Zimbaria has been representing the most creative, artistic and obsessive musical soul of Apulia and Salento since ever. 
The Band was set up by the legendary Pino Zimba along with Rossano Ruggeri, the latter being the most visionary artist in Southern Apulia area and the current leader of the crew. In almost 20 years Zimbaria has held a countless number of concerts in many Italian towns and cities as well as abraod. The band was always committed to bring every public the best TARANTA with all its power and strenght in rythms, no less with a great show of energy being PIZZICA Music hinged on the "healing ritual" and the sacred Music related to ancient Greek culture (for over than 1.000 years all Southern Italy was part of Graecia Magna, and the ancient Homer's Greek language still survives in 9 little towns of Salento, Southern Apulia, the county called "heel of Italy" -province of Lecce-, the very land of Taranta). In Ancient Greece and Southern Italy this hypnotic and esoteric rhythm was used by Priestess (who were also Prophetesses, the so called Pithias), to go into a trance state by dancing and playing tambourine and then to give oracles in thier Sanctuaries. Saint Paul landed here on his way to Rome (along with Saint Peter) and he brought the simbology of the evil associated to the Tarantula Spider. Pizzica rhythm was used and still used until a few years ago to heal from that particular phenomenon of "possession" which was symbolically attributed to the bite of the mythological spider tarantula. In old Sanskrit and still nowadays in Hindi language, the root "taran" means "stars, heaven" and is related to something coming from above and we do believe that this music was brought here from outer world: it is based on a bi-rhythmical combination of 2 and 3 (you can her the typical triplet on a plain music tempo of 4/4).

Since 2008 the legacy of the late Pino Zimba (founder of the group and symbol of Pizzica and all of Salento) has been kept alive by Rossano Ruggeri who is the current leader of the Zimbaria and also the composer and author of all the original pieces of the group. The latest band Cd-Album "Pathos Taranta" is a milestone in Italian World Music and it is rhythmically characterized by the pioneering use of drums alongside traditional tambourines; more over by the formal structure of the songs which remains cyclical and monodic with instrumental parts borrowed from ancestral Greek memory in labour chants. Above all we can hear harmonic atmospheres where the use of the minor mode and unusual dissonances for Western culture (Lydian music scale that is still used in our music, etc.) powerfully evoke a journey into our unconscious perception. The songs guide us on a mental journey, starting from the obsessive "Mozzafiatu", passing through an absolute masterpiece like "Lassi Ju Segnu" that was built on a trance crecendo up to "Miriagono", where Mediterraneo remembrances and foggy Celtic atmospheres merge each other masterfully. This music evokes a search for cosmic beauty in which the rhythm of the Taranta regains its original meaning, transforming the listener's body into a sounding shape that connects the Earth and the sky, in order to let the universal healing energy flow through the tissues, blood, bones, dna and cells. This is the music of well-being as it frees you from the stress and anxieties of everyday life. It is scientifically proven that while listening to the rhythm of the Pizzica, our body naturally produces more endorphins than those normally present in "wellness" drugs such as Prozac. Effects of this powerful natural medicine can be tested by listening to "Pathos Taranta" that represents the absolute zenith of the musicality and rhythmic strength of the Taranta. The latest news is that Zimbaria plays at 432hz tuning, a thing that opens a new chapter in the history of real ancient healing music tradition.

​