In the villages of Sicily and parts of southern Italy there is a long standing but little known brass band tradition, music used for somber religious ceremonies (i.e., Good Friday) and funerals. Banda Ionica is reviving this tradition on record with the release of Passione. These 20 musicians from Sicily have remembered and uncovered some intense and beautiful music for horns, reeds and percussion; a slow, melancholy march music that resonates a half century later in soundtracks for Fellini and Hitchcock's films (in fact I would swear I have heard the opening track in some suspense film before). There is a beckoning, a lure in this music that is inexplicable. If you listen, you will feel it. - CF
Available at cdRoots
Sound sample is a short extract from Enrico Petrella's 1858 composition "Ione."
Used by permission.
