Filmmakers

David Marker is an Italian American filmmaker, musician, and ethnomusicologist from Kansas City, Missouri. While studying at the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law, he began traveling through southern Italy to document traditional music and learn to play regional forms of the zampogna, the Italian bagpipe. His family roots in Sicily and Campania inspired his exploration of the threatened musical traditions of Sicily, Calabria, Campania, Molise, and Lazio.

Marker directed, produced, photographed, and co-edited Zampogna: The Soul of Southern Italy (2009), a feature-length documentary examining the instrument, its musicians, and the cultural and economic changes affecting rural southern Italy. He has continued to conduct field research, make recordings, perform traditional Italian music, and study rare regional instruments. His expertise has also contributed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s documentation of historic Italian zampogne.