Transumanza

With a series of Mass Appeal events upcoming at Make Music NY, I thought I'd offer documentation of a like-minded performance by an ensemble of Italian cows, who, on Monday morning, presented a free-form composition involving polyrhythmic bell textures and vocal glissandi. The video above and this one here give glimpses of a transumanza — the traditional springtime herding of cows and sheep from lowlands to higher mountain pastures. Some four hundred bovines were involved in this edition of the ritual, which took place in the Montella area of the province of Avellino, under the watchful eyes of a group of veterinarians. (I was there because my impossibly generous host for the weekend, Prof. Giancarlo Vesce, is a veterinarian; we were on our way from Gesualdo to Venosa.) These videos don't capture the full scope of the herd, which by this time had spread out. Participants had stopped to enjoy a breakfast, which involved the making of fresh mozzarella to the accompaniment of Tarantella di Montemarano. An RAI TV crew was on hand to record the proceedings.