This is one of the most fascinating discs I have heard in recent months. It represents a meeting of cultures – a recital of sacred music, liturgical and paraliturgical, from the Judeo-Spanish or Sephardic tradition, where ancient Jewish psalmody and cantillation have assimilated many of the musical characteristics and compositional techniques of Muslim Spain and the Ottoman empire. One doesn’t listen for long before hearing the augmented second, the typical ornamentation, the voice-production with its Middle Eastern flavour, the interplay of free rhythm, Arabic metrical, and also what Solange Corbin has described as “rythme unaire”. Then there are all those characteristic Turkish instruments: kanun, ’ud, ney, kaval and kamanya, each with its own delightfully unusual timbre.
Alia Musica are an ensemble of eight singers and players, all male with one exception, three of them being both players and singers. The leader, Miguel Sanchez, sings his solos with remarkable ease and flexibility. The same is true of every member of the group. The contralto, Albina Cuadrado, has a powerful, yet tender voice, well suited to her highly elaborate lament for the seven sons of Hannah, sung in “ladino” (Jewish-Spanish); and also to the Sabbath evening Noche de aljad intercessions. One striking example of the interplay of styles is the twelfth-century Hebrew poem by Yehuda aben Abbas, `Et sa’are rason, with its abundant ornamentation in the dramatic slow-beat solo cantillation, contrasting with a measured chorus with drone, and a vigorously animated rhythmic finale. This is indeed a splendid achievement.'