Dance from Naples and the area around Vesuvio and takes its name from the drum known as the “TAMMORRA”. This is a large round drum, in a wooden frame in which jagged metal strips are inserted and which vibrate and jangle when played.
The voice, the tammorra and castanets, are the main traditional instrumental ingredients used to perform Tammurriata. What was originally music and dance that could be used in pagan ritual (fertility rites etc.) over the centuries became incorporated into the wider practice of Catholic Church celebratory custom. Today, religious celebrations that are dedicated to our Lady are the occasion when Tammurriata is played and danced.
The dance itself is still very `earthy` and has a strong and vital connection to the `soil`, both psychically in the nature of its dance steps, and emotionally in the sense of its ties to the rural people and the land they worked.
