Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare
“Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare” was founded in 1970 with the specific intent of spreading the authentic values of the tradition of the Campania people.
The extraordinary success that the group achieved at the Spoleto Festival in 1972 and 1974 marked its international launch: since then the NCCP has repeatedly participated in all the most important festivals in Europe and overseas, including Edinburgh, Helsinki, Berlin (Festwochen), Théâtre des Nations (Caracas 1977, Hamburg 1979), Buenos Aires (Coliseum), Flanders Festival, Zurich, Salzburg (Mozarteum), Paris (Théâtre de la Ville), Israel, Spoleto USA, Sydney (Opera House), Hong Kong, Singapore, Schwetzinger Festspiele (1990), Tokyo (Sogetsu Hall), Koeln (Opera), Sao Paulo (Sesc Pompeia 2001), Sofia (Sala Bulgaria 2001), Belgrade (Kolarca 2002), London (Riverside Studios), Munich (Herculees Saal), Madrid, Barcelona (Palau de la Musica), Athens (Lycabettus Theatre). 1997 and Dora Stratou 2002), Budapest (Teatro Talia 2003), Cairo (Teatro dell’Opera 2003).
The group has alternated its musical activity with theatrical activity, promoting and participating in numerous shows: La Cantata dei pastori, La canzone di Zeza, La Gatta Cenerentola, La Perla Reale, Sona sona… For this reason Eduardo de Filippo wanted them as guests in his theater, the San Ferdinando in Naples.
Let’s retrace the steps of the group in recent years.
It is the beginning of the 90s, the spirit is the same, the project is unchanged. An album of new songs for CGD happily marks the return of the group after a long absence: the title is Medina, the name of an ancient Neapolitan gate that is the same as the holy city of Arabia and various cities in Spain, thus enclosing in a single word the effort to intertwine different cultures and make music beyond borders.
Medina goes on tour not only in Italy: 1992 sees the NCCP also busy in Cordoba, Caracas, Tokyo, around the world, an opportunity for new stimuli and ideas. But 1992 is also the year of a surprising appearance at the Sanremo Festival, with a song by Medina (Pe’ dispietto), which wins the prestigious Critics’ Award.
The history of the Nuova Compagnia continues in the 1990s with shows in Italy and tours abroad: in 1993 in Greece at the International Mediterranean Festival, in 1994 in Ireland at the Dublin International Festival. At the beginning of 1995 a new album, Tzigari, was released, which took up the new style of NCCP, never closed in on itself, but always open to new voices and inspirations.
In September 1996 the album InCanto Acustico was released, which collected the most significant songs of the group, recorded during the homonymous theater tour carried out in the same year.
In 1997 a new recording contract was signed with EMI: the first result was the album Pesce d”o mare, in which the group, in addition to a renewed commitment to proposing Mediterranean melodies of clear traditional origin, presented new contaminations with artists of different cultural origins. Worth mentioning, in this regard, the collaboration with Angelo Branduardi and Zulù of 99 Posse.
January 1999 opens with a tour for the most important classical music review organizations (GOG of Genoa, Accademia S. Cecilia of Rome, Accademia Chigiana of Siena, Teatro Rossini of Pesaro, Camerata Musicale Barese, Teatro Bellini of Catania), which obtains unanimous acclaim from the public and critics.
In 2000, tour in Brazil for the event Todos os cantos do mundo at the Teatro Sesc Pompeia of San Paolo. In 2001 the new album La voce del grano is released, printed by the Forrest Hill label and distributed by Harmony Music. In January 2002, this album was among the top 20 best CDs in the world in the ranking drawn up by the journalists of the World Music Charts Europe.
Also in 2002, the NCCP, on tour in the Italian Cultural Institutes of the Mediterranean, performs in Sofia, Rabat, Casablanca, Athens, Thessaloniki and Belgrade. In September of the same year, she was invited by Rai Uno to participate in Sorrento at the centenary of the song Torna a Surriento, together with Dionne Warwick and Andrea Bocelli.
In the following two years, the NCCP returned to Belgrade at the SAVA CENTER theater, with a concert for over 3,000 spectators, later broadcast via satellite by state television. The tour took the group to Iceland, Stockholm, Helsinki, Washington, Spain and Greece, where they performed at the Kite Festival in the splendid setting of Philopappo Hill.
In December 2005, the new CD Candelora was released, co-produced with RAI Trade. This marked the beginning of a two-year international tour, which ended in Latin America with stops in Tucumán, Montevideo, Lima.
In 2008, the world tour of Candelora continued, ending in January 2009 in Volos, Greece, at the International Music and Theater Festival. The following years saw the NCCP once again as a protagonist on the world stage: the show Candelora was performed 54 times.
In May 2010, NCCP is invited by Mrs. ORFF to Germany, on the occasion of a commemorative concert of the great Maestro Carl Orff. From here an agreement is born for the recording of a live at the BMW Welt Auditorium in Munich, starting a new tour.
In 2011, two concerts in Colombia at the Cartagena International Music Festival, with over 2000 spectators and live TV broadcast. The tour continues in Europe: Luxembourg, Greece and Germany, with new Italian dates between festivals and various shows.
After being guests at Pino Daniele's concerts, the tour continues with stops in Lucca, Milan, Ascoli and many other cities.
In 2018, for the 50th anniversary of NCCP, a new album is released, presented at the major Italian and international festivals. In June, the band takes part in the Pino è event, performing a personal version of Donna Cuncetta, a song that Pino Daniele wrote for his mother, in homage to the great artist.
2020 opens with many concerts and a new recording project, Napoli 1534 – Tra moresche e villanelle, which gives life to a new theater tour.
In 2021, the CD Napoli 1534 is awarded at the Premio Tenco as best album in dialect.
In 2022, another show, Napoli 1534 e altre storie, begins, taking a tour throughout Italy.
