Parades and Jazz come to Nuoro

The last fortnight or so has been quite lively in Nuoro. Firstly, the weekend before last, Nuoro was invaded by a large number of people from the small towns and villages from other parts of Sardinia for the two parades which took place through the centre of the town. On the evening of Saturday August 21st there was la sfilata delle maschere (the parade of the masks), a very lively and entertaining affair in which the representatives of various towns and villages dress up in costume and sometimes wear very sinister looking masks (which actually scared some of the small children present) while taking part in the parade. However, the masks are supposed to be symbols of good fortune which drive out evil spirits.

However, the most fun was saved until near the end when the best known of the groups parading, the issocadores from Mamoiada, experts with a lasso, showed how adept they were by lassoing some of the young ladies watching from the side of the street (they came to no harm and were freed straightaway).
On the afternoon of Sunday August 22nd la sfilata dei costumi (the parade of the costumes) took place where representatives of what seemed like every small town in every part of Sardinia paraded through the centre of Nuoro wearing their own particular traditional costume. The costumes were incredibly beautiful but the parade went on for so long that after being rooted to the same spot for two hours I was longing to sit down and drink a coffee well before the parade finished!

Then, from August 25th until it finishes on September 4th an International Jazz Festival has come to town. We were fortunate in being able to go to two excellent concerts. We saw the Filomena Campus Quartet on Friday 27th August in the garden of the house of Grazia Deledda and were treated to some excellent music and Filomena's well known use of theatrics as she sang songs in Italian, Sardo, English and Portuguese. Then, on the evening of August 30th, at the Teatro Eliseo we saw world renowned Sardinian jazz musician Paolo Fresu with members of his quintet and special guests, well known jazz musicians Dave Douglas and Enrico Rava. The musicianship was breathtakingly brilliant and the audience was hugely appreciative of a great concert which was some distance from the mainstream of music.

(Italian text to follow at later date)