the Virgin Mary and the devotional practices of Holy Week. These texts accompany processions, novenas, pilgrimages and moments of intense collective participation, such as those linked to the Sanctuary of Avigliano. The intonation may vary from a penitential lament to a confident prayer, but in any case it showcases the voice of the people addressing their patroness.
A separate chapter is dedicated to the popular theatre performances, such as carnival farces and the «Zeza», in which rhymed dialogues, scenes of family conflict and grotesque figures are interspersed with choral songs. These forms of theatre, widespread in many areas of the Kingdom of Naples, in Campagna take on specific traits and become occasions for social criticism, but also for collective celebration. The boundary between music, theatre and gastronomy is thin: the performances accompany banquets, community lunches, moments of conviviality in which the preparation and consumption of food is intertwined with the singing performance.
In his conclusion, D'Agostino emphasises how the combination of music and gastronomy helps to strengthen the Campagnesi's sense of belonging. Songs and recipes function as living archives of memoryThey recall places, people, seasons of life, and allow the community to recognise themselves in shared symbols, today reinterpreted but still capable of arousing emotions and participation.
