Deva Castel

The Castel del Monte near Ruvo di Puglia, Southern Italy, was the last and most beautiful building of Frederick II. (1194-1250), Roman emperor and King of Sicily. It dominates the Apulian landscape like a white crystal, a fata morgana beyond time and space whose original purpose will probably remain a mystery forever. When German producer Achim Hebgen and French musician Michel Godard visited the castle together, they felt there should be music created in and for the building - music that is simultaneously in the past, the present and the future. Along the borders between Mediterranean folk song and modern composition, mediaeval tradition and jazz improvisation, the first "Castel Del Monte" project (ENJ-9362 2) became a great musical document of the European-Arabic heritage and its historical continuity. Critics liked it all over Europe: CD of the month (Stereoplay), Rating: **** ½ (Jazzthetik), "Un sentiment d'éternité; **** (Jazzman).

The Castel del Monte near Ruvo di Puglia, Southern Italy, was the last and most beautiful building of Frederick II (1194-1250), Roman emperor and King of Sicily. It dominates the Apulian landscape like a white crystal, a fata morgana beyond time and space whose original purpose will probably be a mystery forever. When German producer Achim Hebgen and French musician Michel Godard visited the castle together, they felt there should be music created in and for the building - music that is simultaneously in the past, the present and the future. Cooperating with some of the finest musicians from Italy, France and Switzerland (most of them known from the project La Banda), they imagined a timeless musical synthesis based on old forms (e.g. chaconne, folia, tarantella), yet open to the inspiring eternal atmosphere of the mysterious Castel del Monte.