Pan Atlantico

Pan Atlantico is a powerful and deeply-moving album that fuses Latin, North American and European styles. Performed live, the sound is raw, exhilarating, experimental and enchantingly intimate. The album came about due to a fortuitous meeting between Argentinian singer and flautist Diana Baroni and Simon Drappier, a maestro on the arpeggione (six-stringed bowed instrument). The two met in Paris and quickly discovered a deep musical chemistry.

The soundscape is rich and varied: from minimalist American music to the beat of the forró; classical guitar licks to Andean flute melodies; cumbia rhythms to folk fingerstyle. What really stands out is melody. Baroni’s vocal and flute melodies are like ancient spiritual arrows piercing modern hearts. Her style takes you from spellbinding beauty to bleak despair; playful joviality to profound wisdom. The variation Drappier achieves on the six strings of his arpeggione is staggering. You’d be forgiven for thinking that he switches between cello, classical guitar and violin. Plucked, bowed, strummed and finger-picked, his virtuosic playing is full of range and passion. Drappier’s unusual and oft-discordant sound effects really give the record depth, too. Overall, the tantalising tension, profound chemistry, raw delivery and unique sonic beauty of this record makes it a deserved listen.