The two-bass diatonic accordion, or Italian organetto, known in the Abruzzi area as ddu bbottë, is a mechanical instrument in the free-reed aerophone family of musical instruments, which produces sound through the compression of the air generated by a bellows. The air production is provided by the movement of the player’s arms, an action which is necessary to give a rhythmic progression to the performed tunes, in a more or less complex and refined way. It can therefore be said that the lightweight and versatile bellows of the organetto are the dynamic soul of the instrument, and that the management of their complete potential is what differentiates, in particular, the players of the old generation from the younger ones. Defined by the ethnomusicologist Francesco Giannattasio as a peasant instrument of the industrial age, the organetto has quickly taken the place of older instruments which are more difficult to play, such as the violin, the calascione, (similar to the lute) and the zampogna (similar to the bagpipes), livening up farmyard parties but also becoming part of a competitive circuit of competitions and schools, in a continuous evolution of performance techniques and styles.

Among the main exponents of this progressive improvement of the instrument – and its contemporary distancing from the expressive modalities typical of the peasant culture – it is worth mentioning the virtuoso player from Teramo, Fanciullo Rapacchietta (1915-2014), who taught generations of young students in Penna Sant’Andrea in the 1970s and 80s, even though organetto playing was generally falling into disuse in that period. Fanciullo Rapacchietta also accompanied the well-known local folk group called “Laccio d’amore” for many years, imprinting his particular style onto their music.

Basilio D’Amico (1919-2012), a popular self-taught musician, son of peasants from the Pilone district of Penna Sant’Andrea, is located in a rather different dimension. He cultivated his passion for the instrument since childhood, playing for more than half a century wherever it was possible: for serenades and weddings, in village festivals, at dance evenings in the farmyards of country houses and, like Rapacchietta, for the performances of the “Laccio d’amore” folk group. Basilio D’Amico possessed a vast repertoire, drawn from the most varied sources: listening to the players he met at parties, the oral tradition of singing, accordion music, easy listening songs, opera and classical music, all adapted to the limited possibilities offered by the organetto with surprising mastery.

Although Rapacchietta’s fingers  ran over the keyboard in a linear way, instead Basilio D’Amico was a master of tension and relaxation and he showed an intense and calibrated expressiveness based on the skilful use of the cross-row technique: a playing technique entirely dependent  on the continuous inversions of  the bellows and on the use of imperceptible sub-beats, which gave his performances a  dynamic refinement particularly appreciated in contexts where the music was inseparable from the dance.