Enzo Avitabile E Bottari – Music in Barrels

Born in Naples, Enzo Avitabile fell in love with soul and jazz, and learned to play sax when he was young. He became one of the most important Italian musicians, performing with stars like Tina Turner and James Brown.

But in 2000, Avitabile had a crush with his own roots, and created a new and unique project, which brought back an old tradition from the South of Italy: The Bottari, a style of percussion performed at the San Antonio Abate's feast day in Campania, a southern region of Italy. This custom, which involves the beating of wine barrels to scare away evil spirits, gave rise to Enzo Avitabile & Bottari band, an experiment that has been nominated twice to the BBC World Music Awards (in 2004 and 2006).

A' Peste to

The sound of the beaten wine barrels, which is played by The Bottari of Portico -a band that preserves the musical heritage of the Portico village- is mixed with the saxophone and the voice of Avitabile, who recites during the songs. The lyrics, sung in a Neapolitan dialect, refer to the social injustice and the poverty of their region and around the world.

Cruxifixus