Author: Ciro De Rosa
View album and artist detailsArtist/band: |
Lalala Napoli |
Label: |
La Curieuse |
Magazine Review Date: |
May/2021 |
Behind Lalala Napoli is the gifted veteran French accordionist and singer François Castiello of former Bratsch fame, who uses the group to reimagine his Neapolitan roots. So far that’s meant a phantasmic recreation of the music of the buzzing Mediterranean metropolis; however, for Cavalluccio, their third release, the sextet cover a wider expressive spectrum taking a journey of southern Italian traditional music, as on the opener ‘Abracalabria’ where whirling reed flute trills and high pitched ciaramella (shawm) lead. Echoes of brass band tradition wrap ‘Amici del Carretto’, whereas the iterative title-track proceeds in a bursting festive upbeat rhythm. ‘La Danza’, a fast tempo well-known tarantella by Gioacchino Rossini, jumps out as an album highlight. Elsewhere, things get quite edgy when they offer an ebullient, groovy trance-like approach on the winding instrumentals ‘Deleco’ and the Balkan-infused ‘Risposta’, while ‘Fratelli’ results in a yelled hymn to brotherhood.
Although their Neapolitan-French accent may arouse a grin in Naples-born listeners, the roguish combo generously pay homage to canzone napoletana, classic songs of heartbreak, revisiting ‘Na Sera ‘e Maggio’ and the unofficial Napoli football supporter anthem ‘O Surdato ‘Nnammurato’. Overall, Lalala Napoli offer abundant, joyful energy to create a very likeable party.
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