Songs of Sardegna
Songwriting Retreat in Sardinia, Italy
July 12-18, 2024
This is an intensive, weeklong songwriting workshop and yoga retreat offered on the Italian island of Sardinia, Italy in the picturesque village of Santu Lussurgiu (Santu Lussurzu). Workshop features daily songwriting assignments and guided mentoring from instructors, morning yoga classes, nightly song circles, and a final performance held in the village square (piazza) and open to all village residents. The experience also includes an introduction to traditional Sardinian food including daily catered lunches (the main meal in Sardinia), exposure to traditional Sardinian singing (including a singing workshop with an internationally recognized singing Cuncordu), and immersion in the language and culture of this fiercely independent, semi-sovereign island. Workshop is located in the heart of the village, within walking distance to pizzeria, the café, the bar, the piazza, the baker, and the daily morning produce market. Retreat organizer/facilitator lives in the village and is fluent in Italian. Workshop is modeled on a) developing your own singing, writing and artistic voice b) cultural exchange/cultural immersion and c) building community through cowriting; participants are paired with a different cowriter each day, including retreat facilitators and the songwriter-in residence who also write with participants, and will leave the retreat with up to five new cowritten songs.
Retreat includes lodging (single room/6 nights) at a local "Albergo Diffuso" (unique hotel in the village, Sas Benas), freshly catered lunch and dinner (breakfast), and all instruction (songwriting, yoga and group singing lesson). Yoga focuses on yoga for singers, musicians and performers using a trauma-informed approach, and is tailored to daily needs of participants. Facilities are part of a local Bed and Breakfast, and you should be prepared to participate in community life while at the retreat and respect sovereign Sardinian law and cultural custom. Experience is immersive and you are welcome to participate in village and community events (daily market, Catholic mass, public festivals, performances and events in the piazza) to the extent you are comfortable and able. Open to songwriters of all levels, beginner to experienced. Also open to writers (poets, fiction writers, spoken word artists) wanting to cross into songwriting but desiring mentoring, encouragement and inspiration to do so. Past participants have included songwriters from Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Mexico, continental Italy, the United States, Acoma Pueblo and across the island of Sardinia.
Primary language of instruction is Italian, and is a wonderful way to immerse yourself linguistically in Italian. However, all components of workshop are translated into English. Basic knowledge of introductory Italian is extremely helpful but not required.
Workshop limited to 10 participants.
All songs happen somewhere: Come write songs in a Mediterranean mountain village, surrounded by cobble-stoned streets, rich musical traditions and artisanal food in a thriving agricultural town, hosted by an Italian family in a village known for its singing traditions throughout the world.
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Traditional Sardinian Singing workshop with Luigi 'Gigi' Oliva (of the singing group 'Coro di Bosa')
An evening with the singing group, Cuncordu Sos Zovanos 'e su Rosariu in the church 'Chiesa di Santa Maria degli Angeli'
Private voice lesson with lyric tenor, Bo Shimmin
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7:00-8:00 a.m.: breakfast at retreat facility, Sas Benas
8:00-9:00: morning yoga for singers and musicians with Christy Cook
10:00-11:00: morning song circle/song prompts/cowriting partners assigned with Kristina Jacobsen
11:00-1:00: cowriting with your assigned cowriting partner
1:00-2:00: group lunch at Bellavista Ristorante
2:00-6:00: naps, cowriting, wandering the village; private voice lessons with Bo Shimmin
6:00-7:00: nightly song circle and song feedback, Gianfranco Cossu & Kristina Jacobsen
7:00-9:00: dinner at Sas Benas or in the village
6:00-7:00: nightly songsharing and song circle
7:00-9:00: dinner
8:00-9:00: optional jam sessions with Bo Shimmin at different locations in the village
9:00: bedtime
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Located off the west coast of Italy on the island known as Sardinia, Santu Lussurgiu is located in central Sardinia but is only thirty minutes from the Mediterranean sea. With a population of 2400, it has a museum, libraries, schools and consummate concert facilities, but also rustic pizzerias, five-star restaurants, and endless cobblestone streets, each decorated uniquely and lovingly cared for by older women in the village.
Sardinia, an island occupied by Visigoths and later Moors, Spaniards and eventually the Kingdom of Italy, of which it is now formally a province, is an amazing cultural amalgamation of Spanish, Italian, Arabic, and Indigenous Sardinian culture. This is seen, heard and tasted in the cuisine, in the many languages spoken on the island (Sardinian has four main variants, each of which are not mutually intelligible), and in the various and rich musical traditions that are esteemed and celebrated by many Sardinians (Sardi). This includes a style of cappella singing for which Santu Lussurgiu is especially known, called cantu a cuncordu (“singing together”), a genre of a four-part cappella singing, recently recognized by UNESCO as a form of Intangible World heritage and recorded and studied by ethnomusicologists around the world. Santu Lussurgiu boasts many singing groups, many of whom tour and perform internationally, instrumentalists (the accordion is the primary accompanying instrument), and lovers of music. The village is also widely recognized for its equestrian culture, its own artisanal cheese, handmade only in this village and known as casizolu, for its handmade and very intricate artisanal knives, and for its wines, including the red wine known as cannonau.
“Songs of Sardegna” thanks Mayor Diego Loi and the Comune of Santu Lussurgiu for their warm welcome and support in hosting our first songwriting workshop in Italy.
Who’s it for?
Musicians, songwriters, poets, creative writers and yogis.
We seek participants who are willing to immerse themselves in culturally immersive, creative collaboration and who will show up fully in our communities of practice.
We welcome LGBTQ+, veterans, and members of all socially marginalized groups to our retreats. We strive to create a community of care at each retreat in a welcoming, safe and artistically nurturing environment for all participants.
How to apply:
To be considered for the retreat, please schedule an interview with our facilitator, Kristina Jacobsen:
Basic Italian or Spanish language skills are a plus to deepen your own experience in Sardinia, but certainly not required for workshop participation. Following acceptance into the workshop, all participants will be asked to sign an international waiver of liability form. Any additional questions and queries are always welcome.
Cost:
$1650 (inclusive of lunch, dinner, lodging, & all instruction)
Deposit deadline: 3/15/2024 ($500; nonrefundable) or total of $1550 (save $100) if paid in full via paypal by deposit deadline to hold your place.
Remainder ($1150) due 04/01/2024.
Sardinian citizens attend at the discounted rate of EU 500 (inclusive of lunch, dinner, lodging, & all instruction).
Deposit of EU 100 due 3/15/2024; remainder (EU 400) due 4/01/2024 via paypal. Please see recommended arrival/departure times and Detailed Registration Information and Packing List, here.
All accommodations are single rooms. Transportation to/from city of Cágliari to Santu Lussurgiu costs U.S. $30 roundtrip (EU 25) and is coordinated by main facilitator, both ways (if you are flying internationally, it is recommended that you plan to arrive a day early to Cágliari and leave a day later).
Arrival/departure times:
Arrival: 4:00 pm, 07/12, Santu Lussurgiu
Departure: 10:00 am, 7/18, Santu Lussurgiu
For more details on retreat policies and refunds, please click here.
Participants say…
“You should know that there will be a very expert and empathetic person welcoming us, who does not leave out any technical detail and who gives free space to creativity.”
“[Through] the relationship that is created with the person with whom the writing of the text is shared, I think I intimately perceived the generosity of receiving and giving, free from any form of prejudice or judgement. The most incredible experience is to see the body of a song with its melody born from nothing. This is magic!
“It can feel like a lot to take on: but if you are willing (even just a tinnnny bit) to play on the edge of the unknown it’s super rewarding time spent in communication with beautiful humans!”