Recorded in 1954 by Alan Lomax and Diego Carpitella

Notes by Goffredo Plastino and Sergio Bonanzinga, incorporating original notes by Alan Lomax

The voices and instruments of peasants, fishermen, shepherds, oppressed salt and sulfur miners, cart drivers, cuntastorie, and strolling players bring us murder ballads, dance music, lullabies, as well as songs of love, work, and devotion connected to the yearly round and born of the colorful and dramatic Sicilian past. Includes a 15-minute excerpt of the storytelling of Roberto Genovese, the last of the jongleurs, reciting the epic, I reali di Francia (Orlando), in the piazza, to sound effects made by a wooden sword.

“An amazingly rich trove of stunning beauty and vast interest.” —Green Man Review