Gulisano is a child of Sicily, that water surrounded, sun blessed melting pot in the Mediterranean with a multi-cultural history, political ties to Italy but with one eye on the Arab diaspora to it's South and East. From an early age she immersed herself in the island's folk traditions, whilst listening to the Italian popular greats and delving into the world of jazz. By instinct, geography and design her music is passionate, resonant and multi-faceted. I just wonder how's she coping with the pebble beaches, North Sea and solar challenges of her new Brighton home?
On her latest LP she asks, "A ccu apparteni?", rather oddly translated to English as, "Whom do you belong to?", an old Sicilian way for asking foreign people their identity. It questions not a "where" you belong but "whom", as to highlight that a person without his "tribe" cannot define his own self without belonging to his traditions, language, values.
Listening to Gulisanos' new LP I don't think there's too much ambiguity about to whom she belongs - she puts her native tongue front and centre, and her innate southern European passion and fire is evident from the off. I can't pretend to be familiar with Sicilian folk, but rather like its history it sounds to me like the product of centuries of war and migration brought their own cultures, instruments and songs to the land and it's people, and for all the blood shed the culture at least became that bit richer.
But what really marks the LP out is her willingness to take those traditions and influences and give them a twist or ten, and the LP gets increasingly twisted as it progresses. Starting off with the subtlest of electronic augmentation, it's not long before spoken and instrumental samples are less subtly dropped, looped or layered. Arrangements become looser and even borderline unhinged. The electronic twists become more pronounced, the songs nod to native, Baltic Mestizo, Arabesque and even the Scottish highlands courtesy of some bagpipes. A jew's harp is flown in from Siberia, seagulls fly through the studio, drones refuse to die and found sounds are everywhere, with the songs ranging from desert laments, folktronic ballads, wedding jigs and psychedelic folk futurism.
If that sounds too much then don't sweat it isn't. There's real method to her madness and Gulisano's vocal is a strong thread which ties everything together into a seriously well crafted, past, present and future spanning folkloric fusion.
Playlist Companion
Get a taste of the LP and find other nomadic sounds over at the Slow World Playlist.