At Least Wave Your Handkerchief at Me: The Joys and Sorrows of Albanian Song

This is a journey into the mountains of southern Albania with producer Joe Boyd and engineer Jerry Boys. Boyd and co-producers Edit Pula and Andrea Goertler have assembled the eight-piece band drawing on the beautiful arabesques of saze, whose instrumental mix of clarinet, violin and lute originated in the 19th century, but whose vocal style, combining at least two melodic lines, is as old as the hills. That sense of deep soul and the intertwining of East and West, of the ancient with the tempered scale, will suffuse the whole of your journey through this album. Singers Donika Pecallari and Adrianna Thanou sculpt thrilling harmonies with the contrasting timbres of their voices, while the violin of Aurel Qirjo and the weeping clarinet of Telando Feto, a village music teacher, are equally compelling.
Shepherds, flutes, flocks, bandits, the yearning heart, the rebel yell – the songs' subjects are as old and tough as the mountains, but the sweetness and ache in the telling is fresh as milk. When the singers rest, the emotive kaba – the ‘Albanian blues’ – speaks just as powerfully through passages of melancholic improvisation. This is a superb introduction to a mysterious, little-known culture on Europe and Asia's borders. This album is your visa, passport, local currency and point of contact.