i VIAGGIATORI – SUITCASE SERENATA

We are currently living in a climate where folk is cool again; all the kids are playing mandolins and banjos and stomping out neo-traditional tunes to a new-found nostalgic hipster crowd. But sometimes it’s nice to hear something unselfconsciously traditional and honest – these middle-aged migrant musicians are singing the traditional songs of their homeland, and also ruminating on the immigrant experience in some newly-penned modern folk songs. Singer and multi-instrumentalist Kavisha Mazzella leads the fold with her crystal-clear folky alto, and all these songs have a quaint sense of revelling; Wedding Sheets is a bittersweet exploration of the process of an arranged marriage – little instrumentals like Reginella Campagnola and La Mazurka di Carolina really would feel right at home in a steamy Cicillian trattoria. Sometimes when the quartet’s wavery voices meld into block harmonies, it’s a spiritually beautiful sound; one can’t help but be swayed by the emotional honesty of the material and the joy these Italians have for their family, work and music.  So it’s not Mumford and Sons, it’s something quite apart from that; a deeply unapologetic exercise in simplicity, heart and soul. One for Mum’s birthday.

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