The Tenores di Bitti are recognized masters of a thousand-years-old vocal art: a tenores singing.
This is a true both for their research and respect for the most authentic musical traditions and becauser they have been considered the epitome of a tenores singing for the last 20 years, they have been singing together for a such a long time.
They have a near legendary reputation in Sardinia and have recived scores of prizes, they are studied and admired by most important ethno-musicologists.
The Tenores di Bitti have sung with great success all over the world and have collaborated with musicians like Lester Bowie and Ornette Coleman.
Recently, in England, the Tenores di Bitti have recorded the last cd for the Real World of Peter Gabriel. In this occasion the Tenores parteciped, with a track, to the recording of a cd rom with the best traditional musicians and singers of the world.
The a tenores singing, which is tipical of the Barbaricina area in the centre of Sardinia, is one of the noblest and most fascinating traditional polyphonic styles of the Mediterranean Sea. Being of very ancient and misterious origins, just like the Sardinian people and its rich musical traditions, it still survives today in its original form and its usual repertoire. Using guttural timbre and unmistakable intonation jumps, the tenores play ottaves, terzine, dance songs and improvised rhymes following a plan in which the lead singer (oche) sings the musical motif while the others three voices join in immediately afterward with a musical form which is characterized by a strong rhythmic beat of typical non sensical syllables.