la galana i la mar

I've been playing Mor Karbasi's album "The beauty and the sea" on closed loop since it arrived last Thursday and love it to bits.

Intriguingly, there are 6 old songs (mostly traditional Ladino) and 7 new ones which she co-wrote with her mother and a multi-talented guy called Joe Taylor (also producer, guitars, bass, oud, backing vocals!) . But the whole package fits so perfectly that you never realise there's a gap of 500 years between one half and the other.

Apart from the voice, I also love the haunting recorders. And there is something about the melodies of these songs from the tradition of the Sephardim that is distinct from all other music I know. For instance the recorder motif in La galana, which I've figured out how to play on the flute -- you wouldn't find that kind of melody anywhere else.



photo from Mor's MySpace profile