Preghieras
Dommu de sa cultura
Baunei

Preghieras is a fascinating journey in the community’s history and culture of Baunei and finds its expression in the words, in the gestures, in the rituals, in the music and the chants nourished by a profound spirituality.
The “ Dommu de sa Cultura” ( House of the Culture), situated in the historical building in Via Orientale Sarda 163, encloses, as in a precious casket, the living testimony of the elders, the images of yesterday and today, the ancient sounds which blend perfectly with the actuality of the current time.
The three rooms welcome the visitors in a suggestive atmosphere. The voices of the elders and their faces will lead them in the three main areas of popular life: the working one, the domestic one and the most religious one. The lights, the background sounds, the images connecting a far away past to the present witness an historical and cultural richness still relevant nowadays.
Other than the physical space of the Dommu de sa Cultura, there is a book written by many different hands and a music CD, to better complete in an accurate and truthful way the picture of the study and the numerous expressions of Baunei’s spirituality.
The book is mainly composed of three sections, each of them providing an in-depth study over the main theme, and each conducted with competence and enthusiasm by experts in their own field of interest: in the order Maria Giuseppina Gradoli, Alessandra Secci e Serenella Cabras.

M. Giuseppina Gradoli with an archeological and historical reconstruction of the territory explored the prehistoric rituals practised inside the caves and in the megalithic tombs. These rituals, in fact, after the christianization of Ogliastra have not completely disappeared but transpire still today, intertwining paganism and Christianity, in the spirituality of Baunei’s population.

Alessandra Secci analysed the archival documents which have proved to be of inestimable value in order to enlighten the profound devotion of Baunesis. She restored and selected the photographic material that takes us back nearly a century ago and the video material regarding feasts, liturgies and paraliturgies.

Serenella Cabras collected, registered and catalogued the direct witnesses of the women and men who ,with great generosity, donated their memories and their knowledge offering an interesting insight into their life and their stories. The same people whose own christian faith had always been expressed with pride and solemnity, as an epitome of life and a fundamental element of their own existence.

To this three sections are added, in order of appearance, the contribution of Marco Mustaro and Gianpriamo Incollu, both from Baunei, professionals in music and singing, deeply attached to their origins from which they draw their inspiration for their musical activity.
Marco Mustaro explored the role of the singing and of the artistic expression in the Christianity and showed how the religious substrate was and remains the fundament of the history, the evolution, and the growth of Baunei and its inhabitants.

Gianpriamo Incollu with great interest ,professionality and respect transcribes on the sheet music a selection of sacred text of Baunei’s tradition, many of which nearly forgotten or even unknown to the youngsters. His precious contribution plays an important role in the perspective of restoration and enhancement of the intangible heritage discovered and rediscovered.

The CD is a musical journey within 11 music tracks, mainly in sardinian language, whose ancient words, sounds and melodies create great emotions. To give voice to these chants are three polyphonic choirs: the choir Santanna and choir Montesantu led by the director Giampriamo Incollu and the choir Contos e Cantos led by the director Marco Mustaro.