Four men, four voices, one sound. The canto a tenore is an art of singing with multiple voices, and its still practiced on the Italian island of Sardinia. The striking sound dates back centuries and is very much alive in mountain villages.
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00:00 To me, singing is everything.
00:11 It's been my passion since I was a boy.
00:13 I feel it in my heart.
00:18 This sound may be somewhat unfamiliar.
00:21 We'll learn more about its origins in a moment.
00:26 You feel it here.
00:28 When everyone's singing in harmony, it moves something here in your gut.
00:35 It comes from the remote mountain villages of the Italian island of Sardinia.
00:40 It's known as the canto a tenore and is said to date back over 3,000 years.
00:46 It's part of daily life in many Sardinian towns, like Orgozalo, for example.
00:52 Musicologist Diego Pani has been studying Sardinian pastoral song for several years.
00:57 It's been declared an intangible world heritage by UNESCO.
01:01 Canto a tenore is a polyphonic singing realized by four parts.
01:05 The peculiar fact of these four parts is that the two lowest voices are made using overtone
01:16 singing.
01:18 The Supramonte group breaks down the song for us into its individual voices.
01:33 Much of the canto a tenore remains a mystery, but there's no doubt that it originated
01:38 among the shepherds and herders, the island's traditional occupations.
01:42 It's passed on by ear, not on paper.
01:48 I've always worked in the country around cows.
01:50 The singing reminds me of cows mooing.
01:53 Calves sound very similar.
01:54 I try to imitate that.
01:56 It's the same sound.
01:58 Yeah, some might say this kind of song was inspired by the sounds of animals, but that
02:04 really hasn't been proven.
02:08 The canto a tenore is sung at certain festivals, on holidays and occasionally at concerts,
02:14 but here it's part of daily life.
02:17 Upgoers in Sardinian villages often spontaneously break out in song.
02:22 About 3,500 singers are active in all of Sardinia.
02:27 Every village has its own style.
02:43 What role does the singing play among the Sardinians themselves?
02:49 When you get together, have some drinks and then hear this, it always gets really quiet.
02:54 Everyone loves it.
02:57 It's our tradition.
02:59 We carry the singing in our hearts.
03:01 It's part of Sardinian identity and Orgosolo's identity.
03:05 The canto belongs to this region and we're very proud of it.
03:10 The lyrics were written in the Sardinian language by Sardinian poets.
03:14 They deal with love, friendship, religion, war and peace.
03:18 How will this singing be passed on to the next generation?
03:25 Ciriaco is still young, 20 years old.
03:28 He was still a child when he came to us and learned to sing.
03:32 We all learn the tradition this way.
03:35 You can't learn it at any school.
03:39 The origins of the canto a tenore will always be something of a mystery, but it's an integral
03:45 part of Sardinian identity that lives on to the present day.
03:49 (static)