Putipù

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Music of Italy
Genres:	Classical: Opera Pop: Rock (Hardcore) - Hip hop - Folk - jazz
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Awards	Italian Music Awards
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Related topics
Opera houses - Music conservatories - Terminology

The putipù is a percussion instrument used in Neapolitan folk music and, generally speaking in the folk music of much of southern Italy. (An alternatate name is "caccavella".) The name putipù is onomatopoeia for the "burping" sound the instrument makes when played. The instrument consists of a membrane stretched across a resonating chamber, like a drum. Instead of the membrane being stuck, however, a handle is used to compress air rhythmically within the chamber. The air then spurts audibly out of the not-quite-hermetic seal that fastens the membrane to the wooden body of the instrument. The sound is widely regarded a "rustic"--even humorous--^{[citation needed]}and is reminiscent of the sound of a belch, flatulence, or the sound one gets from cupping the palm of the hand into the armpit and snapping the upper arm down.