When I raved about the Sicilian Jazz Project in my column last October, I knew that somewhere down the road the group's ambitious self-titled recording would bag an award or three.

Now, as Canadians, we're so fond of saying that our best tend to get recognized outside Canada before getting props at home. The SJP proved this is true when it won the Ragusani nel Mondo prize in September.

"It's a prize which the province of Ragusa in Sicily gives to people who trace their roots there, and who have had significant success in their fields, and who make a contribution or have a connection to Sicilian culture," the group's guitarist and founder Michael Occhipinti tells me.

"They were giving the prize to my brother Roberto and me for the success we've had as musicians, performing with different artists in different styles, and for our own individual projects. But they viewed the Sicilian Jazz Project as especially important because it involved the two of us together -- I composed/arranged the music, and Roberto produced the recording, and of course we both play with the band -- and because it was a unique interpretation of Sicilian music."

Unique, indeed.

Inspired by Sicilian folk and popular music, Occhipinti came up with the the idea to arrange that repertoire for his jazz group. As I wrote in this space, the music could have resulted in a hodgepodge, but it does not. The musical mix is exuberant and engaging, and the playing by some of T.O.'s finest musicians is stellar.

The Project plays an early show Sunday at Lula Lounge.

Occhipinti, who just became a dad for the third time, says the awards took place over four days "in the beautiful baroque city of Ragusa," and were televised internationally. He adds that the city of Modica, his parents' hometown, "presented us in concert in the main square, and we did a couple of performances in Ragusa as well."

He says he believes the SJP won the award because the jury viewed the group as a significant ambassador of Sicilian culture.

"My brother and I -- along with singer Dominic Mancuso, who came to Sicily with us for our performances as part of the awards -- grew up in households hearing the dialects that our parents brought to Canada in the 1950s," he says. "Those dialects are dying out and aren't really spoken anymore, and they were impressed that we speak 'archaic' Sicilian, and that Dominic sings Sicilian folk music so authoritatively.

"I think they also recognize that we've fused their folk music with the sounds of multicultural Toronto, and that we're approaching it differently than Sicilian musicians typically do," Occhipinti adds. "Roberto and I like to think that the recording is as much a reflection of where we've grown up, as it is a tribute to where our parents came from."