4. Context and place of performance

The main contexts of folk songs involves all periods of life
- Birth and Childhood (a ninnia, Cantigos de ammuttiu etc) and Death (s'attitidu)
- Work (a boghe 'e riu, a boghe è carru, a boghe campagnola, muttos grida etc)
- Leisure (ballos a cantigu, cantigos de centina, su tenore…)
- Offertory songs and Christmas carols (some of the most popular examples present in many communities: Su Ninnidu, Sos Tres Res, In Belle terra è Giudia, A Gesu in allegria Custu Pitzinneddu)
- Pain relieving (su ballu è s'arza)
- Hymns (sa missa cantada, il magnificat, Te Deum)
- Latin songs or in Sardinian for the Virgin Mary (Ave maris stella, Gosos)
- Hymns for Lent or for Easter, often folk songs accompany the arrival of religious festivities with psalms such as the Stabat or Miserere performed by the 'brotherhood', which is an independent part of the official church liturgy from which they take suggestions for the composition of their religious hymns or with songs in Sardinian such as sas chircas mudas.

It beholds all that is sacred and profane, joy and pain, fatigue and relax, many different sentiments prevalently longed for love stories, irony and satire, shrewd parables, the simple religious devotion of the people and the dogma of theology (Gosos de rughe santa di M. Murenu)

Even more frequent is the fact that folk songs try to come out of their unofficial liturgical position finding space and dignity in the official liturgy, as shows the numerous missas cantadas that almost all communities had.

The place of performance are the same places that are used generally in life: at home or in the streets, the countryside, the church and the village centre around it, the wine cellars. From the mother or grandmother that sings for a child a ninnia or other cantigos de ammuttiu at home, where people may sing while doing their daily work, the farmer that sings the songs of the cantadores a chiterra, to more disparate places where, according to manuscripts written by the most well-known extempore poets, su tenore the most popular and antique Sardinian folk song was performed.

5. Manner of arrangement

The way in which a folk song is presented is instant, natural, in other words it is the opposite of the way an ordinary 'studied' song is performed. The vocal arrangement is characterised by it's being spontaneous, but this doesn't mean that it is not enjoyable. A folk song that is performed in a compulsory manner, is almost ridiculous. Also the pronunciation of the words, sometimes modifies it's finished result (e.g. Coro della Confraternita of Castelsardo)

MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FOLK SONGS »