"You Must Always Respect the Dialects" : Roy Paci, in Siciliano

“You Must Always Protect the Dialects”

Roy Paci, in sicilianoGeorge de StefanoLingue Migranti: The Global Languages of Italy and the Diaspora

Roy Paci & Aretuska

Since 2002, Paci and the band have pursued a

hybrid style that incorporates jazz, Sicilian brass band music, reggae and ska, funk, rock and various Latin American

idioms.

Roy Paci

“To those journalists and bloggers who ask me why I keep singing in Sicilian, I reply that one must always protect the dialects because they contain the essence of the history and culture of our country. The dialects are the humus of the Italian language.”

….

“The so-called „dialects‟ are

actually languages in their own

right…”

Antonio GramsciThe “language question” is a political one…

“Great masters”

of Sicilian

Poet Ignazio Buttitta and folksinger Rosa Balestreri influenced

Roy Paci‟s use of Sicilian language

Baciamo le mani (2002)Paci and Aretuska parody Mafia style on the cover of their

debut album

“Cantu Siciliano”

Paci & Aretuska‟s Sicilianized

remake/reclamation of “Mambo Italiano”

Parola d‟onore (2005)

Paci‟s third album with Aretuska introduced a new approach to lyric writing, mixing verses in Sicilian with other languages

“Malarazza”Un servu tempu fa d‟intra na piazza

Prigava a Cristu in cruci e ci dicia

Cristu lu me padruni mi strapazza

Mi tratta comu un cani pi la via

Rit.

Tu ti lamenti

Ma che ti lamenti

Pigghia nu bastoni e tira fora i denti!

Suono GlobalSuono Global lyrics mix

Sicilian with other idioms; Paci gives a name to this

linguistic mash-up: Italoño, “un idioma che ci avvicina a tutti i popoli (a language that

brings us closer to all peoples).”

LatinistaSanta, ca ti pigghi la cutra di

ogni lamento, sentu

Sangu, chiddu ca mi furria sempri in orgni memento,

uora

Saint, who cares for me and hears my every lament, I feel

my blood, that flows in me always and in every moment...like now

(“Santa”)

“E poi u fazzu da quannu sugnu

natu e mi ni vantu!”

“And besides, I‟ve been doing it since I was born

and I‟m proud of it! “