King is a Grammy-winning producer, musicologist, and avid 78 rpm record collector. In 2009, while in Istanbul, he picked up a few old LPs and heard music unlike any he’d heard before. What he could only describe as a “dissonant instrumental played with an uncontrolled abandon” came from Epirus, a remote region straddling northwestern Greece and southern Albania. King made several trips to the area to hear more and trace the roots of this utterly unique sound, and his book is a true voyage of discovery. Immersing himself in Epirus’s ancient culture, King attended festivals and dances, talked to musicians and shepherds, gradually uncovered the roots of this unique musical tradition, and answered his own most urgent question: why do we make music?
