L'Alba

L'Alba's propensity for openness is part of its DNA, but this latest creation marks a notable transition. L'Alba's new concept album, published by Buda Musique, offers a sketch of its vision of Corsican music, its identity and its multiple influences. The text entitled I GRILLI is used as the matrix for this work, its composition of three verses giving rise to subsets of interconnected songs (sometimes the text is sung in its entirety, sometimes a single verse is enough to introduce a subset, revealing unique musical nuances). The aim is to offer an immersive experience in which each song, while having its own identity, is part of an overall creation in which the text I GRILLI is the common thread. Polyphony plays a central role in the genesis of the album, which follows on from the compositional work on the previous À PRINCIPIU. The first two sequences of three pieces each preserve the creative inspiration of À PRINCIPIU, always favored by the island's geographical position, its history and a musical approach deliberately oriented towards other horizons.
From the ridgeline traversed in this first part follows a capsule that incorporates writings from the island's distant past, then a set of compositions in the style of "Corsican cabaret songs" from the pre-riacquistu* period (a cultural, social and political movement that emerged in Corsica in the 1970s) that continues the adventure. A sensitive reading by Natale Valli (an emblematic artist from southern Corsica) introduces this segment. The album closes with a nanna (lullaby) and a series of unclassifiable pieces that perfectly illustrate the group's research work. The language and choice of words, between nuances, metaphors and allegories, offer multiple levels of reading and interpretation, giving everyone the chance to participate in the project. Grilli is the group's sixth album, enriched by the presence of a large number of female musicians and prestigious guests such as Mokthar Samba, Senegalese-Moroccan percussionist, Gilles Chabenat, viellist, Pierre Sangra, multi-instrumentalist and Tarek Abdallah, Egyptian oud player. For the occasion, some of the island's talented musicians and singers also joined the collective. Grilli, which means "crickets" in Corsican, sets the tone for a new prelude.