About me
Restless woman from the South, Roberta Gulisano's world has deep roots in the heart of Sicily.
As a teenager, she took her first steps in folk music as a singer and dancer, joining a group of friends passionate about traditions, which would later become her first band, Compagnia Triskele.
From the repertoire of Rosa Balistreri to folk music festivals and through various collaborations with small theatre companies, she accumulated significant experiences, including opening for Carmen Consoli & I Lautari , in Cinisi (IT) in 2008, for the Peppino Impastato annual memorial event.
While performing in local festivals and town squares, she delved into the works of Italian singer-songwriters from the '70s and '80s. The need to learn and explore new genres, led her to get a Jazz music and composition degree at the V. Bellini Conservatory of Palermo (IT). In this brief but intense period, her focus shifted to harmony and composition and she started writing her first songs.
In 2010, she took part to the Premio Bianca D’Aponte, contest for female songwriters, winning the Best Lyrics Award with the song Troppo Profondo per le 23. At the end of 2010, along with Compagnia Triskele, also won the Premio Andrea Parodi – World Music contest – with the song Fimmini. In May 2011, they perform at the European Jazz Expo in Cagliari (IT).
In 2011, Roberta reached the semifinals of the XXII edition of Musicultura. In 2012, she was a finalist in the third edition of Musica da Bere and Botteghe d’Autore festival, reaffirming her status as Best Author at the VIII Premio Bianca D’Aponte. In July of the same year, she signed the soundtrack for the short movie Liberi tutti, by young director Ben Pace, one of the eight films selected for the final of the Giffoni Film Festival 2011.
Her first release Troppo Profondo per le 23, in 2011, marked the beginning of a period of intense activity that led to the production of her first album, Destini Coatti. In this album, Gulisano navigates through various musical genres with a sharp and cynical pen, imbued with a noir touch. The concept, inspired by the book Destino Coatto by sicilian writer Goliarda Sapienza, tells stories of women and their often dramatic endings. Well-received by audience and music critics, Destini Coatti was selected in the Opera Prima section at the Premio Tenco 2012.
Her second album, Piena di(s)grazia was released in 2016. Passion, anger, and faith are interpreted in a theatre of hypnotic riffs and sumptuous arrangements, guiding Roberta toward a new musical path. The album was produced by Cesare Basile, with whom she would later collaborate as vocalist and percussionist on the album and tour of U fujutu su nesci cchi ffa? (Urtovox, 2017).
From 2017, engaged in the experience of emigration, she gathered material for restless souls and embroidered silence.
This eventually led to the release of A ccu apparteni? (Mhodí Music Company, 2024). This album in Sicilian dialect, is a brief and intense work on self-recognition and the loneliness of the uprooted people of all latitudes and times; is the blood that flows from the past to the future, which—like music—changes form without changing substance. Brief, intense, raw and gritty, it stitches together elements of tradition with contemporary distortions, original lyrics with ancient noises, in a never coincidental intertwining of sounds and stories.
The album entered the Top Ten of the World Music Chart Europe in October 2025, and the playlists of several international radio stations and has been subject of study of a few music-degrees final dissertations.
