Mediterranean Songs

Melos is an ambitious gathering of the musical traditions of three Mediterranean countries – Spain, Tunisia and Greece. The album’s title is Greek for both ‘combination’ and ‘separation’ – a handy word, that. In this set of traditional songs and modern compositions, Iranian percussionist and composer Keyvan Chemirani and his ten singers and musicians explore the modalities of the cultures of Greece, the Maghreb and flamenco musical traditions. The focus is on the contact points of each tradition, each preserving their strength and identity as well as drawing in themes and influences from Turkey, Morocco, and Armenia. The musicians include flamenco guitarist Juan Carmona, Tunisian singer Dorsaf Hamdani, Thessalonika trio En Chordais, and singer El Kiki. An accompanying DVD film follows the players rehearsing in Dherba, Tunisia, before the live recording from the Stimmen Festival in Germany was made last autumn.

North African and flamenco rhythms test each other’s boundaries; songs of exile from Greece and Tunisia find a shared root. Hamdani and Carmona converge on a lullaby from their two cultures on ‘Nanas,’ while violin, qanun (zither) and improvised percussion blend aromatically on the traditional Greek piece, ‘Karsilamas’. Among the set’s highlights is the beautiful ‘Homage to Ibn Arabi,’ dedicated to the Arab-Andalusian Sufi mystic and poet, merging a flamenco rhythm under a Moroccan Sufi benediction (‘there is no God but God’) And on ‘Suite Tunisienne,’ the labyrinthine complex of rhythms builds and rolls and lets forth with intoxicating violin from Mohamed Lassoued, and Hamdani’s voice. Let’s hope this Mediterranean musical feast ismovable enough to get over to British concert hallssoon.