Music, dances and culture of the 4 provinces

For the past thirty years, I’ve been playing the müsa, the bagpipes of the Four Provinces (AL, GE, PC, PV) that once accompanied the piffero, the small folk oboe that has “always” enlivened the dances and festivals of these regions.

In 2010, I also published a CD for the Folkclub Ethnosuoni label in Casale Monferrato, dedicated entirely to the ancient piffero-müsa instrumental pairing
Per fare legria ai siuri de Milan (to give happiness to the segneurs of Milan).

When I moved to the upper Curone valley in 2020, in the very heart of the four provinces, “chance” had it that I found a house in the same village that gave birth to the last historic müsa player, Carlo Musso “Carlaja” (1873-1956).

As I had started playing with Borbera Valley piffero Fabio Paveto a few years earlier, I decided to start building the müsa. This decision gave birth to Melodie del legno and, at the same time, to the Matapuexi project, which aims, in addition to playing for local festivals and Italian and European trad festivals, to revalorize the old piffero-musa duo.

The project

Nicknamed of a player who lived in the early 19th century, Matapuexi means “pea press” in the ancient dialect of Val d’Aveto (GE).

The repertoire is made up of a large corpus of dances representing the musical richness of this region. The most modern, which entered the traditional repertoire in the 20th century with the arrival of the accordion, such as waltzes, polkas and mazurkas, and the oldest, handed down by the “pifferai” for at least two centuries: alessandrine, monferrine, gighe, perigurdini, sestrine and piane.

Matapuexi
Claudio Cacco: piffero
Andrea Capezzuoli: diatonic accordion, müsa (bagpipes), vocals

guest
Fabrizio Ferrari: piffero

Matapuexi, in addition to concerts and trad festivals, organizes courses and workshops on the dances of the four provinces with qualified teachers. The band has taken part in various trad festivals: dont Zingaria (FG), Danzamare (MC), Appennino Folk Festival (PC), Appennino Futuro Remoto (AL).

Info & contact