The Heartbeat of Life (2020)

Francesco, a Sicilian artisan drum maker, is following his dreams by making goatskin tambourines. The goat feeds on the earth, Francesco says, and returns to the earth in a new form; the drum. When Francesco creates an instrument, a true ritual is taking place, because he is giving back a voice to something that lived, died and then returns to life. He looks at the drums as children, all with different personalities. They must scatter. They need to go far away because they must learn to be on their own. Our lives vibrate to a primordial rhythm even before we have ears in the mother's womb, that's how we all are connected with the drum. Peppe, a percussionist and traditional music researcher, was first introduced to drums at age 10. His grandmother had drums hanging on the walls in her house. She would regularly take them down and start banging them with a technique all her own. Today, he teaches the Sicilian tambourine because he believes it to truly be an identity factor of Sicily, particularly Southern Italy . According to methods of the Sicilian Greek philosopher Empedocles, Peppe continues that method playing onomatopoeic sounds taking his cues from the ancient Sicilian dialect. His mission is to keep alive the link between these almost lost worlds.