from the book "La Zampogna" by Mauro Gioielli (Iannone publisher)


The Zampogna is an instrument linked in particular to the culture of three towns: Scapoli, Castelnuovo al Volturno and San Polo Matese.
Castelnuovo and San Polo are communities with a large number of pipers. Scapoli, on the other hand, is a town of both players and craftsmen of the Zampogna (with and without keys).

The keyed Zampogna Molisana always has a double chanter, all the pipes going into the same stock of wood, and is led by mouth, but can have other variations.

Characteristics include :
chanters of unequal lengths, which divergent and conical.
The short chanter (on the right) has five finger holes (four on the front and the other one on the back), the long chanter (on the left) has three holes plus the fourth played by the key.
The remaining two pipes (drones) produce two different notes. In the most commonly used models, only the larger of these two pipes produces sound while the other is mute.

The most common woods used in making Zampognas are olive and cherry.

Nowadays, car air chambers covered with fine velvet have replaced the leather bags. Animal skins (goat or sheep) are used on request.

The Zampogna has different pitches, it depends on the size : as bigger is the instrument as deeper is the sound.

Zampogna model 25 is, today, the most popular among players, but model 28 is also very widespread.

The keyed Zampogna of Molise is designed to be played associated with the “ciaramella” (a kind of country oboe) which plays the solo parts of the music.

The Ciaramella of Molise has nine finger holes (eight on the front and one on the back) and is made in various models suitable for playing with the corresponding model of Zampogna.