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Michela Musolino
Songs of Trinacria
released by the artist (www.michelamusolino.com)
Unconstrained by complex arrangements and overwhelming outside dynamics, a great singer on her own can create a wide swath of emotional range and instrumental dynamics. Michela Musolino explores just such a place with Songs of Trinacria, a set of Sicilian folk songs performed a cappella and in duets and trios with guitarist Wilson Montuori and famed Sicilian percussionist Alfio Antico. The songs with Montuori are beautiful, full of the close interplay that a good working duo can develop. Montuori's guitar work is intuitive, finding unique ways around some of the less structured folk songs and underpinning the voice in interesting ways.
But it is the a cappella songs and the duets with Antico where Musolino really comes alive. Unconstrained by the frets of the guitar, she sings the songs in truer folk style, the melodies swooping between the standard scales, finding what sounds like the 'notes between the notes' of old songs almost lost to the standardization of modern notation. Alfio Antico enhances this with his tamburo (frame drum), pushing the songs forward, pulling them back, again finding the space between the melody. And this freedom becomes infectious as a few of the songs become trios where even Montuori's guitar starts to offer some of the same edginess. This can't happen in a large ensemble, where the notes have to be 'the notes' and everyone must heave to or fall overboard. It's the sign of a fine singer and great musicians, brought together in a finite space with limited possibilities, that this can all come together, overcome the limitations of size and expand beyond. - CF
The CD is available from cdRoots
Contact the artist: [email protected]
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