Riti musicali del cordoglio in Sicilia

This article concerns several vocal and instrumental performances (songs, laments, calls, sound of church bells and drums, band music) connected to ritual celebration and commemoration of the Deads, that are still characterized in Sicily by a manifest syncretism between Christian Church rules and folk customs and beliefs. These “sounds of complaint” have been considered from their musical side and for their social and symbolic functions, with a special attention for the changing dynamics between nowadays and a recent past. The focus has been even extended to those celebrations in which “fictitious funerals” are performed, as the ones of Christ during Easter procession and the ones of Nannu (Grandpa) in Carnival ceremonies.