Track 8 - Funeral Lament

Here is the original field recording that inspired the arrangement:

Funeral Lament uses another sample from Alan Lomax’s collection of field recordings (shown above) and highlights a very moving tradition that is still used in central and southern Italy today. The funeral lament is a way of grieving that pre-dates the Roman empire and would involve a type of song that you would sing to help you work through your grief. This particular lament was sung by a woman (Grazia Moretti) that had lost her husband years earlier, but Lomax was able to convince her to record this stirring performance. The emotion is palpable. 

In this composition I was wanting to try and capture a mixture of grief mixed with a bit of hope in the B section to give the piece a slight lift.