The Cape Verdean singer was the preeminent force of morna music, which combines fado, jazz, and Latin.
The crusaders' dilemma is clearly exemplified in the song Seigneur, saichies by Thibaut de Champagne. "He who does not leave at once for the land where Christ loved and died, and takes the cross … will hardly go to paradise" and yet in the words of another song by Thibaut "God, why did you create foreign countries? It has parted many lovers who have lost comfort of love and forgotten its joy." There was, though, a joy greater than this: "It is good to be God's servant, and not to be touched by danger or chance; Serve well and be rewarded well." (Conon de Bethune). It is still, even at a distance of 800 years very touching to read these words and to hear these songs; they retain a strong quality, which, in these performances, is captured very well.
The three women that make up the early music ensemble Sinfonye tap into some of medieval France’s more lively and entertaining repertoire in this generously filled program of 13th-century songs and motets. Not surprisingly for performances of music from this period, the singers have assumed a certain interpretive license, not only in terms of the specifics of the vocal lines but also regarding accompaniments, which include the delightfully reedy sounds of hurdy-gurdy and medieval fiddle. In some cases, they begin with a piece in its more formal written form–a motet–and extract what probably was the original melody that inspired it.
If boiled down to a simple synopsis, the Beatles' LOVE sounds radical: assisted by his father, the legendary Beatles producer George, Giles Martin has assembled a remix album where familiar Fab Four tunes aren't just refurbished, they're given the mash-up treatment, meaning different versions of different songs are pasted together to create a new track. Ever since the turn of the century, mash-ups were in vogue in the underground, as such cut-n-paste jobs as Freelance Hellraiser's "Stroke of Genius" – which paired up the Strokes' "Last Night" with Christina Aguilera's "Genie in a Bottle" – circulated on the net, but no major group issued their own mash-up mastermix until LOVE in November 2006.
Adam de la Halle (c. 1237 - 1288) was one of the first composers to receive the honour of having manuscripts copied comprising his complete works, surely indicative of the esteem in which he was held. De la Halle moved between two worlds as the music of the courts of the nobility was moving out into the aspiring merchant classes of the cities.
His songs of courtly love are characterised by, to use his own phrase, "mal joli", or delightful woe.