Alegrià e Libertà

This feels like a convivial affair – a motley group of musicians coming together, jamming, finding they get along really quite well and then cutting a disc to capture the spirit of their meeting. The extrovert of the part is lead singer Lucilla Galeazzi, though for my money, it's Carlo Rizzo on the tamburello (a large Italian tambourine) who gives the most distinctive and memorable contribution (clearly I'd been underestimating the tambourine). They're ably accompanied by Galician vocal group Ialma and Belgians Didier Laloy and Maarten Decombel on accordion and guitar respectively.

The material explores the connections and contrasts between Galicia, in the north-west corner of Spain, and Salento, in the ‘heel’ of Italy (Galeazzi's home turf). Perhaps the inspiration for the enterprise came from the legacy of ethnomusicologist Giovanna Marini, who collected songs handed down in the oral tradition and has been something of a mentor to Galeazzi. These are songs – traditional or tradition-inspired – of women working in the fields (the austere harmonies of the title-track really conjure up their sun-parched rural landscape), songs of political protest (‘Bella Ciao’) and of love and dancing (‘E'tempo Dell'amore’ and ‘Cinturini’).