Ensemble A Cumpagnia - Aldeburgh Festival

The mountainous island of Corsica retains a fierce cultural independence from its immediate Mediterranean neighbours that is nowhere better demonstrated than its exotic language and vocal traditions. A Cumpagnia bring a raw immediacy and full-throated performance style to a mix of the sacred and secular music of their homeland. From passiontide texts to songs in praise 23 of the olive and walnut trees, the biblical to the folkloric, this is richly resonant music, with its slow-moving harmonies embellished by uninhibited vocal virtuosity. Sometimes traceable to individuals in tiny villages within steep- sided valleys, these chants and songs seem to transcend the local and the specific, addressing the spiritual and the everyday in a way that connects us all.