Polifonia occitana

Polifonia occitana is the traditional polyphonic singing of Occitania, the Occitan-speaking south of France, practised in Béarn, Gascony, the Massif Central and the Pyrenees. Small groups sing in two or three voices over a drone or in parallel motion, with open-throated, resonant tone, melismatic turns and texts in Occitan drawn from dance songs, laments, religious pieces and the cantèra social singing tradition. Collected by associations such as *Cordae-La Talvera* and renewed by young ensembles, *San Salvador*, *Cocanha*, *Barrut* and *Lo Còr de la Plana*, the style has moved from village gatherings to international folk stages.