Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - Meridiana

The Guardian 0

(Ponderosa Music)
Recorded in lockdown, the dynamic Italian folk band’s latest mixes high drama and contemplation

The southern Italian troupe – let’s call them CGS – offer a lesson in how to turn local music into a global brand, having updated Puglia’s pizzica tradition of song and dance into eclectic, festival-friendly theatre. Mixing originals and age-old songs, this latest album comes loaded with their customary drama, setting individual and collective vocals against handheld tamburello drums (think bodhráns on steroids) and backings of squeezebox, bouzouki, violin and pipes.

Openers Balla Nina and Orfeo alternate rapid-fire male and female vocals (suggesting Italian is the natural language of rap) with massed harmonies that have one foot in pagan folk, the other in church. The production of guitarist Justin Adams (Robert Plant’s lieutenant) adds clever touches of dub and drone to proceedings.