Search - Famille Lela De Permet :: Polyphonies Vocales Et Instrumentales D'Albanie

Recorded in June 1991, this music could easily have been recorded even decades earlier, so untouched is the sound. The Lela family of Permet, Albania, is a potent ensemble of demanding voices joined by a band of clarinets, accordion, guitar, percussion, and violin. Most of the music is painfully sad, slowly building and winding around voices that could break hearts. The polyphonic singing is similar to Bulgarian and other types of music from the Balkan peninsula, but this is not of the mystère choir style. This is gritty, earthy music that pulls at the gut, sinewy music that has a peculiar, improvisational cadence all its own. There isn't much to be heard from contemporary Albania on CD, but even if there were, this disc would be top-ranked. --Louis Gibson