This CD is a homage to the memory of Antonio Mereu, a great a tenore singer from Oliena (a small village in the Barbagia region, 20Km from Nuoro), who dead before his time on March 2, 2000.
The eight tracks of the CD are performed by the “Raimundo Congia” a tenore quartet, that was founded in 1997 by Giovanni Porcu (boghe – i.e. the solo voice), Salvatore Boe (Mesa Oghe – the highest pitched voice), Pietro Carrus (contra – the central guttural voice of the choir) and Antonio Mereu (bassu – i.e. guttural bass). The denomination of the group derives from the name of a poet from Oliena (Raimondo Congiu) who lived in the 18-19th centuries. (...)
(in the booklet, inter alia) Sebastiano Pilosu extends the description of the features of the Oliena’s a tenore traju. He basically says that for an external auditor the Oliena’s style can sound similar to the other of the neighbouring village (Orgosolo). But for the Oliena’s inhabitants and for the expert listeners there are some peculiar elements that are of its own characteristic and cannot be found anywhere else. For instance he observes the nuances in the timbre of the guttural voice that is delivered with a half-open mouth. Another peculiarity of su traju is the oscillation between the distance of a fourth and a fifth made by sa contra in the respect to su bassu, a very strong distinctive element with regard to the the next villages where the interval between contra and bassu is fifth and sixth.
Ignazio Macchiarella focuses on the comparison between the Raimundu Congia quartet and the other groups of the village (including some historical recordings). Among the results he emphasizes the clear syllabic behaviour of the soloistic melody that interprets even in its nuances the meaning of the text. The two melograms stand for the use of ornamentation the solo singing (first verse of piece 2) and of the presence of conclusion formulas (1-2-3-2-4/3-2-1) typical of this singer. Also the entry of the chords tends to let the highest prominence to the texts, while the corfos (i.e. the chord’s successions) are more homorythmics than the corresponding ones in the historical performances.

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