Psalm Festival Graz

An experience of faith from the deepest throat

The Cuncordu e Tenore de Orosai in the List Hall(Bild: Claudia Tschida)

Sardinian songs provided a very special experience at the Psalm Festival in the Helmut-List-Halle in Graz. The Cuncordu e Tenore de Orosai introduced the audience to traditional vocal pieces for the Easter season.

They are a close-knit community. The Cuncordu e Tenore de Orosai stand on stage in a circle with their backs to the audience. Lead singer Piero Pala urgently intones a sweeping cantus. His three colleagues take turns to join in - full-bodied, warm, throaty, rasping and magnificent.

This is how the "Sardinian Spring" begins at the Psalm Festival with traditional vocal pieces for Easter time from Orosei in Sardinia. The partly sacred, partly folk songs performed by the ensemble, which has been performing for 40 years, are an experience that, despite a certain uniformity, is a pleasure to listen to. On the one hand, because with their harmonic beats and the urgent roughness of their special throat singing, they go through the marrow and bone. On the other hand, because they make a religious practice comprehensible that feeds directly on local folk culture.

Dances and chorales
Jumping dances ("Dillu") lead directly into a Stabat Mater or Magnificat - a refreshingly realistic view of faith.