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La Conquista de Granada
Musica Antigua &
Eduardo Paniaua
Pneuma Records
CD#: 8-428353-066016
La Conquista de Granada favors its audience
with a revealing glance into the musical and political spheres
of late 15th-century Spain. Covering the music of the court of
Ferdinand and Isabella, the Spanish rulers of Aragon and Castile
who united all of Christian Spain under their control in the
1480s, and brought an end to Muslim Spain in 1492, the CD regales
us with
the dances and ballads popular at their court. In addition, the
CD also features the little-known music of the Moors who ruled
southern Spain for hundreds of years.
"Dit le Bourguygnon" is an example of a typical courtly dance,
with its percussion maintaining tempo for the dancers, as the
flute, lute, and viola pick up the melody. In "Wascha mesa," string
instruments create a harmonious and lively tune. In contrast
are the rollicking measures and the calland- response of "Daca,
bailemos, carillo." Here, the outstanding sound quality
of the CD is most in evidence; with every note, one can tell
the difference
between strings being plucked by hand and plucked with a pick.
This difference provides a certain tension, almost like the dueling
instruments from the noble courts of Europe and the Moorish courts
of Andalusian Spain and North Africa.
The ballads of medieval Europe get their own exposure in "Alla
se me ponga el sol," a mournful melody of long-suffering love,
in the vein of the chivalric poetry of the period.
Two unique offerings on the CD are "Paseabase el rey moro," a
lament on the fall of Granada, last bastion of Moorish influence
in the region, a song that so galvanized the population in the
late 15th century that its performance was banned by Ferdinand
and Isabella in order to prevent rioting and a possible Moorish
uprising against their rule. Another is its counterpart "Qué es
de ti, desconsolado, qué es de ti, Rey de Granada?" which
tells the story of the conquest of Granada from the Christian perspective.
Passionately performed, La Conquista de Granada is a rarity in
its depth and breadth of subject matter as well as the artistry
which graces its production.
--Richard Mackenzine
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