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A Filetta
Corsican polyphonic singing is a political act,
discovers Elisavet Sotiriadou.
T
he voice of Jean-Claude Acquaviva also have threatened “our Corsican collec- island and people fought with each
and his band A Filetta transport you tive memory. That’s why we wanted to cre- other. We have been invaded and
into a sacred realm. Despite the ate this group. With the little we had we colonised, and consequently our music
pouring rain outside the tent and wanted to participate in this movement of today borrows from African, Oriental,
the lack of a grand dome above our what was happening in Corsica at that Gregorian and liturgical music, so
heads, their a cappella singing that I first time, trying to save our cultural identity Corsican music is very mixed.” Acquaviva
hear live at a Womad workshop reminds and reinforce our language.” says, very proudly, “That’s why our music
me of something I would hear in a church.
While much Corsican song had a polit-
has the face of the Mediterranean music,
A Filetta are a seven-piece band from ical message and a nationalist context, so
but not only from this area.”
Corsica singing in the polyphonic [many did A Filetta at the start. “When we start- Jean-Claude has a very strong presence
voices] choral tradition that typifies their ed the band at the end of the ’70s we had and is a particularly charismatic singer as
island’s music. Their choice of name means rather a militant and politically engaged well, so I wonder if he is willing to demon-
‘fern’ – a plant which is found on Corsica – repertoire, like most Corsican bands at strate some typical Corsican singing, despite
but also alludes to the fact that it’s just as that time,” Acquaviva explains. “As time the fact the rest of the band are not with
difficult to pull up the fern as it is to went on we opened ourselves to the out- him when we meet. He chooses a song
uproot Corsican culture and its music. side world and to not being Corsica cen- about the Passion of Christ and the room is
Jean-Claude Acquaviva, the leader of
tred. We found out that the best way to filled with beautiful a cappella music. “That
A Filetta, meets me later on that very wet
protect our language and culture was to is a song you sing at the Mount of Olives, it
and cold summer’s evening at Womad.
be more natural about our approach to is actually a song about the doubts Jesus
He’s covering his head in a white towel to
music. You don’t have to be political to Christ had the night before he died. There
protect him from the heavy rain and possi-
save your language and culture.” Jean- are a lot of songs in Corsican about the Pas-
bly to help him keep warm too. He tells me
Claude says that it is much better to sing sion, so we continued to create songs in this
in French that Michel Frassati, who is not a
the music instead of being defensive tradition, this spirit.”
member of the band any more, formed A
about it. “Our music needs to exist rather
Traditional polyphonic music is con-
Filetta in 1978.
than be defended.” And the best way to
structed around three voice parts, Acqua-
A Filetta started as a reaction against
do this was to sing in their own language
viva explains. The lead is given by the
the French government’s discouragement
without necessarily having political lyrics.
secunda, the ornamentation is provided by
of its citizens from using other languages Nowadays A Filetta is not a nationalist the terza and then there is the bassu. “It
than French. While the native language of band but rather it represents all Corsican was what we inherited, the tradition,
the Corsican people is Corsu, which is not a communities. The lyrics are still the main what we know.” But by changing the
dialect of French, it has no official status ingredient, Acquaviva tells me: “The music intervals – the distance between two
despite a large population of speakers on serves the lyrics and the text is very impor- notes – the band has added their personal
the island. tant and it is at the centre of the song.” touch and developed their songs further.
“At the end of the ‘60s the traditional
“There is always the same interval
oral polyphonic singing was close to dying there are Arabic, Slavic and
between the voices. This is what you find
out and so A Filetta wanted to be part of Greek influences to their songs,
in traditional Corsican music, so what
the people who were helping to save this
M
usically, on the other hand,
which is not so strange as the
we’ve done for a few years now is use
traditional way of singing, to give Corsi- island has been occupied by Greeks, it’s
other intervals that we heard in Albanian,
cans the opportunity to sing like this been part of the Roman Empire and
Greek, Georgian and Bulgarian music.”
again. This corresponded to a political raided by many others, all of them
And so even though A Filetta sing tradi-
period in Corsica where the Corsicans leaving behind their own cultural imprint.
tional music, they have moved on from a
wanted to have the right to officially use “Corsican music was born out of historic
completely typical Corsican style, and con-
their own language because the official events, and the island has been invaded
tinue to let their music be influenced by
language is French.” Acquaviva says that many times… and the fact is that lots of
other cultures as well.
had the Corsican language died it would different people went through the www.myspace.com/afiletta F
Photo: Judith Burrows
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