Peggy Markel, an intrepid and inspired seeker (and facilitator) of culinary and cultural adventures,  recently sent us this one-minute video. She was on a scouting trip at San Francesco di Lula in Sardinia and followed the singing she heard coming from the church rectory’s kitchen. Local women were washing dishes and one was singing in dialect, refusing to be shushed even when admonished NOT to sing while Peggy was filming. Without a trace of embarrassment, she continued to sing, LOUD, as though the singing fueled her work.

Here’s what Peggy wrote on her blog:

“What I didn’t expect was to see such uninhibited passion in the everyday. It shouldn’t have surprised me. Italians are passionate about most everything. Take that passion and push it out into the middle of the Mediterranean and you will find an even more independent folk:’I Sardi’, Sardinians used to doing things their own way- even the dishes. And they’ll be darned if someone tries to stop them.

A passion for life? Put it to work.

The ladies of Santuario San Francesco di Lula, do just that.

I must be the only visitor to Sardinia who barely saw the sea..but apparently didn’t need to.”

Who needs to see the sea, when you have this: the roots of that wild song…

Peggy Markel
Peggy Markel

Peggy Markel
Peggy Markel

Thanks, Peggy!

Related post: (Bowls of) Water Music from India

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6 replies on “sing LOUD! like they do in sardinia

  1. Peg, you have a nose for finding the extraordinary in the ordinary and such a lovely way of sharing it with us. We are so blessed !

  2. Notice how everyone tries to get into the frame, even for a second? A professor speaking at a progressive business retreat said that humans sang as language before they spoke. The singing lady is using her real voice in a conversation with people in the kitchen. She shuts up long enough to give the natterers their say, then answers them in song. La la layla…. (Yeah, sure whatever la la la la la la). But what grabs me is Peggy’s eye. The water musicians, not these ladies (I dare anyone to fire the singer; she whomps through those dishes in nothing flat).
    Peggy, maybe you’ve already done this but save them clips and string them together into a film and enter it at festivals. As observer you are unobtrusive but steady and committed to getting the truth of your subject. This is entertainment in the best sense: transformation politely introducing itself as interesting travelogue. Thank you and please, more….!

  3. Also, check out how the two dishwashing ladies keep moving the faucet to their side of the sink, several times in the course of the clip…There is an amazing amount of info in this little film…

  4. Gosh Susan. Thanks so much. These little videos are like small bites that I want to eventually make into a meal..or film a whole meal one day. I really can’t thank you enough for your encouragement. It’s a new form for me.

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