A masterpiece of Italian blues. «Anima Blues è il capolavoro di Eugenio Finardi, è un canto offerto alla sorgente del Mississippi, un’invocazione che sale ondeggiando come una lingua di fumo sui campi delle terre del sud, è un amore che esplode e travolge, la lunga strada verso casa del cantautore milanese. C’è una voce straordinaria in Anima Blues, una voce che avvolge come le onde dell’

«It’s the unlikeliest place to imagine a festival, in the Sahara, not far from the Malian town of Timbuktu. But that’s the home of the Festival in the Desert, which celebrated its third anniversary in 2003. While it attracts international talent, the real focus is on artists who make their homes in the area, often of the nomadic Tuareg people. But there are others who live locally, like the

«Another Trilok triumph. Once again, the Indian percussionist and composer Trilok Gurtu proves himself to be among the world’s most adventurous, skilled and intelligent fusionists, on this spectacular marriage between East and West, in collaboration with Italy’s Arkè String Quartet. Many of the best fusions are sound collisions, their very success based on a thrilling clashing of cultures.

«Italian saxophonist Enzo Avitabile went from being a noted sideman to blazing his own trail in the new millennium fusing traditional Italian music with progressive, new ideas. Born in Naples in 1955, Avitabile began studying sax as early as age seven. His musical path led him to conservatory, where he would gain an education in both contemporary and traditional musical techniques. Throughout

«Rogerio Tavares is undoubtedly one of the greatest new talents to play Spanish guitar. This exceptional debut album somehow manages to mix the traditional side of Brazilian traditions with modern influences. His superb mastery of the Spanish guitar is evident on nearly every track, but unlike many players he brings in very light touches of electronica to help fuse the sounds. Galope is an

«A composer, an instrumentalist and a researcher: these are the aspects of the complex and multifaceted musical personality of Riccardo Tesi, a true pioneer of ethnic music in Italy. From his debut in 1978 with Caterina Bueno, strongly rooted in the folk tradition, to the present day collaborations, the musical curriculum of Tesi, born in Pistoia, is characterized by a precious continuity based

«Our musical “voyage” begins with the traditions of Cuban music, passing then through Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela, going back to its Hispanic origins. The strong acoustic impact and jazz language our music carries with it, takes us in a direction we could perhaps define as “Acoustic Latin Jazz” or “World Latin Jazz”. A characteristic of Alta Madera’s sound is definitely the absence of

«Mali Diary (Diario Mali) is a studio recording of duets between the highly successful Italian classical-crossover pianist, Ludovico Einaudi, and Mali musician Ballake Sissoko – one of the most gifted kora players in Africa. This unexpected collaboration was recorded in February 2003, less than a month after they had appeared together at the now famous Festival in the Desert. They had a track

A great collection of (secular) Italian Renaissance music. Highly recommended. Sine Nomine: Gloria Moretti (voice, percussions),Alessandra Fiori (alto, portative organ),Stefano Pilati (Tenor, synphonia, lute, percussions, Renaissance guitar),Marco Ferrari (bass, flute shawn, dulcian),Roberto Caccio (Lute, bass),Fabio Tricomi (pipe and tabor, fiddle, lute, Renaissance guitar,

Difondo are an experimental band from Sardinia. Himalaya is their last work. Not exactly my cup of tea, but a fine work indeed, quite original and fluent. The group, consisting of Sergio Camedda (sampler, looper, voice, cd players, turntable, sound objects, fx and space controller), Giampaolo Campus (sampler/ looper, synth, drum machine, sound objects, glockenspiel, melodica, fx and space

One of the best female Italian folksingers, here in action with her wonderful vocal quartet, in a more experimental mood. Well worth diggin’it! «Il quartetto vocale nasce nel 1976 con lo scopo di eseguire alcune musiche che avevo scritto con intento polifonico, ma che eseguivo

«15 musicians from 11 countries and 3 continents, speaking in 8 different languages thrown together to create an absolutely novel music. World Music in the true sense of the word, music from Planet Earth, the globe in its entirety. The Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio represents a unique experience, perhaps the first of its kind. Each musician brought to the orchestra their instruments and personal

«Enrico Erriquez Greppi, un bilingue dal passato franco lussemburghese, convince A. M. Finaz, rampante chitarrista elettrico, a gettare alle ortiche qualsiasi amplificatore o pedale di sua appartenenza. Questo per la convinzione di Erriquez che sarebbe bello e divertente portare su un palco la stessa atmosfera di festa che si instaura nelle "cantate tra amici", momenti magici in cui stonati e

Since a reader from Argentina requested me to post some Modena City Ramblers music, I’m very happy to anticipate the post of these “Appunti Partigiani”, which I had planned to post on the 25th of April in concomitance with the Festa della Liberazione, the Italian feast day celebrating the liberation of Italy from the German army at the end of World War II. I hope you’ll appreciate these songs of

A masterpiece of Italian rock. « Singer, lyricist, guitarist and pianist. Eugenio Finardi was born in 1952 in Milan, the son of an Italian sound engineer and an American opera singer who had come to Italy to sing at the LA SCALA Theatre in Milan.His first recording experiences came early in his childhood when he sang in children’s’ records and in recordings of American classics for the

Some time ago, Francesco (many thanx, although regrettably belated!)from Sardinia sent me this beautiful album by the sadly late Maria Carta, one of the best interpreters and innovators of Sardinian folk music. Somehow, the files got lost in the vaults of my hard disk. Now, prompted by another reader from Sardinia who sent me a picture of his beautiful land, at last I managed to find it. So here

«Fino ai primi Anni Settanta, strutture e strumenti musicali etnici erano presenti solo in un certo tipo di jazz o di musica contemporanea. John Coltrane impiegava moduli africani e asiatici nelle sue composizioni per sassofono, pianoforte, contrabbasso e batteria. Charlie Mariano e Yusef Lateef usavano strumenti e scale melodiche etniche in abbinamento con il piano, la batteria ecc. Anche gruppi

Tobi, again (thanx!), proposes us this interesting trio that offers us a vast selection of popular songs from Italy and France, all revived with classy arrangements and inspired readings. A small gem, well worth a listen! «Questo gruppo, dal nome insolito, propone dall’inizio del XXI secolo l’incontro “musicale-linguistico” proveniente dalle rive del Mediterraneo. Paroplapi attinge le sue

Hello everybody, although mine is mainly a music blog, I adhered gladly to the Blog Action Day campaign because, as a citizen of this planet, I am profoundly concerned with the actual conditions of its natural environment. We live on the thin-like-a-record surface of the only known world able to support life as we know it, and yet we continue to hurt it in every possible way and treat it as