the songs and their stories
Mi Votu e Mi Rivotu (I Toss and Turn) is the first song I ever translated. It's the song that started it all for me: the mission to translate and revitalize Sicilian folk songs. This song is likely centuries old, however, its subject matter is something that is still relatable now: not being able to sleep, perhaps because you miss or have lost someone you love. The arrangement is a nod to Italian composer Ennio Morricone, who wrote the soundtrack for the most iconic Western films of the 20th century (The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly). Despite not being American, he single handly crafted the soundscape that the entire world associates with the American West.
Blurring the lines between cultures, I’ve created a sonic representation of myself: part Texas, part Sicily. It’s a bilingual interpretation of a song that challenges the listener to contemplate their own regional and national identity amidst global influences.
Sicilian is on the UNESCO list of endangered languages. In order to preserve these songs in the future, I have decided to translate them into English; also as a way to introduce them and their beauty to the majority of the world.
I wrote "Roses and Basil" as the first-ever English reinterpretation of the Sicilian traditional song "La Siminzina," (the seeds) dating back to the 1800s or earlier. With echoes of old American lullabies and folk tunes from the Dust Bowl and Great Depression era, it embodies resilience and hope, promising abundance and comfort even in the face of adversity, hunger, and poverty echoing the enduring power of love through generations.
My grandma passed away on the 10th of May, 2023. I was sitting in my dilapidated apartment in Palermo, Sicily, where I was living at the time, when I heard the news. Rain poured through the roof; a leak that I had repeatedly mentioned to the landlord needed to be fixed. One month after her death, I went to her apartment. Everything was exactly as she left it. Surrounded by photos of myself throughout childhood that she had hung up, I was forced to confront this new version of myself: me without her.
I wrote this song about watching my little sister grow up. She turned 16 during a power outage; one of the worst storms Texas had ever experienced. When I saw her buried under a pile of blankets in our freezing house without heat, I struggled to find the words to tell her that this was only the beginning; that no matter how hard you try to control life, things won't always go your way.
video
photos from the studio
