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Alva (Formerly known as Alba)
Love Burns in Me (Beautiful Jo Records)
$17.99
Medieval & traditional songs & fiddle music from Britain & France
Vivien Ellis - vocals
Giles Lewin - medieval and modern fiddle
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Read the fRoots review
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Folk meets early music in an album of spare and haunting beauty. Alva are Vivien Ellis and Giles Lewin. In LOVE BURNS IN ME the duo explore the links between traditional airs and medieval European song. Sensual evocations of illicit love, Gaelic mouth music, Shetlands balladry and songs in Occitan, the language of the troubadours of Southern France all contribute to the rich fabric of the album.
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'Lewin is an intuitively sympathetic accompanist on both early and modern instruments and Ellis has a simply beautiful voice... Both performers are obviously right at home with folk music and playing it because they love it, the mediaeval songs tug the heartstrings and they should count this record a great success.'
fROOTS
'Alva have created amazing achievement and a wonderful listening experience bringing the medival into the now.' Green Man Review 'Alva are Vivien Ellis, voice, and Giles Lewin, fiddles. They're also members of the Dufay Collective, one of very few outfits who make mediaeval music come alive. Here they cross into folk, as Lovely Joan leads into a 13th-century French song. Vivien is a superb and versatile singer, in total control with the artistry that hides art. In Fair Annie, a lengthy Scottish ballad telling a story in dialogue, you actually care what happens next! She sings a Scots' Cuckoo's Nest with a light jazz-style lilt before going into Gaelic mouth music, and it's amazing what a gentle and intimate rendering can do to a love song in mediaeval French! Giles is a faultless partner, chording on fiddles, and has some solo tunes, but it's Vivien's CD. I'd already bought it on the strength of a R3 Late Junction track before getting the review copy, but no regrets! A little esoteric, but some superb singing! ' Tom Bell-Richards, Shire Folk |
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