Hit Week – the world’s only music festival showcasing Italy’s current scene on the global stage — returns to North America with its strongest line up to date. A greatly expanded edition of the annual event touches down in New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Toronto between September 7 and October 30th. In New York headliners announced include iconoclastic Italian singer, songwriter and composer Franco Battiato, Nicola Conte and Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, Italy’s top act on the international world music circuit.8 october – Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino and Nicola Conte at Highline BallroomItaly’s new-generation masters of taranta, Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, return to North America for a string of headline appearances at Hit Week. A must-see band on the world music festival circuit, Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino – better known as CGS — have established themselves as the leading force in the revival of the mysterious Italian folk style known as pizzica, or more commonly “taranta.” American media response for this spellbinding, intensely rhythmic music, whose dancer has been called Italy’s answer to the whirling dervish, has already been overwhelmingly positive, with glowing write-ups from The New York Times, Chicago Reader and The New Yorker, who called the group “utterly beguiling and trance-inducing.” 9 october – Franco Battiato at Highline BallroomPolyglot singer, songwriter and composer Franco Battiato is internationally regarded as one of the most original creators in Italian music from the 1970s to the present. At Hit Week the 68 year-old, Sicilian-born musician will draw from a stunning repertoire spanning four decades accompanied by a 4 piece rock group. From his seminal 1971 prog-rock release “Fetus” (re-released in 2006 with liner notes by friend and avant-rocker Jim O’Rourke) to 2008’s “Fleurs 2” which features duets with New York’s Antony Hegarty (Antony and the Johnsons).Tickets for october 8: http://highlineballroom.com/show/2013/10/08/canzoniere-grecanico-salentino/Tickets for october 9: http://highlineballroom.com/show/2013/10/09/franco-battiato/