'A STACIUNI from Muorica by Michael Occhipinti & The Sicilian Project

'a Staciuni is an old song from Modica, about the change of seasons and the arrival of warm weather. One day, my folk singing friend Salvatorre DiPasquale arranged for my family and I to go to Ragusa and meet up with an accordion player named Gino Carbonaro. Gino had played on the recording of ‘a Staciuni by La Contea di Modica that my cousins had given me a few years earlier. Now retired from his career as a school Headmaster, Gino invited my family and I to his house overlooking the beautiful countryside near Ragusa, and he, Salvatorre, and I spent a few hours playing music and discussing the history and meaning of different songs. Gino loves to tell stories and is a warm and generous soul.

At a certain point he asked me if I had any photographs of my parents before they left Modica for Toronto, and I pulled out my laptop to show him what I had. There were a few formal portraits of my parents from when they were engaged and later when they were getting ready to go to Canada. As soon as Gino looked at them he exclaimed "yup, my father took those!" His father had the best known photo studio, and most people went to him when they needed portraits. Gino recognized both the backgrounds that his dad used and also the “Photolux Carbonaro" stamp that his father had on his work. In a further shrinking of our worlds, I showed him a picture of my father as young man, posed with an amateur music group. Gino pointed to the accordion player and said "he was my teacher."

“A triumphant recording on many levels” Michael G. Nastos Billboard

Michael Occhipinti’s Sicilian Jazz Project dazzles audiences with its mix of Sicilian folk & jazz, global grooves, & chamber music, with old world Sicily meeting the global sound of Toronto. The group received a 2009 JUNO Award nomination (Canada’s Grammy) & the prestigious Ragusani nel Mondo Award

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