LAMENT FROM EPIRUS An Odyssey Into Europe’s Oldest Surviving Folk Music

By  Christopher C. King  |  Forthcoming May 2018

LAMENT FROM EPIRUS_Chris King .jpg

In the tradition of Patrick Leigh Fermor and Geoff Dyer, a Grammy-winning producer discovers a powerful and ancient folk music tradition.

In a dark record shop in Istanbul, renowned collector Christopher King uncovered some of the strangest—and most hypnotic—sounds he had ever heard. The 78s were immensely moving, seeming to tap into a primal well of emotion inaccessible to contemporary music. The songs, King learned, were from Epirus, an area straddling southern Albania and northwestern Greece and boasting a folk tradition extending back to the pre-Homeric era. Lament from Epirus is an unforgettable journey into a musical obsession, which follows a unique genre back to the roots of song itself. As King hunts for traces of two long-lost virtuosos—one of whom may have committed a murder—he tells the story of the Roma people who pioneered Epirotic folk music and whose descendants continue the tradition today. His journey becomes an investigation into song and dance’s role as a means of spiritual healing—and what this may reveal about music’s original purpose.

BOOK DETAILS

Hardcover
Forthcoming May 2018
ISBN 978-0-393-24899-9
6.1 × 9.3 in / 272 pages
Sales Territory: Worldwide

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