SISSYCASTROGIOVANNI
Award-winning Italian singer, songwriter, producer and educator
Castrogiovanni
Sissy
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meet Sissy
Sissy Castrogiovanni's musical roots are in the rhythms, colors and flavors of her native Sicily, and radiate outward in a unique blend of African and Mediterranean influences. Her synthesis of post-bop jazz harmony and intoxicating ear for melody — all sung in her Sicilian dialect — create a truly singular voice in jazz.
As an award-winning singer, composer and producer, Sissy has toured Europe, the United States and South America, collaborating along the way with luminaries like Bobby McFerrin, drummer Jack DeJohnette, Latin Grammy-winning producer Javier Limon, and legendary vocalist Patrice Rushen, among others.
Downbeat and Jazziz Magazine have praised Sissy's expressive, emotional live show, and her rare vocal control and extension, talents she applies also as a Berklee College of Music professor.
"Castrogiovanni exhibits her expansive, gorgeous voice with melodic, soulful songs sung entirely in Sicilian dialect. International beauty full of charm and dynamic personality, the Sicilian diva could probably sing her songs in Esperanto and they'd still sound soulful and dramatic."
– NPR
Festival and Venue Appearances
Panama Jazz Festival
Dominican Republic Jazz Festival
Jazz en Lima Festival
Carnegie Hall (with Bobby McFerrin)
The Music Hall (with Bobby McFerrin)
The RegattaBar
European Parliament
55 Bar
The New AlbuM
Fully sung in Sicilian dialect, Sissy’s compositions are an attractive synthesis of musical cultures; a pleasurable intricacy of her Sicilian and Mediterranean influences, earthy African rhythms, tribal voices and post-bop jazz harmonies. Terra is a meditation on our spiritual conception of our home planet.
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Sissy is the voice and the image of Sicily.
A superb singer who's precious music immediately transports us to the streets and fields of some southern people full of life and art. Something very different, worthy of the utmost attention.
– Javier Limon, 7-time Grammy Winner
"The audience was thrilled by [...] smoothly rendered workouts of Mediterranean-inspired sounds led by bluesy vocalist Sissy Castrogiovanni.."
"Vivacious Sicilian chanteuse Sissy Castrogiovanni impressed an SRO audience with her mastery [..] Castrogiovanni floated effortlessly through octave-jumping scatting and vocalese forays. Her version of Chopin’s majestic Nocturne in Eb Major, demonstrated the singer’s emotional range and precise sense of pitch."
"Castrogiovanni exhibits her expansive, gorgeous voice with melodic, soulful songs sung entirely in Sicilian dialect. International beauty full of charm and dynamic personality, the Sicilian diva could probably sing her songs in Esperanto and they'd still sound soulful and dramatic."
Critical Acclaim
"Sissy Castrogiovanni’s Terra is a description of, and a prescription for, life in harmony—harmony with the world, the human family, and ourselves. The compositions and arrangements are remarkable and the performances are stellar. The album is more than a CD, it is a philosophical-spiritual treatise." – The Jazz Owl
Bright as a rainbow and colorful as a fair whirl - this is the sound of Terra. And above and in it reigns the strong, expressive and emotional voice of Sissy Castrogiovanni herself. – Jazzquad
It may have been John Coltrane who once said, “You don’t have to understand it, you just have to feel It.” Whether we understand Sissy or not, it’s impossible to not feel her passion. Her talent is off the charts too. – Making a Scene
