Music of Sicily monodic chants (alla carrettiera) and other indigenous forms to create a uniquely Sicilian modern song style. Sicily has the most vibrant jazz scene in Italy, based in Palermo and including Enzo Rao and his group Shamal, who have added native Sicilian and Arab influences to American jazz. Sicily is also home to Franco Battiato, a popular musician and composer who fused rock and roll with traditional and classical influences, beginning with 1979's "L'era del cinghiale bianco", a popular landmark album. Pop Classical Crossover soundtrack queen Romina Arena hails from Sicily. She has not only recorded in her Sicilian/Italian languages but
Kingdom of Sicily as frankly exploitative. Furthermore, many scholars believe that Sicily went into decline in the late Middle Ages, though they are not agreed on when this decline occurred. Clifford Backman argues that it is a mistake to see the economic history of Sicily in terms of victimization, and contends that the decline really began in the second part of the reign of Frederick III, in contrast to earlier scholars who believed that Sicilian decline had set in earlier. Where earlier scholars saw late medieval Sicily in continuous decline, Stephen Epstein argued that Sicilian society experienced something of a revival in the