With WOMEX just a week away, the sixth chapter of our Musical Road to WOMEX heads to Taranto with Yarákä, a trio reimagining the trance and ritual of Apulian tradition for a global stage. Since 2015, Gianni Sciambarruto, Virginia Pavone, and Simone Carrino have forged a sound grounded in healing chants, the Tarantine dialect, and Southern Italian percussion, while opening pathways to Africa, Brazil, and the wider Mediterranean. Even their name, drawn from the Tupi-Guarani language, invokes the four elements — water, air, fire, and earth — signalling their vision of rhythm as ritual and performance as dialogue with ancestry and nature.
From the debut album Invocação to their 2020s projects, Yarákä have built a reputation for performances that feel more like ceremonies than concerts. Voices, tamburello, berimbau, saz, and shamanic drum intertwine with harmonic flute and daf, pushing Apulian roots into unexpected crossings with Afro-Brazilian cadences and Mediterranean trance. On stage, Yarákä channel that tension between rootedness and movement: an ensemble grounded in southern Italian ritual yet unafraid of contamination, constantly shifting between invocation, protest, and celebration.
In our Q&A, they describe their shows as waves that build in real time with the audience: part healing rite, part collective release. From their album Invocação to the ritual-inspired single “Maletímbe” and the documentary Nastya, Yarákä have shown how southern Italian traditions can speak far beyond their home ground. For this episode, they also compiled a playlist tracing the sounds and voices that shape their work, offering a direct window into the exchanges that fuel their music.
Your music draws on Apulian, Southern Italian, and wider Mediterranean traditions, while also opening up to outside influences. How would you describe it to someone hearing you for the first time?
We start from the ancient, trance-inducing rhythms and healing chants of Southern Italy — especially the Tarantella and other traditions from Puglia. This is our foundation, our roots. Then, we build a bridge from there, opening a dialogue with the wider Mediterranean and global sounds we feel a deep connection with. It’s not about fusion for its own sake; it’s about finding a shared, universal language in rhythm and melody. So, for a first-time listener, expect something that feels both primal and new: powerful, driving pulses that invite movement, a sense of collective ceremony, and a journey that connects the local with the global.
Has there been a personal or musical experience that left a lasting mark on the way you create today?
Afro-descendent music has been a central part of our path and is the influence that remains most present. Beyond that, every experience we’ve had through the years can be defined as a “lasting mark” because of the people and places we’ve met while touring. We learn and grow a lot by travelling, picking up different sensations on each trip that are given back in every performance. In short: exchange is what influences our creative process.
From Manchester to the “Manchester of Finland”: this year WOMEX lands in Tampere, a city known for turning factories into cultural spaces and for having more saunas than most people could try in a week. What are you most curious to discover about the city, and how do you imagine your music connecting with audiences there?
We’re primarily excited about the idea of meeting the global community at WOMEX; that’s why we’re so curious to experience this environment firsthand. Tampere also seems like a fascinating city — we’re already starting to take notes on places to visit during our stay. Regarding connections: we’ll simply bring our energy as it is and hope it resonates with the audience. And saunas are a topic for us, too. There’s even one in our room!
Within a gathering of so many traditions and styles, what do you feel makes Yarákä distinctive, and what would you like people to take away from your showcase?
Our greatest intention is to tell our story through our music and to share the traditions of the land we come from. When you come from afar, from a territory not always known to a large audience, the greatest gift you can give is to share with your listeners the beautiful things that exist on the other side of the world; from our point of view, it is a cultural enrichment of great depth. Our distinctive trait is that we have recovered prayers, invocations, and songs tied to popular traditions that tell of the simple and healthy lifestyle our ancestors lived in contact with the land and their relationship with spirituality. In all of this, we also wanted to pay homage to traditions apparently distant from us, but with which we have so much in common.
WOMEX is also about exchange. Are there artists or projects you’re especially hoping to meet or discover?
Organically speaking, we hope to meet every artist in the programme. As we said before, exchange is the most influential part of our music, so we do hope to connect with as many artists as possible.
Tampere is known for venues that bring performers and audiences into close contact, creating space for focused listening. That seems well matched to the ritual energy of your concerts. How does performing in such an atmosphere shape the way you build a show, and what do you value most in that exchange with listeners?
Of course. That is a profoundly accurate observation. Performing in an atmosphere of such proximity and focused listening is not just a preference for us; it is the ideal condition, the environment our music is meant to inhabit. It fundamentally shapes everything. This allows us to build energy slowly and intentionally, like a wave, because we can feel the room’s response in real time.
Your music is closely tied to place and tradition. Coming from Taranto, a city shaped by the sea, how do natural surroundings influence the way you make or perform music? And as you prepare to play in Tampere, with its lakes and forests, do you imagine that setting might resonate with your work in a different way?
The word “Yarákä” is composed of four words, representing the four elements of nature: water, air, earth, and fire. Puglia is rich in magnificent landscapes and is, in particular, a region surrounded by the sea. For this reason, the sea becomes a very important source of inspiration. The connection between man, God, and nature is the principle that has guided our entire artistic journey up to today. By its very nature, the sea leads each of us to stop, to look, to breathe, to take a moment of peace; it triggers a connection with a deep part of ourselves. It inspires thought, reflection, looking inward, and also looking far beyond ourselves, beyond the horizon. Furthermore, the sea reveals and expresses itself in many different ways, just as we do through our music and compositions. For centuries, the element that has ferried many cultures from one part of the world to another has always been the sea, and this aspect is present in our musical journey. We are sure that the lakes and forests of Tampere will evoke new emotions in us.
Much of your repertoire speaks to healing and the human spirit. In today’s world, marked by social and political tension, environmental challenges, and cultural shifts, is there an issue you feel your music connects with most strongly? How do the ritual aspects of your songs relate to the present moment?
What is happening in the world today is linked to an individualistic attitude on the part of many human beings. This process leads people to lose that great quality that each of us possesses: empathy. Being empathetic means knowing how to create deeper connections with others, and ritual music is tied to this concept. The rite requires a physical and spiritual presence in connection with yourself and with others. A rite is not such without a connected community.
Looking ahead, what comes after WOMEX? Are there new projects, collaborations, or recordings in the works?
Absolutely. While we’re still energised from our WOMEX showcase, we’re already deep in the creative process for our next album. This new work will have a stronger focus on the rich musical traditions of the Ionian area and Taranto, diving deeper into the specific cultural roots that inspire us. Alongside the recording, we are also developing new live material and have already confirmed several European tour dates for 2026. We can’t wait to share this next chapter with everyone.
If you could write a personal invitation to audiences in Tampere and beyond, what would you say?
Come experience Yarákä at WOMEX in Tampere. We bring the raw, trance-inducing power of Southern Italy’s ritual music to the stage. This is more than a concert — it’s a shared, energetic journey. Join us for a unique and unifying musical moment.
On 24 October, 14:15 – 15:15, Yarákä bring the trance-driven power of Apulian ritual and Mediterranean tradition to the Daycase Stage at Tampere Hall’s Small Auditorium for WOMEX
PLAYLIST: YARÁKÄ X RHYTHM PASSPORT
You can find all the previous episodes of Musical Road to Womex HERE
Photo ©: Cosimo Pastore