The Whole Music Experience

Arianna Savall Peiwoh AliaVox I was never a fan of harp music until a few years ago when the editor of World Music Central sent me a sample of Spanish harpist and mezzo-soprano Arianna Savall’s music. Later, I acquired Arianna’s first solo album, Bella Terra , which also refers to her homeland in Catalonia, Spain. Arianna’s music cannot be easily described since it has absorbed elements from Arabic and Eastern music along with elements from European early music, in fact, the musician plays a baroque harp. She sings in Catalan, a Romance language nearly lost during the Franco era and related to France’s Provencal language, according to the DK Guide to Spain (Eyewitness Travel Guides). Arianna with her choice of poetic text and performance of soprano vocals with harp gives off an angelic aura. Her music so carefully rendered with baroque instruments (lutes, percussion, harps) and mixed with traditional instruments such as Petter Johansen’s hardingfele (Norwegian fiddle) l...