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Solia (Sun) is Raquel Gigot (accordion) and Marielle Vancamp (nyckelharpa) from Belgium. The duo’s debut digs into the repertoire of Wallonia in the south-east of Belgium, where they come from. The tracks are a mix of pieces that have been collected from the late 19th to the middle of the 20th century. Many of the melodies were written down at the time, but subsequently forgotten. That said, one of the songs featured here, ‘Leyiz Me Plorer’, was taken up by Edith Piaf in the Walloon language after she heard it by chance during a trip to Belgium. This duo bring these melodies back to life, to pass them down and give them a chance to travel again. The sound of the CD has a nice flavour of musette music about it but is also very much rooted in the Belgian tradition of bal folk without exploring new arrangements or new sounds. Yet there is something minimalist about the music and the songs that evokes a café en terrasse atmosphere, which is at once charming and refreshing.