Drawing on fragments of song, verse and anecdote from Slovakia's rich history of the emigrant experience, the piece is not so much a narrative as a tonal cacophony of a people's grief, fury and desolation. For an English-speaking audience, this only enhances a story that's about the problem of language itself - all immigrants are outsiders, who struggle to be understood. And the music carries its own narrative power: stirring gipsy dances and aching folk laments soundtracking stories of violence and loneliness.