Thanks to in-depth researches on original manuscripts, Jordi Savall reveals the hidden beauties of Irish and Scottish music from the 17th to 19th centuries.The transcription from fiddle to treble baroque viol sounds so obvious that everyone realises the closeness of traditional and ancient repertoires immediately. Most of the pieces are irresistibly vivid and virtuoso, some are more melancholy, but all of them deserve the renaissance Jordi Savall offers them in his customary, masterly manner. And… for the first time in Alia Vox history, the cover art features a photo of Jordi Savall.
This record does have some limitations. In his accompanying comments, Savall notes the survival and vitality of oral transmission in Irish and Scottish music. Yet he has chosen many of his selections for this album from published collections which themselves filtered, altered, sanitized and 'improved' the oral tradition for a bourgeois audience increasingly interested in the music of 'the people'.
Volume #7 and 8 in this amazing series of slow grinding R&B/Soul/Exotica tunes as they are being played in a club in Melbourne/Australia. Around midnight on the last Saturday of every month, an assemblage of juiceheads, grifters, kittens, dandies and derelicts gather in a dimly-lit, smoke-filled room and dance together real slow. These are some of the records we dance to… Thanks to all the flute players and backing singers of yore for flavouring these old records up just like we like them. –Stag-O-Lee Records