Track 6 - Almond Sorters

The original field recording that inspired the arrangement:

This melody is taken from an epic ballad that was traditionally sung during the almond harvest in Sicily. While the women would sort the almonds they would sing these ballads would for hours! When you are sorting millions of almonds, it’s good to have a couple of long songs.

I found the overall vibe and flow of this melody to absolutely captivating, but I couldn’t find a good way to encapsulate the story in a way that made sense to me, so I ended up making this into a mainly instrumental version at the time. We now also have a version that we play live that is in 5 and has lyrics. There is also a wonderful version (and music video) of this song that was arranged by a group called The Sicilian Jazz Project!