In the sharp evenings at the end of the year, we often go back home and find ourselves observing, in surprise and wonder, the first snowflakes that carefully caress our windows, sweetening the sky and our heart. If we examined them one by one, we surely would not find two perfectly identical flakes. And yes, despite their diversity, each of them contributes to whitening streets and roofs, reminding everyone it is already Christmas time. The lyrics in this record are the same as many snowflakes: unique and yet here collected in order to create a single special atmosphere.

In 2014, Digressione recording label's first album by the eponymouse group was born; the group was then a simple duo formed by the voice of mezzo-soprano Tiziana Portoghese and the accordion of Francesco Palazzo, supported when necessary by Luigi Morleo as percussionist. In the repertoire there were a series of pieces written specially by contemporary composers (including the same Morleo, Palazzo and Portoghese) but also acquired from the operas by Rossini and Stravinsky, all inspired by folk music of different traditions and latitudes, with three arrangements personally cared for Palazzo and Portoghese. Today the project is resumed and expanded in this new album again publushed by Don Gino Samarelli's Digressione Music), in which the workforce has grown a lot: the curred Folksongs Ensemble has 17 elements plus the master conductor, director Andrea Gargiulo, and is an ensemble of variable geometry, that upon the need is broken down into smaller nuclei, but at full strenght assumes a wealth of orchestral sound, with band's echoes.

The story that is narrated here begins in Naples and after touching Venice, Madrid, Lisbon, London and Newcastle will close again - although, we are sure, in non-definitive manner - in South Italy. This story begins in 1685, annus mirabilis for the European music that will assist in a few months to the birth of three of its most important coryphaei: George Friedrich Handel, Johann Sebastian Bach and Domenico Scarlatti, who is precisely one of the main protagonists of our history. Domenico was born in Naples and was the son of Alessandro Scarlatti, famed Italian composer at the turn of the seventeenth and eighteenth centures. Domenico moved and worked throughout Europe where he found great loves, admirations and friendships to inspire his most famous works.

This release is the debut recording from Italian band The Broken Frames. The Broken Frames, consisting of Marco Simone, Erasmo Solazzo, Walter Nuzzo, and Luca Nuzzo, began their career as a U2 and Coldplay cover band. This new CD contains eight tracks of all original compositions by Walter Nuzzo. The project, built over four years, also contains an extensive sixteen page booklet.

This album is released in order to introduce don Salvatore Pappagallo to those who have not had the pleasure of knowing him. The listening to his music and the knowledge of his educational activity at the Conservatory and at the Popular School, “Dvorak,” which he founded, contribute to strengthen the awareness of the human and artistic heritage of the country. So many are his students who have asserted themselves in the musical world; even more those who have had the opportunity to draw on the knowledge of music through singing and introduction to music. Not less important is the contribution he gave in the post Catholic Church Council debate, both liturgical and theological, as a complete priest who was able to combine art and practice with true passion and visionary intuition. From this recorded work, other people will be able to seize inspiration for reflection about the oblivion of our talents and about the inefficiency of our cultural systems.

Samba delle Streghe (Samba Witches) is the second album of Os Argonautas, and is released four years after their popular debut album. The album features twelve songs including ten original compositions and two interpretations of “Dirty Summer” by Piero Ciampi and “Disseram Que Eu voltei Americanizada” which was expressly composed for Carmen Miranda. Always committed to the spread of Italian literary and musical culture of Portugal and Brazil, the ensemble has shifted the boundaries of their sound research futher, proposing an even more mature and refined sound, in which these Italian songwriters meets the rhythms and melodies of the new Brazilian music, all enriched by influences ranging from rock to reggae through world music.

The history of organ building in Molfetta is lost in the mists of time. The firts information available are related to the early Cathedral of the town (today known as St. Conrad's Cathedral), the foundation of which dates back to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In 1842 Michele Romano reported in his 'Saggio sulla storia di Molfetta' (Essay on the history of Molfetta) of a ''very elegant and magnificent organ'' and an ''orchestra with mottled and golden organ, with carvings and art works with the coat of arms of the Pope at the top''. Antonio Salvemini, in his 'Saggio storico (Historical Essay) of 1878, wrote a 'great organ built in 1584 at the expense of the Chapter of Molfetta Cathedral all gilded with gold sequins, which was destroyed at the beginning of this century for boing ruined by the sea moisture'. Archive indications known today are not very well organized; howerer, an act of 1543, related to a benefir of 'Just patronatus laicorum', stating the exstence of an altar, allows us to indicate the existence of an organ in the main church of Molfetta, about forty years before the date given by Michele Romano.

Active for over a decade, De Calamus is a large ensemble that consists of nine musicians, from different as much as rich musical, united by the desire to rediscover, protect and enhance the musical traditions of the Comito Valley, linked to the use of the zampogna and of the organetto by many itinerant musicians, who used to cross this beautiful valley, located in the heart of central Italy, between Rome and Naples. To characterize the musical approach of the group is the rigorous research carried out in the field and on traditional sources, combined with the use of traditional instruments such as zampogna, ciaramella, organetto, ocarina, chitarra battente, accordion, pastoral flutes and fram drums to which is joined a particular attention to the voices, with the presence of three singers in the formation.

Italian composer Niccolo Piccinni, despite his obscurity today, was one of the most popular opera composers of his day, especially in the genre of Neapolitan opera buffa. This release focuses on Piccinni’s Pater Noster, which has been passed down in rare transcriptions. The long, virtuosic work is composed in typical Neapolitan fashion. Also included is Piccinni’s Creed. The work is believed to be from Piccinni’s early days of composing.

Shosholoza is a train to freedom. It is a traditional song of the Zimbabwe miners traveling on an old steam train crossing the mountains to reach South Africa. It was achoral music to endure the long journey and hard work and is now an African anthem of freedom, peace and solidarity among peoples. Shosholoza is a project of African jazz. It is a blend of black and white and it is no coincidence that the music of South Africa has inspired almost all compositions.

Cantori Animati is percussionist Alessandro Carlini, bassist Enrico Contardi, pianist Roberto Barbini, and vocalist Michele Paolassini. The ensemble was born in 2013, and has since been writing, performing, and recording original music throughout Italy. The inspiration for La Corda d’Oro (The Gold Rope) comes from the idea that we are all puppets and if you look carefully enough you will see the threads of those in charge, the most important being tethered with a gold rope. These tracks represent stories, and the ensemble begins by simply laying out a skeleton of the characters. Then, with their impressive performance, breathes life into them and makes them dance.

Vito Ottolino started playing the guitar at ten years old, learning the first chords from his father, and continued by himself devoting himself to Brazilian music , the acoustic blues, and fingerstyle. At 14 he began to play the electric guitar in various youth groups of pop-rock music. In '85 he collaborated with the folk songs Company "Gaviota" of Conversano, doing research work and arrangement of folk music. From '88 to '98 he was part of the pop music group "KABALA" working on tour with several nationally known artists and with whom he published a famous Italian tunes rearranged album based on Latin-American rhythms. In '94 he received his Diploma in guitar with full marks and honors from the Conservatory of Music "N. Piccinni "in Bari under the guidance of Prof. Linda Calsolaro and Maestro Sante Tursi. This new release features original compositions by Ottolino, as well as one contribution from P. Metheny. Ottolino is joined for this recording by double bassist Francesco Angiuli and percussionist Cesare Pastanella.

The Neapolitan Muses - a series of nine moralistic-satirical eclogues in Neapolitan language by the writer and mercenary Giambattista Basile (1566-1632) - can be considered the perfect literary background of the musical compositions in this recording. Just as Basile's eclogues disclose typical scenes of contemporary, everyday Neapolitan life, the present work provides an outstanding compendium of the musical language of Naples during those times. Each of these composers, which include Lanzetti, Scipriani, Porpora, Ruvo, Pergolesi, and others, lived and worked during the height of the Neapolitan age. These composers were some of the first to utilize the cello as more than just a basso continuo instrument, and this instrument is the centerpiece of each of these works. Gaetano Simone is the chosen cellist to carry out this important project. He is joined by Simone Colavecchi and Gaetano Magarelli.

Ten years after the death of Don Salvatore Pappagallo, which occurred on June 17, 2011, this label wanted to dedicate the recording of two of his great works, Easter and The Beatitudes, transcribed for band by Maestro Silvestro Sabatelli, along with two others, A mio Padre by Alfredo Fiorentini and Il Trombettista by Sabatelli himself. A tribute to the band tradition and to the tradition of the funeral march that Don Salvatore was able to interpret with the depth of popular culture and Christian religiosity. Born in Molfetta on June 21, 1931, don Salvatore undertook the priestly life uniting it deeply with the musical one. Together with the ecclesial experience of assistant FUCI (Italian Catholic University Federation) in the post-conciliar years and that of director of the Schola Cantorum of the Pontifical Regional Seminary of Molfetta, he built his musical training with the masters Armando Renzi (composition), Nicola Samale (conducting), Michele Marvulli, Marcel Couraud (perfecting choral conducting), Luigi Celeghin. He has taught at the Conservatories "E.R. Duni" in Matera and "N. Piccinni" in Bari; he has been at the head of the Choir and Orchestra "J. Salepico", an institution born within the Association and Popular School "A. Dvorak" of which he was founder and president until his death. He has been Maestro di Cappella of the Cathedral Chapter of Molfetta. Graduated in composition, conducting, piano and specialized in choral and organ conducting, he wanted to make up for the scarce musical and liturgical knowledge of the people, dedicating himself with passion and sacrifice to the young generations of his territory, building an associative and training experience so deep to constitute a generation of musicians that still today recognize him as their mentor and teacher.

The eight cellists, protagonists of this recording project, invite us to a diachronic musical journey, where the voice of the cello, expressing itself in all it's registers, makes compositions and composers different in terms of age, style, and language speak. Moving from the baroque phrasing of Pietro Migali, through three different lyrical souls represented very well by Mercadante, Giordano and van Westerhout, we reach the contemporaries Cellaro, Rota, Piazzolla and Sollima; it seems to be witnessing an elevation ad astra, where the voice of the cello emerges from the hiding of it's ancient and constant work of support and solid base, slowly emerges from it's gravity and makes us taste the "humanity" of it's most lyrical and unexplored accents. The program chosen by the ensemble offers the listener a masterly essay on the versatility of the cello, which is able to navigate, over a period of almost four centuries, between the instrumental and vocal repertoire, passing through the classical and popular dances. The arrangements give the compositions particular and unusual colors, due to the nature of the instrument, to which it's given the possibility to express itself simultaneously in different ways and registers, offering a complete spectrum of it's expressive abilities; listening to the album, one senses that the cello gradually tries to abstract itself from the repertoire and practices so that it can freely describe and narrate itself.