The realization of that special idea is the history of the encounter of two music formations. Michael Popp, musical director of the group Estampie, well-known in the medieval music-scene for their innovation and quality, has never ceased to criticize publicly insubstantial academical parading of supposedly authentic performance or medieval ballyhoo and commerce. After one Estampie concert a visitor presented Michael with a recording and said: This will probably find favour in your critical ears.... It was a record of the band L'Ham de Foc from Valencia (Spain) who have put a name on the map of world music with their typical mixture of mediterranean, oriental and medieval music. With a smaller by-project focussing on sephardic music, Amán Amán, the band was to guest just a few weeks later in Munich, Estampie's homebase. Enthusiastic about the record, Michael Popp took the chance and proposed a mutual project to the Spanish musicians. It didn't take long to find out that they were birds of a feather, like-minded in musical as well as in human views, and the project made quick progress during several visits to Valencia and Munich.
D**L
Music of a Golden Age: Spain in the Middle Ages
Once upon a time Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived together in peace and created a cosmopolitan region fostering science, medicine, the arts, scholarship, and commerce. Iberia, al-Andalus, was this place in the Middle Ages. Whichever the religion and people, musicians shared their music and instruments and learned from each other. In this spirit, the German Early Music ensemble Estampie and the Spanish Mediterranean music band L'Ham de Foc came together to produce this ad hoc Andaluz Project. Fronted by accomplished vocalists Sigrid Hausen, Mara Aranda, and Iman al Kandoussi and backed by instrumentalists playing oud, saz, rabab, flute, hurdy-gurdy, vielle fiddle, lafta bowed lute, cittern mandolin, Indian bowed dilruba, the Swedish nycelharpa, quanun, and percussion, the musicians perform Arabo-Andulsian nubia and gharnati, Sephardic Jewish ballads, and 13th-century hymns to Mary collected in the Codex of Alfonso X, the Wise. The resulting albums are outstanding, both in performance and production. The hurdy-gurdy dominates the Christian side of the troika, while the quanun (masterly played by Aziz Samsaoui) supports the Jewish and Arab pieces. The two studio albums (Deus et Diabolus of 2007, recorded in Sevilla; Al-Maraya of 2010, recorded in Munich) and an earlier live concert recording document their enterprise. There are some differences in instrumentation between the two studio albums. The package notes includes the lyrics in Arabic, Spanish (Ladino), with no English translations. My preference is the brighter, leaner Deus et Diabolus album, which includes a fine Persian-like improvisational instrumental of drums (Diego López & Sascha Gotowtschikow) and saz (Efrén López). The Al-Maraya album has a larger ensemble, including cello, bagpipe, tabla, and harp, that gives full orchestral sound. Both are beautiful albums and will appeal to classical and world music collectors.
D**E
Very good
Great music
S**A
Five Stars
Love it.
A**N
This is a great album of Arab-andalousian music!
I can't believe no one has reviewed this great album! This music is inspired by the Muslim, Jewish and Christian cultures that came together in middle-ages era Spain. Some of the tracks are medieval Christian canticles, others are traditional Sephardic Jewish folk songs and others are Arabic. The singers are phenomenal and the backing instrumentals include the oud (an Arab precursor to the guitar) , qanun (like a plucked harp laid on its side), percussion, and create a rich, varied sound.It's lovely music and I'm sure you'll like it.
E**Y
A great opportunity which they haven't quite pulled off
Three women, one Muslim, one Jewish, one Christian, come together in a collaborative musical effort (an essentially politically motivated act: "wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all live together in harmony like in mediaeval Spain [hence 'Al Andaluz']?" - a rose tinted view of history, but that's another story).Having such a CD seen on one's shelf is sure to enhance one's right-on socialist credentials, but muscially I'm not sure they've entirely pulled it off. It's all technically very good of course, but it feels a little too overproduced on the mixing desk and a little too "pop" in its arrangement. Maybe that's intentional, but it comes across as neither one nor the other, neither an accurate recreation of medieval music nor a modern reinterpretation, somewhere in no man's land.Whilst there are of course stylistic differences between the Spanish, Judaeo-Spanish and Arabic pieces (mostly mediaeval but with one new vocal and one new instrumental composition included), the CD as a whole sounds a little too samey throughout to provide us with a thoroughly great album.Lyrics are provided in Spanish/Judaeo-Spanish/Arabic with no English translations.I would probably give it 3.5 stars after first hearing, but I'm sure it's going to grow on me a bit more as time goes on so I'll give it 4 stars.
M**R
Einmalige Erinnerung an eine Geburtstagsreise nach Granada
Zusammen mit dem Lesen von Kinkels Roman "Mondlaub" (obwohl dieser leider auch schmonzettenartige Schilderungen enthält)und meinen erworbenen Büchern über die Alhambra und Granada sowie dem Sehen von Alhambra-Videos auf "youtube" gewährt mir diese CD ein wunderbares Flair der Erinnerung an meinen Granada-Besuch. Leider kann ich dies nicht mehr gemeinsam mit meiner Freundin, Mitsponsorin für diese Reise und mir viel bedeutenden Mitreisenden geniessen.
G**C
bellissimo ed interessante cd di musica medioevale
Disco pieno di atmosfera. Interessante esperimento per il recupero di particolari melodie nell'ambito della musica medioevale. I testi e le musiche presentati, provenienti da quel crogiuolo di civiltà che fu la Spagna moresca, l'Al Andalus di Cordoba etc., ne fanno un cd riuscitissimo. Per gli amanti e gli esegeti della musica antica.
G**L
Perfekt!
Eine der seltenen CDŽs die absolut perfekt sind.Das Al Andaluz Projekt, eine Fusion zwischen LŽham de foc und Estampie, präsentiert hier auf "Gott und der Teufel" traditionelle jüdische, christliche und maurische Lieder und Gesänge.Die Musik ist lebendig, vielschichtig und verbindet die drei so unterschiedlichen Wurzeln perfekt zu einer Harmonie.Das dürfte nicht nur Mittelalterfans gefallen.Das Booklet ist schön aufgemacht mit einer Einführung in die Entstehung des Projekts auf Deutsch, Englisch und Spanisch. Leider sind die enthaltenen Texte nur auf Spanisch und Arabisch mit dabei.Trotzdem macht das den Spaß an dieser CD keineswegs geringer und allein schon die schöne arabische Schrift zu bewundern hat ja auch etwas für sich.Ich habe den Kauf auf keinen Fall bereut, sondern bin froh dass es noch Gruppen und Projekte mit einem so hohen künstlerischen Anspruch gibt!
C**S
I LOVE IT
magnifique album, la musique de Al Andaluz, sepharade, arabo andalouse et cantiguas de Santa Maria. Les musiciens sont parfaits, les chanteuses aussi. J'adore.
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