music
Carters’ cries, lullabies and tales of errant crocodiles: Lero Lero and the battle for Sicily’s soul
Italy’s south has long been either romanticized or patronized. A Palermo collective has dived into historic archives to recover surreal rhymes and surprising songs that defy the island’s picture-postcard image
TL;DR
- Lero Lero, a Palermo collective, reimagines traditional Sicilian folk music through electronics and microtonal instrumentation.
- Their debut album explores maternal loss as a metaphor for Sicily's ruptured cultural inheritance, drawing from archival labor songs, carters' cries, and lullabies.
- The project counters romanticized and patronizing depictions of Sicily by digging into 20th-century field recordings and challenging simplified versions of Sicilian identity.
- Lero Lero's approach focuses on understanding the generative processes of oral tradition rather than faithful reproduction, aiming to create new music that connects with people today.
- Specialized instruments, like Fabio Rizzo's microtonal, double-stringed guitar, are central to achieving their unique sonic signature.