"The guitar quickens, and the woman issues a string of tremulous notes with all the solemnity of a muezzin. She clutches a hand drum, beating out a rhythm that draws the crowd to its feet. As people surge forward, stamping and whirling around the square, the singing intensifies and the drum's relentless thud deepens. The festival of Sustaria has begun."
"Sustaria is a word in the dialect of Lago, says Cristina Muto, who co-founded the festival in summer 2020. It is a creative restlessness, which doesn't let you sit still. We're speaking at a drinks party the evening before the annual event, on a terrace overlooking Lago's clay-tiled roofs, when her brother Daniele appears with a jug of local wine in hand. Welcome to Lagos Angeles, Calabrifornia, he winks, pouring me a cup. Creative restlessness'"
A lamp-lit square in Lago fills with music and percussion as the Sustaria festival unfolds, prompting singing, stamping and communal dancing. Sustaria, a dialect word meaning creative restlessness, inspired Cristina Muto to co-found the event in summer 2020. The festival spotlights Calabria's agrarian and cultural heritage amid a hilltop village of grey stone, olive groves and small family plots of figs, chestnuts and grains. Lago natives Cristina and Daniele, proud of their medieval hamlet, acknowledge the broader pattern of young people leaving southern Italy for scarce opportunities, while the festival aims to reconnect community and tradition.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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