Taranta Lanera

Italian expat Mari Lanera is a multifaceted artist in the Bordeaux underground scene. Yet, as Taranta Lanera for her eponymous debut, the Treviso-born musician, actress and producer stages an arcane, iconic and kitschy character, visually merging a Hindu goddess and the Catholic Virgin Mary and transfigures the southern Italian healing dance music which is said to cure spider bites.

Drawing on traditional and contemporary tunes and songs, she composes part of the music connecting worlds with her dark singing laid upon tambourine and tabla, which enhance the mesmerising sound dived into loops and iterative thematic melodies tinged with trip hop and cold wave accents, as on ‘Taranta Sonnà’ or ‘Tarantata’. It’s not the most innovative idea out there, as what is known as taranta has burst into club culture for a long time at home, the dense admixture; however, this takes a more lyrical approach, flowing on effortlessly onto the daydreaming, Indian-scented ‘Stella Mia’, while a slow 80s disco ambiance wraps the ballad-based ‘Biaggino Tarantulato’. Elsewhere, she kindly offers Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino’s ‘Beddhu Stanotte’ and grabs you with the sinuous tarantella ‘Lu Passariellu’. A captivating electronic, trance-oriented theatrical delivery.