Tumbarinos

Sos Tumbarinos of Gavoi

Sos Tumbarinos are the carnival mask of Gavoi, a village in the Barbagia di Ollolai in the province of Nuoro, but calling them a “mask” in the traditional sense would be an understatement: there is no wooden caratza to wear here. The essence of this carnival is not worn, it is played: the real mask is the drum. Their moment is Sa Sortilla ’e Tumbarinos on Fat Thursday, and every year Gavoi also hosts the great parade of Barbagia masks of the BIM Taloro Carnival.

Su tumbarinu

The tumbarinu ’e Gavoi — documented in the village, together with the pipe (pipiolu), as early as 1829 — is an archaic instrument that has almost disappeared in the rest of Sardinia. Made entirely by hand with goat, sheep, donkey or dog skin, the drum can have different shapes and decorations, but su sonu — its sound — is always the same: archaic, pulsating, unmistakable.

The other instruments

Alongside the drum and the cane pipe, the procession is enriched by other instruments: su triangulu, the iron triangle, and su tumborro — also called serraggia — a stringed instrument made from a pig’s bladder stretched on a cane, whose horsehair string is rubbed with a notched wooden bow to produce a deep, hoarse sound. Only in the last decades of the twentieth century did the diatonic accordion find a place in the procession.

Sos Sonadores

The musicians wear the traditional velvet dress, with gambales (leggings) and su bonette (the flat cap). Around them the community dances the ballo sardo, sings rhyming verses — improvised, satirical or affectionate — and lets the sound of these ancient instruments fill the village streets.

The rite and the calendar

The carnival of Gavoi begins on Fat Thursday, Sa Jobia Lardajola: in the early afternoon one drum calls another and hundreds of musicians gather spontaneously, converging on Piazza San Gavino to create Sa Sortilla ’e Tumbarinos. The festival lasts five days, with spontaneous masks and allegorical floats, and ends on Shrove Tuesday with the burning of the puppet Zizzarrone, the king of carnival, together with his wife Marianna Frigonza; on Wednesday morning the young people, sos Intinghidores, mark a cross on people’s faces with charcoal from the fire. Gavoi also hosts the mask parade of the BIM Taloro Carnival, and in autumn it opens its courtyards during Autunno in Barbagia in Gavoi. Among the Barbagia masks that parade with the Tumbarinos are Su Turcu of Ollolai, the Mascheras Limpias of Fonni and the Urthos e Buttudos, also from Fonni.