Workshop on Songs from Sicily and Southern Italy
Jarana Trio travel from Sicily to Thessaloniki for a unique two-day workshop dedicated to the musical traditions of Sicily and Southern Italy. Energetic tarantellas, vibrant rhythms, and lyrical songs come together to create a repertoire that evokes the landscapes, stories, and spirit of the Mediterranean.
Drawing on extensive research into the musical traditions of Sicily and Southern Italy, Magdalena Brudziak (choral singing), Romina Adorno (body percussion), and Veronica Racito (choral singing and ethnomusicology) create original arrangements that combine their diverse musical backgrounds. Their main goal is to foster large, inclusive singing circles in which everyone can participate, regardless of previous musical experience. Starting from simple arrangements, the workshop gradually introduces more complex elements—melody, polyphony, and polyrhythm—according to the needs and possibilities of the group.
Workshop Structure
Each session begins with a period of grounding, relaxation, and physical preparation in a circle, followed by breathing exercises that support vocal production. Once bodies and voices are prepared, participants explore rhythm-making through body percussion and collective vocal improvisation. Through this gradual immersion in rhythm and sound, the group approaches traditional melodies from Sicily and Southern Italy, deepening its engagement with the repertoire, including forms such as the tarantella and the pizzica.
Workshop Information
Dates: Friday 25 & Saturday 26 April
Time: 19:00–22:00
Venue: Transcendance – Art Conduit, Thessaloniki
(4 Polyxenis Antoniou Street)
Participation fee: €60 / €50*
*Early-bird rate applies to advance registrations.
The workshop is open to everyone.
About the Traditional Music of Sicily and Southern Italy
The traditional music of Sicily and Southern Italy is deeply connected to everyday life, seasonal cycles, and community celebrations. Music functions as a vehicle of collective memory, bringing people together and accompanying important moments such as birth, death, sowing, harvesting, and fishing.
In Sicily, traditional music has largely disappeared since the mid-twentieth century, following the profound social and economic transformations that took place after World War II. A few traditions, however, remain alive in certain areas of the island, including Holy Week songs, Christmas novenas, and dance music. Today, anyone wishing to gain a broader understanding of Sicilian musical traditions must often turn to ethnomusicological archives and field recordings.
The situation is somewhat different in Campania, where many musical practices remain closely linked to Marian devotional traditions and continue to be part of community life. In Apulia, traditional music has undergone significant transformation and adaptation to contemporary contexts. More broadly, throughout Southern Italy, only fragments of many traditional repertoires have survived.
As a result, much of the repertoire performed today has been recovered through archival and ethnomusicological research. It includes dance-related traditions such as the tarantella and pizzica, as well as women's songs, including lullabies, weaving songs, harvesting songs, songs of lament or social commentary, and Holy Week repertoire.
