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SKU: MMIT-36
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The Ribeba Austera by Fitteafrotte (Luca Boggio) from Piedmont, Italy seems quite inconspicuous at first glance with its rather rustic appearance. The consistently chunky shanks are reminiscent of the Doromb jaw harps by Zoltán Szilágyi from Hungary.
The thick shanks are also what make these jaw harps so easy to play for beginners. You don't have to search long for the right place to put your teeth. In addition, the lips lie quite relaxed on the frame.
The sound of the Ribeba Austera is wonderfully loud, penetrating and rich in overtones. This is due to the perfectly balanced reed hardness and dynamics.
A visually simple-looking instrument that has lots of power and is very easy to play.
Pure coincidence brought Luca Boggio together with the Ribeba specialist Alessandro Zolt a few years ago. Both come from Piedmont and are jaw harp enthusiasts. Zolt researches the history of the Ribeba. Boggio forges jaw harps. The two work together for almost a year to make a copy of a Ribeba from Valsesia. In a conversation with Helen Hahmann from DAN MOI, Luca Boggio reports on how he deals with the forgotten heritage of the northern Italian jaw harps (Ribeba).
For many decades, the history of a rare craft lay dormant in Valsesia. Even the inhabitants of the region had forgotten that their province could once be mentioned in the same breath as the cities of Molln (Austria) and Birmingham (England): for about four centuries, Valsesia was home to production sites for jaw harps. Thanks to the research of Italian historian Alberto Lovatto and ethnomusicologist Alessandro Zolt, we now know a lot about the filigree Ribeba from northern Italy.
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