7th Framework Programme ICT - Information and Communication Technologies The Accompaniment Paolo Bravi, Marco Lutzu, Sebastiano Pilosu

The Accompaniment The voice of the soloist (the boghe) is accompanied by the other three singers through the corfos (sing. corfu, ‘stroke’). The polyphonic characteristics of the a tenore singing and its typical timbric shapes emerge during the corfos. BASSU CONTRA (BOGHE) MESU BOGHE In the corfos the most common disposition of the voices, always present at the end of each corfu, is represented in the figure:

The Accompaniment Here you can listen to a corfu and see the evolution of the melodic profile of the whole choir and of each individual voice. WHOLE CHOIR BASSU CONTRA MESU BOGHE Tenore Osana - Orosei “Boche ‘e torrare boes” bassu: Stefano Pala contra: Stefano Frau mesu boghe: Sandro Pala

Su bassu The bassu sings the lowest note of the accompanying choir with a guttural voice. His voice is produced with a particular tension of the laringeal muscles which determines the vibration of the false vocal cords and therefore the acoustic phenomenon known as “period doubling”, i.e. the lowering of the pitch one octave below. A spectrogram of the typical bassu vocal emission of Stefano Spano (in the photo)

Su bassu The harmonic role of the bassu is to provide a strong and characteristic drone establishing the tonal centre one octave below the boghe. Just in very rare cases, his melodies use the second degree of the major scale beside the first one.

Sa contra The contra has the central part of the harmonic building of the a tenore choir. The timbre of the contra is characterised by a peculiar guttural sound. In this case, as opposed to what happens in the case of the bassu, the note is not lowered one octave. A spectrogram of a typical contra vocal emission of Domenico Carta (in the photo)

Sa contra The main note and the tonus finalis of every melodic phrase that he sings is the fifth degree of the major scale, one fifth above the drone provided by the bass. In some cases, the contra sings the same note (the fifth degree above the bassu) all the time during a corfu. In other cases, the range of the contra may reach a major third: the fifth degree may be reached from below (the fourth degree of the scale) or from above (the sixth degree).

Sa Mesu Boghe The mesu boghe has a voice in some cases quite “natural” and in some other ones tense, in order to put in evidence the highest harmonics. A spectrogram of a typical mesu boghe vocal emission of Giovanni Mele (in the photo)

Sa Mesu Boghe The most important note that the mesu boghe sings is the third, one major tenth above the bassu. This is the tonus finalis of every mesu boghe’s melodic phrase. The range is usually a minor third and comprises, beside the major third, the fourth and the fifth degree.

Vocal timbres as markers of villages styles One of the most important and commonly known feature which characterises village styles is the timbre of the three accompanying voices.

Vocal timbres as markers of villages styles The use of particular vowels and consonants and the quality of their voices give the vocal accompanyment a particular flavour which is recognized as one of the most important sound marker of the village styles.