I remember my mother telling me how her father (Bustianu Dui said “Borodaeddu”, whom I barely knew unfortunately) used to get together with his friends to sing traditional Sardinian chants. She'd always mention that some old recordings from that era even existed. Yet noone had ever heard them or knew where they were, so it eventually became some kind of “urban legend” that was running in the family. Until…

A couple months ago, I finally came across some old tapes at one of my uncle's. I quickly had them digitalized, incredibly excited but totally unsure of what I was going to find.
Like going on a treasure hunt really.

And…BINGO !!! Skipping through the whole thing I came across this long piece where a man is singing by himself. It immediately struck me by its beauty and, as soon as I got a little time, I isolated it from the rest and called it “The shepherd's chant”, not really knowing if that actually was my nonno's voice or somebody else's.

I meant to ask my mother to check it out but eventually forgot about it and just kept the chant to myself, listening to it in my car and even playing some music over it.

Today, I let my mother hear it: we were sitting around the table and I felt a bit anxious, scrutinizing her every move. The shepherd's voice resonated and the look on her face immediately turned into this bizarre thing..like she wasn't there anymore. Like she'd seen a ghost.

I didn't have to ask.
We just sat there crying in silence.
A moment of pure connexion with the past that I could never forget.