Jordi Savall & Pedro Estevan - La Lira d'Esperia II: Galicia (2014) {Alia Vox AVSA9907}

Jordi Savall & Pedro Estevan - La Lira d'Esperia II: Galicia (2014) {Alia Vox AVSA9907}

Exactly 20 years ago (in 1994), after several years of research, experimentation and concerts, we recorded our first CD devoted to La Lira d’Espéria, performed on my three early instruments – the Rebec, the Tenor Fiddle and the Rabab (Rabel morisco) – with the indispensable percussion of Pedro Estevan. The idea was to announce the music and instruments featured in the recording using the evocative ancient names of Lyra and Hesperia. It was an obvious choice, as the whole recording was devoted to the medieval repertory for bowed instruments and consisted of music from the various Christian, Jewish and Arabo-Andalusian cultures that existed in ancient Iberia and Italica.

Hesperia is the name the Ancient Greeks gave to the two westernmost peninsulas in the Mediterranean: the Italic and the Iberian peninsulas. According to Diodorus, this is also the probable location of the Hesperides (or Atlantis), with their famous gardens where golden apples (oranges?) with magical properties grew.

The Lyra was one of the first musical instruments to be described in the Greek myths and also, together with the cithara, one of those most frequently mentioned by Virgil (70-19 BC.). According to Greek tradition, Apollo invented the lyra, while Orpheus invented the cithara. There were two types of lyra in ancient times: the first, most commonly found in Antiquity, which resembled a small harp and was played by plucking its strings, and the more modern type, played with a bow, which is closer to the present-day Greek lyre.

Personnel:
Jordi Savall - rebec, vièle ténor, rebel morisco (rebab)
Pedro Estevan - cloches, pandereta, tamburello, adufe, darbuka, tambour

…with…

David Mayoral - req, pandereta, pandeiro, adufe, tambour (21, 22, 23)

tracklist:
01 - Alfonso X el Sabio - Invocacao & Ductia
02 - Alfonso X el Sabio - Ronda
03 - Anonymous - Alala - Cancao d'embalar
04 - Anonymous - Pandeirada - Estrelina do Luceiro
05 - Alfonso X el Sabio - Rotundellus
06 - Anonymous - Istampita - En querer
07 - Anonymous - Maruxina
08 - Alfonso X el Sabio - Pregaria - En a gran coita
09 - Alfonso X el Sabio - Saltarello
10 - Anonymous - Nana - Cancao d'embalar
11 - Anonymous - Danca - Caminando
12 - Alfonso X el Sabio - Cantiga - A Virgen - Ronda - Baile
13 - Anonymous - Invocacao & Alborada
14 - Alfonso X el Sabio - Ductia de Santa Maria
15 - Alfonso X el Sabio - Cantiga ''Virgen Madre groriosa''
16 - Alfonso X el Sabio - Istampita & Rota ''Ciudad Rodrigo''
17 - Anonymous - Panxolina ''Vinde, picarinas'' - Baile da terra ''Os fillos dos ricos''
18 - Alfonso X el Sabio - Foliada ''Don Alfonso''
19 - Anonymous - Cancao ''La moza que rabio'' & Baile
20 - Alfonso X el Sabio - Ductia & Rota
21 - Anonymous - Ainhara & Canto de ciego I
22 - Anonymous - Canto de ciego II - Lamento
23 - Anonymous - Canto de despedida ''Adios meu homino'' & Danza Airinos