There are small musical miracles around if we are open to going beyond the usual festival circuit. One of them happens every August (since 1996) in Southern Italy.
For four days and nights, Ariano Folk Festival enlightens the Campanian town of Ariano Irpino and brings music from all over the world to an area which hardly ever used to be reached by global sounds.
It happened this summer too, when between 15th and 18th August, the festival invited its well-assorted audience to dine on a feast of notes from Mediterranean Europe to the Caribbean, and from the Middle East to Latin America.
On the main stage, in the central square of Piazzale Calvario, overlooking the scenic Irpinian Apennines, stars in the making, like Turkish Gaye Su Akyol and Cape Verdean Neuza, good-and-proper music legends like Natty Bo (accompanied by The Top Cats), Skarra Mucci and Mercedes Peon, and up-and-coming names of the global beats circuit like The Bongo Hop and Supersan, presented their musical viewpoint to thousands of spectators, from the most seasoned festival-goers to the “night out with friends” passers-by.
That’s one of the strong points of Ariano Folk Festival; its ability to bring together a town, a province and possibly a region thanks to some of the finest music you can listen to, an easy-going atmosphere and a welcoming attitude.
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