We tend to perceive music as a form of entertainment - ultimately, as a luxury, as something unnecessary. And indeed, the music we usually listen to serves this purpose: to entertain. But what was the primary function of music? Why did humans once start singing and dancing?

Christopher King, an award-winning music producer and avid collector of gramophone records, argues that music in its primal form is a remedy for the wounds of the soul - something as essential as air and food. Gradually, music ceased to have this function. The fragile cultural ecosystems in which music performed its healing work have been destroyed. With the exception of a remote corner of Greece, at the edge of Europe - Epirus. Here, miraculously, an ancient way of life has been preserved that has allowed music to maintain its therapeutic role.

King takes us on a journey to this harsh yet magical place, where music becomes one with poetry, dance, and celebration. King writes about the history of Epirus and the grandeur of the landscape, about the festivals, the tsipouro, and the Romani musicians, about collective experiences and shared memories.

He speaks to us of music as a lament, as a lullaby, and as comfort. He talks about people who know how to mourn and know how to celebrate. Combining philosophical reflection with historical description, musicological analysis with an anthropological perspective, this passionate and playful narrative ultimately takes the form of a love letter to music and the people of Epirus.