Novilunio

Well known as vocalist of the Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, Maria Mazzotta here joins forces once again with Albanian cellist Redi Hasa for a new album. It is music that sounds convincingly modern while remaining deeply rooted in tradition; geographically it moves in a wide arc, including not only the Italian and Albanian sides of the Adriatic sea but several points east and south thanks to master Iranian percussionist Bijan Chemirani and Mehdi Nassouli, a Moroccan singer. Mazzotta sounds at ease in all the languages she sings in, including Italian, Apulian dialect, French and Albanian. She has an intense expressive power, explosive in ‘Cu Ti Lu Dissi’ by Otello Profazio and Rosa Balistreri.

Virtuoso cellist Hasa, whose high-profile collaborations include Ludovico Einaudi and Robert Plant, provides effective accompaniment to the voice throughout, as well as a short meditative solo in ‘Woodroom’. The most successful tunes are the Albanian traditional ‘25 Trecce’, arranged for voice, cello and percussion, and the closing ‘Libro d’Amore'. The latter is a monumental variation on classic pizzica rhythms, with traditional verses put to new melodies by Mazzotta; she accompanies herself on tambourine against a stark background of electronically modified, layered cello, uneasily but successfully bridging tradition and contemporaneity.