I learned about this fantastic album — and the band that created it — from the Songlines review. Co-produced by Justin Adams, who also plays guitar on a couple of tracks, Meridiana (“sundial” in Italian) is supposed to be a concept album about (different aspects of) time. But you don’t need to understand Italian to thoroughly enjoy the music; the order of the songs is not particularly important either. Collaborations include Pizzica bhangra with Red Baraat and Tic e tac with Enzo Avitabile (of Enzo Avitabile & Bottari, another band I first heard about, many years ago, thanks to Songlines.) If I had to name three favourites, they’d probably be the opening track Balla Nina; no less goosebump-inducing Lu sittaturu that somehow makes me think of an Ukrainian folk song; and wonderful Vulía.
You can listen to the full album on YouTube, complete with contributions of a number of Italian scientists and philosophers and quotes from Lewis Carroll, Marcel Proust, Friedrich Nietzsche and, surprise surprise, Carlo Rovelli.
Meridiana
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Giulio Bianco: recorders, whistles, clarinet, harmonica, zampogna Emanuele Licci: vocals, bouzouki, guitar, battente guitar; tamburello (11) Massimiliano Morabito: diatonic accordion Giancarlo Paglialunga: vocals, tamburello, calebas Alessia Tondo: vocals, castanets; tamburello (11) Silvia Perrone: dance |
Lynn Ligammari: soprano saxophone Sonny Singh: trumpet John Altieri: sousaphone
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Giacomo Greco: synth, sound design; additional production (1, 3, 4, 5) Valerio “Combass” Bruno: electric bass (1 Antonio “Dema” De Marianis: additional percussions (9) |
Gianfranco Salvatore, anthropologist and ethnomusicologist Massimiliano Morabito, musician and ethnomusicologist Francesca Corbo, Amnesty International Italia Roberto Vacca, engineer, mathematician and science communicator Domenico Licchelli, astrophysicist |
Mixed by Francesco Aiello at Boombox Recording Studio Mastered by Tim Oliver at Top Cat Studios Executive production by Titti Santini |
