Heritage and festivals: A perspective from ethnomusicology

In XX Century Italy, the widespread use of the term “festival” referred to musical periodical events was a clear example of “festivalization”, that is a transition from small festive contexts to new forms of large events, more and more mass-mediated, with commercial purposes and transgenerational audiences. In this essay, Italian case studies based on oral traditional music and strictly connected to “folk revival” processes, like La Notte della Taranta and Festival Internazionale della zampogna, will be investigated. We will see how the use of revival will lead us to different agents, producing imageries, mindscapes, affective modes, emotional set-ups, and ways to approach, perceive, and handle the thing that is to be revived.