Songs Of The People

A short note on the cd cover sums this one up, sacred songs of the people from medieval Italy, a passionate fusion of ethnic folk music and gregorian chant.The performing group and the album have the same title, Acantus. The concept is to take early church music from Italy but to sing it in the style that can still be heard in ethnic folk music in remote regions of Italy, rather than in the mainstream western church choral tradition. It seems a reasonable conjecture that this is how the polyphony would have been sung in small rural places of worship away from the splendours of Rome, Florence, Venice etc. The singing is not artless but contains a raw soulful edge that fits very well. There is sparse instrumental accompaniment on some tracks using lute, viella ( a kind of early viola ), organ drone and early flute. One track that stands apart, O Crux Fructus, has tambourine and bagpipes and develops into a wild joyful dance welcoming the resurrection. It could just as well serve as a pagan rite welcoming spring. I'll have to do a search for Acantus, this cd was recorded in 1999 and is the only music of theirs I have ever come across.