Forastiero - Zampogna Maker

[Ciarameddaru]

http://it.truveo.com/lo-Zampognaro-Fora ... 8572063180#

I'm posting this link here because I thought people might be interested in seeing a traditional zampogna craftsman. He is from the region of Basilicata and makes the "a chiave" style zampogna. Signore Forastiero is well known and well regarded in the Zampogna world of Southern Italy and makes great pipes. According to one of my italian friends who is a professional musician and has a 3 and 3.5 palmi by Forastiero, he is "the Stradivarius of zampogna makers." He is one of the last of the true old school pre-industrialization pipe makers in southern italy.

I realize most of you wont be able to understand the Italian, but for the most part you can make out what he is saying just by watching his action. I enjoy him speaking because he has the same accent/dialect more or less of that of my relatives who live on the other side of the boundary in Campania, but it's the same ethnogeographic region.

Edit: One interesting thing he said in the interview is that his first pipe was hand carved as opposed to being made on a lathe. He said he copied the form from his older brother's zampogna.

You can also read about Ted Anderson's trip to get a Forastiero pipe in the nice little write up they have on Hotpipes:
http://www.hotpipes.com/ted.html

[CHasR]

Aw, geez.... ya scared me...I thought he died, or something...

The older brother (Antonio?) had given up pipemaking last time I tried to get in touch with them, 4-5 years ago.

[Ciarameddaru]

Charlie - I was under the impression that the older brother was never a pipe maker, just a player. Could this be another one of your google translator botches? I have a DVD documentary about them.

Both brothers are still alive. But if you really wanted a Forastiero pipe I'd say NOW would be the time to order it because who knows how much longer this guy will last! (this is kind of the situation with a lot of the old generation pipe makers...)

[CHasR]

So the older and shorter Forastiero is the pipemaker, and the taller & younger one is the player (who does a great job on dopio ciaramelle)? yes? no?
No one ever told me otherwise...iot was always "fratelli Forastero, construttore di zampogne"

didja get your squeezebox yet????

[Ciarameddaru]

They both play well. The younger one is the pipe maker. He makes zamps and ciaramellas. The older one just plays.

Last I heard about the organetto was a couple weeks ago and they were still waiting on the reeds to arrive and said they would ship it out as soon as the reeds arrived. I special ordered the "hand made" reeds so it's taking longer... I'm getting anxious.