Today, the frame drum, known in the Salento dialect as tamburreddu, represents a significant element of both the tangible and intangible cultural heritage associated with traditional musical practices in Salento and, more broadly, in Southern Italy. The instrument is a central feature of pizzica pizzica rounds, certain patron saint festivals, community gatherings, and folk music concerts. It contributes to creating moments of social interaction, participation, and the transmission of cultural memory, both within and beyond the borders of the Salento region.

The event aims to explore and share what lies behind this instrument: not simply a musical object, but a complex body of knowledge, techniques, gestures, relationships, and practices that have been passed down from one generation to another over time. How is a frame drum made? What materials are used, and what traditional craftsmanship techniques are required to produce it? Who are the master craftspeople who preserve and renew this knowledge today? What relationship develops between the instrument, its maker, and its player? And how has the way people approach the instrument and learn its playing techniques changed over the past fifty years?

Particular attention will also be given to the ritual and social dimension of the tamburreddu. Its sound accompanies collective moments in which music becomes an opportunity for encounter, gathering, and social cohesion. The tamburreddu circle – as, for example, during the Night of San Rocco in Torrepaduli – constitutes a space for social interaction in which learning also takes place through listening, observation, imitation, and shared practice.

The initiative therefore aims to contribute to the safeguarding, promotion, and transmission of the intangible cultural heritage associated with the tambourine, bringing together the instrument’s craft knowledge with its musical and performative dimensions. The dialogue between different forms of knowledge will highlight the continuity and richness of the tradition, the transformations it has undergone, and the new ways in which it is practiced and transmitted today.

The event will consist of two parts. The first will be a conference featuring Ornella Ricchiuto, Anthropologist and President of ORS APS – Liquilab ONG UNESCO; Rocco Luca, master craftsman, tambourine maker, and player from Torrepaduli (Province of Lecce, Southern Italy); and Gianluigi Elia, musician and tambourine player. Through their testimonies, the discussion will explore the construction of the instrument, traditional craft knowledge, ways of learning and approaching the instrument, and their personal experiences of rituals and musical performances.

The second part will be dedicated to a tambourine circle, led by musician Gianluigi Elia and performed together with participants from the Liquilab frame drum school. The practice will be open to the public, encouraging direct participation and transforming the event into a concrete opportunity for the transmission and sharing of knowledge.

The initiative, organized by ORS APS – LIQUILAB ONG UNESCO at its headquarters in Tricase at 6:30 p.m., aims to create a space where memory, craftsmanship, music, and community can meet, so that the cultural heritage associated with the tamburreddu can continue to be known, practiced, reinterpreted, and passed on to future generations.

Programme

17 October 2026

Tricase, Liquilab Headquarters

6:30 p.m.

Text as provided by the organiser(s).