Basta!

Southern Italian trance, anyone? If you’ve had enough of the same old sounds, try Basta! (pun intended). Giuliano Gabriele is a diatonic accordionist and composer from Sora in south-central Italy who works with the hypnotic folk rhythms of the Italian south and blends them with broader global sounds, to great effect. The groove he finds in Basta! (Enough!) is truly infectious.

Gabriele draws on tarantella and other southern Italian traditions, with their historic links to Greece and Africa. This mix of cultures is reflected in his band, which includes Lucia Cremonesi on Calabrian lyre, Eduardo Vessella on tambourine and Carmine Scialla on bouzouki and chitarra battente (literally strumming or beating guitar), an instrument similar to a Baroque guitar that is common to the folk music of southern Italy.

To these more traditional instruments are added synths, drums and electric guitars, alongside Gabriele’s wired and insistent vocals, creating a high-energy mix. There’s a vigour to Gabriele’s delivery and an inventiveness to the sound that is really compelling, with a feeling of the very ancient and primordial rubbing up against something young and wild and iconoclastic.