Meridiana

‘Meridiana is about our relationship with time, its perception. As southerners we are defined by our connection with the sun, its intense, hot and bright light and the shadows which it inevitably casts. That’s why the album is entitled Sundial.’ Mauro Durante’s words introduce the latest release from Salento’s fabulous musical force. It is a concept album speculating upon the sense of time and the importance of sharing in these days of suspended life.

CGS’s narrative offers layers of instrumentation and imaginative subtleties balancing the ancient and contemporary. All the songs, while rich in traditional shapes, are collective compositions. Produced by Mauro Durante and Justin Adams (also playing electric guitar on two numbers), with Giacomo Greco integrating natural and solid electronics, the record displays a warm and stringy sound, as on the opener ‘Balla Nina’, a dancing hymn to life brought about by harsh singing over frame drums, synth-bass, fiddle and organetto, or on the entrancing pizzica-driven ‘Orfeo’, a varied texture of poignant voice and orchestration. The bustling, syncretic, dhol-meets-tamburello ‘Pizzica Bhangra’ features the group Red Baraat, symbolically joining Punjab, Salento and NYC. Effective on the groovy ‘Tic e Tac’ is another illustrious guest, Enzo Avitabile, whose Neapolitan singing intertwines with the Salento voices. Elsewhere, the melodious ‘Quannu Camini Tie’ has a Greek flavour. Further high points come from the rousing ‘Stornello alla Memoria’, a concerned plea for the loss of collective memory, and ‘Vulía’, where an overwhelming pizzica rhythm led by an enthralling harmonica accompanies the lyrics, which call for environmental action. The only instrumental, the trance-inducing ‘Ronda’, showcases zampogna (bagpipe) encircled by four incessant tambourine beats. The album concludes with the intimate, embracing ‘Meridiana’. An intense experience, and another major work from Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino.