Diaspora Sefardi - Romances and Musica Instrumental

"Jordi Savall, Monterrat Figuras and Hespérion XXI pioneered the revival of early Spanish repertoire more than two decades ago, releasing classic recordings such as Secular Music from Christian and Jewish Spain. Their experience reaps tremendous dividends with the two-CD set Diáspora Sefardí. This is music of the Sefardim, the Spanish Jews exiled in 1492, but extends beyond the expected repertoire to include later music from those who settled as far away as Rhodes, Sofía and Sarajevo. The first disc is a programme of romances, Montserrat Figueras giving deeply impassioned performances pitched between heartrending elegy and searing eroticism. Compared to the cool perfection of the version by Florata on Magnificentia Iberica, El Rey de Fancia comes alive with an earthy engagement which rivets the attention, while an epic of betrayal, Nani, Nani, harnesses monumental emotional intensity. Throughout, the playing is superb, but inevitably the musicians really come into their own on the second CD, a set of instrumentals and improvisations, including the slow-burning rapture of Axerico. Here is 130 minutes of incredibly evocative, primal music with the potential to go way beyond the early music market and become a huge hit with followers of folk, world, jazz and perhaps even rock. Quite simply, a great recording"
(Amazon.com)

Montserrat Figueras (voice), Yair Dalal (oud), Ken Zuckerman (lute, sarod), Pedro Memelsdorf (recorders), Begoña Olavide (psaltery, qanun) Andrew Lawrence-King (arpa doppia), Edin Karamazov (medieval lute), Arianna Savall (medieval harp), Jordi Savall, (lira, viola, rebab), Xavier Díaz (renaissance lute), Pedro Estevan (percussion)] - Jordi Savall, dir.