This last rhythm is exciting, tormenting, inebriating, exhilarating, and deeply moving all at once.It is the sum of the rhythms of the heart and breath, the beat of the earth. It is impossible to remain indifferent, because the persistent crescendo of the tambourine "beats" goes straight to the heart.
Those who listen to and dance the Pizzica discover unknown sides of themselves, and are charged with an extraordinary natural energy.It is a millennial energy held in the music which is revived when it is played. Perhaps this is the "psychism" of which Ernesto De Martino spoke regarding the therapeutic rites against the sting of the tarantula to which the Pizzica is traditionally tied.
Today, natural trance experiences are still spoken of by those who sustain the rhythms with deep and diligent frequency.

Cinzia Marzo - voice, flutes

Donatello Pisanello - organetti diatonici

Ambrogio De Nicola - classic guitar

Raffaella Aprile - voice

Claudio Miggiano - violin, guitar, tres

Lamberto Probo - tamburine, tamborra, voice, cupa cupa

Pino Zimba - tamburine, voice

email: info@cnt.it

Zoe' was born in the spring of 1993 out of a group of musicians from Salento with a common need to rediscover the traditional popular music of their own land. Zoe's performances are the result of long and in-depth research on the music of Salento. Popular music by definition incorporates incursions and contamination.

The music of Salento is the result of centuries of varied foreign domination, but more importantly, of exchanges with other Mediterranean cultures. And it is this cultural mix of complex and exquisitely Mediterranean nature that characterises the songs and the Pizzica of Zoe', heritage of the people of Salento.
They are a population of immigrants and tarantism, often oppressed, but nonetheless full of great joy, passionate sensuality, and endless sweetness. These qualities are found in the music, a tension that is dense and modern while simultaneously archaic inits sober melancholy. It is music inhabited by Apollo and Dionysus,by the mountain winds of the Tramontana and the African winds of the Scirocco, by frosty and sweltering weather, the Grecian love song and the frantic dancing of those affected with tarantism.

For this reason, beyond any interpretation, it is enough to listen to the music, to abandon oneself to its movement, to come up against this force, this uncommon musical energy. The rhythm of the Pizzica is of central and fundamental importance to the history of Zoe'. "Beating" the pizzica tambourine ("to beat" on the pizzica,or "sting") represents a decisive, profound, and sometimes painful experience for the group. In the joyful but tragic obsession of that movement, in the blood produced by the furious and unending repetition of percussion with the hand, is the difficult and surprising path of cultural possession, which is also the rediscovery of a submerged, forgotten identity.

Zoe' has performed in some of the more important festivals in Italy: Milan (Villa Arconati), Rome (Villa Ada), Santarcangelo dei Teatri, Florence (Festival dei Popoli), Carpino Folk Festival, and international festival as Stimmen, Voices in Lorrach and Douarnenez in Bretagne (France). The bans is also selected for an showcase at the Womex 2000 in october.
For the group, their collaboration with Edoardo Winspeare was decisive, which culminated in a full-length Salentian film,"Pizzicata." Zoe' collaborated on the film, which was shot entirely in Salento, not only in the realisation of the sound track, but also as actors. The film enjoyed great success, and was distributed and garnered awards both in Europe and the United States (San Sebastian, Edinburgh Festival, Paris Latin Cinema Festival, New York N.I.C.E. award).

After a first self-produced album, "Terra"("Earth"), Zoe' completed a new record, "Sangue Vivo" for the cnt.it label, with music from the new film (with same name) by Edoardo Winspeare. Zoe's two tambourine players, Lamberto Probo and Pino Zimba, have given it their faces and soul (that "beats"). The record, released in July, includes an interactive rom track containing information and short films about the group and the film.