cantu a tenore
English
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Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Borrowed from Sardinian cantu a tenòre (literally “singing a tenore”).
Noun
[edit]cantu a tenore (uncountable)
- A style of a capella vocal music native to Sardinia featuring a quartet of men singing a four-part harmony, and is characteristic for its use of throat singing.
- 2017 October 5, David Horn, John Shepherd, Paolo Prato, Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World, volume 11, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 741:
- Cantu a tenore (Canto a tenore in Italian) is a type of localized, multipart singing based on chords that is found in areas of the island of Sardinia (Macchiarella 2008). […] The Sardinian term cantu a tenore describes the local variants practised in some 80 villages of the centre-north of the island; […] On 25 November 2005 Unesco included the Canto a tenore in the Third ‘Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity’.
- 2022 July 7, Alexis Averbuck, Duncan Garwood, Gregor Clark, Lonely Planet Sardinia, Lonely Planet, →ISBN, page 418:
- If ever music could encapsulate the spirit of Sardinia’s rugged mountains and pastoral landscapes, it is canto a tenore. It is performed by a four-part male choir, the tenores, made up of sa oghe (the soloist and lead voice), su bassu (bass), sa contra (contralto) and sa mesu oghe (countertenor). […] Canto a tenore is most popular in the centre and north of the island, with the best-known groups coming from the Barbagia region.
- 2023 May 23, Jeff Biggers, In Sardinia: An Unexpected Journey in Italy, Melville House, →ISBN, page 25:
- Zappa had been “astonished” by the recordings of the cantu a tenore, the chilling polyphonic singing quartets fashioned traditionally by shepherds. UNESCO enshrined the vocal skills and ancient songs as part of the “intangible cultural heritage of humanity.”
Further reading
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Cantu a tenore on Wikidata.Wikidata 
Cantu a tenore on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
