After many musically individual albums, the paths of Helene Blum and Harald Haugaard unite on "Den store sommer" for their second joint album. Over the past three years, the two have gathered countless inspirations. Den store sommer is an album about summer - both lyrically and as a metaphor. The album was recorded at Medley Studios in Copenhagen and produced together with Søren Mikkelsen and our band. For the listener, dancing friends and laughter are closely united with melancholic darkness - musically it is always a pleasure. More

Six years after their previous album, Gjermund Larsen Trio finally releases their long-awaited sequel, Tøyen Sessions. The album was conceived as early as 2019, but was first recorded in its entirety in Tøyenkirka, January 2023. As the church has been the trio's rehearsal space since its inception in 2005, this release is definitely on home ground.

Gjermund Larsen is without a doubt one of Norway's most famous and beloved folk musicians, who with his playful and passionate fiddle playing has captured listeners far beyond the traditional folk music audience.

The trio, which consists of Gjermund Larsen (fiddle), Andreas Utnem (piano) and Sondre Meisfjord (double bass), has since its first release in 2008 achieved praise, rave reviews and several awards, including both Spellemannprisen in 2008 (The Norwegian Grammy Awards), German phonographic critics award (2015) and TONO's composer award (2016).

Tøyen Sessions takes you on a journey through both the day and the year with its beginning Morgenslått / Morning Song, via April, Sankthansvals / Midsummer Waltz, to Kveldsvals / Evening Waltz. The pieces are beautifully and exquisitely played by the trio who once again show their unique ability for interaction, dynamics and playfulness.
Gjermund Larsen's warm and moving compositions give insight to the time he has been through in recent years, such as the elated April that was written when the lockdown in 2020 was over and his four children could finally return to school and kindergarten.
On the album you will also find Vintermarsj / Winter March, a commissioned piece for the Winter Festival in Bergstaden, which is intended to be played every year during the festival. Listen and be captivated by Gjermund Larsen Trio's distinctive mesmerizing sound and compositions when this album is finally released in October 2023.

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From the encounter between Daniele di Bonaventura's historic Band'union and Ilaria Pilar Patassini comes an evocative musical journey into the true and deep sounds of the Bel Paese. The tradition of melodies and dialects is proposed and reworked in an elegant and passionate way through the colours of jazz and folk that enhance and renew the soul. Italia Folksongs presents itself as a cultured and popular album with well-known and lesser-known, but no fewer precious compositions: from the naples of 'Varca Lucente' to the abruzzo of 'vola vola', from 'la serenata' with the romanesque text by Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli to the sacredness` of 'Ave Maria Sarda'.

Italia Folksongs is avowedly a project testifying to timeless italian music, to those melodies and wealth of regional diversities that make our country a unique land language in the world and also for this reason much loved.

LISTENING GUIDE TO THE ALBUM “ITALIA FOLKSONGS – CANZONI ALLA SCOPERTA DELL’ITALIA”

1.Varca Lucente (Campania)
Lyrics and music by: Francesco Saverio Mangieri; Original arrangements by: Daniele di Bonaventura Classic Napoletanean song. It was sung by Domenico Attanasio and Oscar Carboni in the fi rst edition of the Festival of Napoletanean Songs. Among the best interpretations of the song stand out those of Beniamino Gigli, Giacomo Rondinella and Roberto Murolo

2. A l'umbre`ta del bussun (o La Beroera) (Piemonte)
Lyrics by: Sulutumana; Arrangiamento originale di: Daniele di Bonaventura The archaic dialect of Piedmont is used in this song originating from the Provençal dialect of the valleys bordering with France. This ballad is still very popular although it is rather diffi cult to understand the background of the story in the lyrics.

3.Ave Maria (o Deus Ti Salvet Maria) (Sardegna)
by: Bonaventura Licheri; Original arrangements by Marcello Peghin The «Deus ti salvet Maria», also known as the «Sardinian Ave Maria», is one of the songs in the Sardinian language most performed on the island and among the most popular beyond the region. The lyrics are a translation of a religious text on the Virgin Mary by the Jesuit priest Innocenzo Innocenzi (1624-1697) which was set to music with the aim to promote Christianity.

4.Vola vola vola (Abruzzo)
by: Guido Albanese e Luigi Dommarco; arrangiamento originale di: Daniele di Bonaventura This traditional song is written in the dialect of Ortona, in the Abruzzo region. The title and the lyrics refer to a children’s game as a love memory.

5.Lanterna de Zena (Liguria)
Anonimo, Original arrangements by: Daniele di Bonaventura Old sea shanty about a sailor disembarking in Genoa and remembering a love story he once had with a lady there. The lighthouse of Genoa of the title has the characteristic of always showing the three corners of its frame from anywhere you look at it.

6.La Serenata (Lazio)
Belli – Parisotti, Original arrangements by: Daniele di Bonaventura Love song in the Roman tradition. Based on a sonnet by Belli set in music by Parisotti, who was an important scholar of early Italian music.

7.O cupi cupi (Basilicata)
Anonimo, Original arrangements by Felice del Gaudio This is a typical Carnival song featuring the cupa cupa, a traditional instrument in Southern Italy. The lyrics always play around begging for something, mainly food, from the listener.

8.Vitti 'na crozza (Sicilia)
by: Franco Li Causi; Original arrangements by: Daniele di Bonaventura This is one of the most famous songs from the Sicilian tradition. Vitti ‘na crozza however, is all but a happy song! The title translates as “I saw a skull” and the lyrics take us back to the suffering and the hard work in sulfur mines.

9.Saltarello (Marche)
Anonimo; Original arrangements by: Daniele di Bonaventura The saltarello is a traditional courtship dance from central Italy, mostly popular in the Marche region. At the end of the 17th century the term “saltarello” spread across central and Northern Italy, although not referring to the same type of dance.

10.E mi me ne so'/ndao (Veneto)
Anonimo; Original arrangements by: Daniele di Bonaventura This is one of the few traditional popular songs that have survived from the Venice area. As the ruling class in Venice insisted that people follow its culture, music from famous composers prevailed on popular music in the last few centuries of the Republic of San Marco.

BIOGRAPHY

Daniele di Bonaventura is an internationally recognised composer-arranger, pianist-bandone player, who has cultivated a strong interest in improvised music since the beginning of his activity. His collaborations range from classical to contemporary music, from jazz to tango, from ethnic music to world music, with forays into the world of theatre, cinema and dance. He has played at major international festivals in more than 40 countries, released more than 80 records for various labels, with Paolo Fresu he recorded the soundtrack for Ermanno Olmi's latest film "Torneranno i Prati". In 2017 he took part in the Christmas concert in the Basilica of Assisi with the Rai Symphony Orchestra broadcast on Rai 1 in Eurovision. In 2019, among other things, she publishes, again together with Paolo Fresu, the album Altissima Luce (Laudario di Cortona) with the Italian classical music magazine Amadeus.

Ilaria Pilar Patassini was born in Rome to an Etruscan father and a mother native of the Costa Rican Forest, of stray and academic training she is a graduate of the Conservatory in Singing and Vocal Chamber Repertoires, she speaks English and French. Performer, songwriter, performer, her path has always been intertwined with jazz, world music, folk, songwriting and spoken word. She has four albums to her name to her credit: "Luna in Ariete" (Esordisco/Audioglobe, 2019), "L'Amore è dove vivo" (Esordisco/Audioglobe 2015), "Sartoria Italiana Fuori Catalogo" (Esordisco/Egea 2011), "Femminile Singolare" (VCM/01, 2007) and several record features. He has performed in concerts in Italy and abroad on important stages and in prestigious national and international clubs. Since 2015 he has been teaching interpretation at Officina Pasolini in Rome.

Band'Union, founded in 2003, is a quartet composed of Marcello Peghìn (10-string guitar), Felice Del Gaudio (double bass), Alfredo Laviano (percussion) and Daniele di Bonaventura (bandoneon). Band'Union is the brainchild of Daniele di Bonaventura and brings together musicians of great artistic and human calibre and sensitivity, united by music and a great friendship. Over the years, Band'Union has consolidated its being a warm borderline proposal, at the crossroads between ethnic music and jazz, world music and improvisation, far from any mannerism and close to the need to bring to the public the joy of interplay and the popular roots of music. The band has performed at the most important international jazz festivals, playing in Poland, Germany, Austria, Ireland, Switzerland, Romania and Italy. It has four record releases to its credit: Canto alla Terra (Dodicilune), Nadir (Tuk Music), Band'Union Live (self-produced), Garofani Rossi (Tuk Music).

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There are seemingly infinite layers of meaning to be found in No-No Boy’s third album, Empire Electric. You can listen closely to singer-songwriter Julian Saporiti’s lyrics, which juxtapose true stories of struggle from throughout Asia and its diaspora with Saporiti’s own reckoning with intergenerational trauma. You could also let the majesty of Saporiti’s songcraft wash over you, his captivating melodies cloaking those themes in a veneer of hope and ecstasy. But the deepest storytelling happens at the sonic level, as sounds drawn from across the Eastern hemisphere mingle freely with distinctly American instrumentation — banjo and koto, lap-steel and guzheng — while electronically manipulated field recordings of rushing water, chirping birds and other natural sounds ground us in the now. More

In 2023, the A.C. AfrobeatProject celebrates 20 years of Afrobeat travel around the world. It has been an exciting and nourishing adventure that makes us proud. That's why, together with Kasba Music, we want to celebrate it with the release of a new volume of REPUBLICAFROBEAT.

Volume 6 of REPUBLICAFROBEAT will be called AFROBEAT IBÉRICO and aims to reflect the Afrobeat scene in Galicia, the Basque Country, Asturias, Catalonia, Madrid, Aragon, Extremadura, Andalusia and Portugal. The Iberian Peninsula is a melting pot of cultures, a land of comings and goings where the black presence and multiracial coexistence has been relevant for centuries. Its music has deeply permeated among its people. And Afrobeat, a musical genre created by Nigerians Fela Kuti and Tony Allen, has been a protagonist for decades. Originally conceived as a tool for social engagement, it is a vehicle for connection regardless of colour, race, religion, gender, identity or ideology.

Afrobeat is practised all over the world, from Israel to Brazil, from Poland to the United States, from Chile to Mozambique, from Puerto Rico to Nigeria, from Austria to Ethiopia, from Japan to Mexico, from Senegal to Colombia and many more. A few years ago, in 2012, the A.C. AfrobeatProject published the album La Música Es el Arma del Futuro. A Tribute to Fela from Spanish Bands, where we reflected the Afrobeat scene in Spain through versions of Fela. Now, in this REPUBLICAFROBEAT VOL.6- AFROBEAT IBÉRICO, we want to extend the sample with original songs from some of the bands that make up the Iberian geography: Macheta SupahSound (Galiza); Makala and Makulu Ken (Basque Country); Gecko Turner (Extremadura); Eskorzo and Los 300 (Andalusia); Akin & The Afrobeat Brothers (Asturies); Afro Soul Toasting, Ogun Afrobeat, Juno & Darrell and Kumar Sublevao-Beat & Machete Horns (Madrid); Alma Afrobeat Ensemble and Kwame Adzraku (Catalonia); Couscous Party (Aragon); and Cacique'97, Carapaus Orkestra and Kumpania Algazarra (Portugal), and the contribution of the remixers Oscar B. Martos, Dj Panko and Dj Floro.

The design is the work of Txarly Brown.

Enjoy the journey.

For Ever Lives Afrobeat!

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