Enzo Favata - Voyage En Sardaigne (1998)

FAVATA, with this recording, continues his musical journey for the definition of a culture and a geographical area that gets more and more clear.
After the imaginary land of Islà (Nt 6737) and the memories of the immigration between Sardinia and Argentina, Ajò (Nt 7001), with Dino Saluzzi this time FAVATA travels inside his homeland.
Following the path of Alberto Ferrero della Marmora, that more than hundred years ago visited Sardinia describing his experiences in Voyage en Sardaigne, the book that inspired this recording and give the title to the CD, and the writings of other eminent writers FAVATA, accompanied by some of the best Sardinian musicians, leads us in his musical world where tradition and new sounds, jazz, folk and classical live side by side giving birth to a very peculiar and fascinating music.
Voyage en Sardaigne is really a musical trip in the Sardinian cultures. Thirteen tracks and thirteen stops in an ideal journey. In the 48 page booklet, curate by Edina Sanna, several writers introduces us to some of the wonders of the island - Alberto Ferrero Della Marmora to Orosei, Gavino Gabriel to Bitti, hometown of the legendary polyphonic choir of Tenores di Bitti, and then Castelsardo, Irgoli, the Campidanese district and on, to the discovery of a land mysterious and unknown still today.
FAVATA in this trip has good company. First the usual members of his group - Marcello Peghin, co-composer of some of the music and sophisticated acoustic guitar player, Daniele Di Bonaventura, bandoneon, alter ego of the leader, Salvatore Maltana, double-bass and Roberto Pellegrini, drums and percussion. Then a string quartet, the most pure classical format, to balance the jazz directions of the quintet. And many significant guests that made of this recording a unique appointment and an exceptional chance to see modern and traditional artists working side by side: Totore Chessa, melodeon, and Luigi Lai, launeddas, two of the most important masters of the Sardinian tradition, and some of the outstanding vocal ensemble of the island such as Tenores di Bitti, Tenores and Cuncordu di Orosei, Cuncordu di Castelsardo.
The final result seems to us original and fascinating, a mix of ancient and modern, between the typical melodies of Sardinian tradition, jazz improvisation and classical nuances, a real Voyage en Sardaigne.