WIN A FREE CD!! World Folk: La Talvera's Pampaligossa

Our next CD giveaway at Music Spectrum comes a long way. It is a sampler of La Talvera, a traditional roots band from the northern Midi-Pyrenean region of France. Based out of CORDAE, Occitan Research Centre for Ethnographic Resources Activities, La Talvera is the house band for education, street parties, entertainment, and continuation of the Occitan/Provencal culture.

The music, language, and culture crosses borders encompassing southeast France; Pyrenean Catalonia, Spain; and in northwest Italy. See infoplease.

La Talvera’s album, Pampaligossa, (from which most of the tracks on the sampler are taken), is a exciting mix of traditional songs and instruments with new music and instruments/sounds. Much of the album makes you feel as if you are at CORDAE, taking in a cultural education experience. Yet, you could also be in a small farmhouse or a small bar, with the band gathered in the corner, others joining in on a chorus or two.

Instrumentation marks this clearly as World Folk (from an American perspective, of course). Bagpipes, diatonic accordion, reed-flute, oboe, and many different percussion instruments. Vocalization also takes you into a new world musically. The lyrics are in Langue d’Orc (Occitan), but also draw in whistle-languages and other vocal sounds.

This is an enjoyable way to discover World Folk. It makes me want to fly to Paris, rent a car, roll down the windows, crank La Talvera on the radio, and head south to the Pyrenees.

The first person to email me was Alison, a high school teacher in Valders, WI. She receives a 6-track sampler CD from La Talvera. Thanks to La Talvera and CORDAE. You can learn more at www.talvera.org.

Thanks to fRoots magazine which featured a track on their sampler CD recently. Check out fRoots, a world music magazine, at www.frootsmag.com.

Pampaligossa will soon be available through Roots Music.