Tariq

The composer Jaume Compte has explored the music of southern Europe and the Middle East with a number of different projects. This is his second collaboration with the Nafas Ensemble. Compte is an impressive multi-instrumentalist, turning his hand to various plucked strings and percussion, which blend agreeably with the violin, cello, double bass and accordion played by the members of the ensemble to make a sound best described as pan-Mediterranean.

While everything is performed extremely well and the overall effect is very pleasant, there is little coherent identity to distinguish much of this music, even though guest vocal contributions by Francisco Albéniz and Silvia Pérez Cruz are delightful and bring much-needed character. Compte has written successfully for adverts and he hasn’t quite been able to put those skills aside for this CD: on several tracks you do half expect a spoken voice to break in and extol the virtues of virgin olive oil or a Turkish holiday.