City of 1001 Windows

Welcome to the city of Berat, Albania, 2,400 years young, and welcoming, in its time, Roman, Slavic, Byzantine and Turkish cultures, and now you, the listener. Put your ear to City of 1001 Windows and you’ll hear a colourful, soulful and virtuoso representation of the urban music of Berat, from its deep past to its vibrant present. Here are songs of love – and heartbreak, of course – and richly evocative instrumentals. Recorded at the Palace of Culture of Berat, with veteran singers Petrit Berisha and Ludmilla Baballëku and a cast of seven crack players, on clarinet, accordion, lute, drum, fiddle and guitar, it was produced by Oda 3 – comprising Albania's Edit Pula and the old BBC World Routes team of broadcaster Lucy Durán and sound recordist Martin Appleby.

It's a music redolent of its surroundings and of Berat's long, long history. For lovers of Balkan music, this is a brand new window opening onto what was hitherto rarely seen or heard music. The song names reveal as much as the tunes they carry – ‘I Took the Mandolin & Tare's Daughter’; ‘Girl, Break Those Embroidery Needles’; ‘Ah You Blooming Rose’.

What more do you need to know, if you know those songs?