The question of the quality of joy seems to me today to be increasingly vital — it is intrinsically linked to the way in which humor can find its full expression in a world that constantly limits access to lighter moods. (Fabrizio Cassol) The secret of Aka Moon's longevity lies in their unceasing explorations of both melody and rhythm, and in the expansion of their knowledge and horizons through their encounters with musical cultures from all over the world. At a time when travel and concerts were no longer possible, Fabrizio embarked on an inner exploration in search of the fragmented memories of all his past musical experiences. It was subtle work, focused on the emotions linked to these intonations and then on the paths and the melodic and harmonic doors that they opened. The instrumental line-up includes a permanent base of harmonic instruments in addition to the trio of accordion, guitars, cello) as well as guests (trumpet, voice, brass ensemble) on some tracks. The music is accessible, shareable, lyrical and melodic.

Ensemble Perspectives, an a cappella vocal quintet founded and directed by Geoffroy Heurard, creates programmes that blend the mainstream classical repertory with lesser-known composers and folk and pop songs. These pieces are sung in transcriptions ‘tailor-made’ for Perspectives, which works with world-renowned arrangers and composers of all aesthetic persuasions. The group’s new album, entitled Playlist, allows today’s ears to grasp the timeless threads that link Purcell to Brahms, a traditional song to an American song crooned by entire generations. A playful and inspired journey through the music of Purcell (Dido’s Lament), Brahms, Ravel and Fauré, traditional songs such as Joshua fit the battle of Jericho and Frère Jacques, and songs by Charlie Chaplin (Smile), Michel Legrand (La Chanson de Maxence), Paul Simon (Mrs. Robinson and 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover) and Tom Waits (Alice).

Strange Fruit is aproject of the protean composer-saxophonist Fabrizio Cassol, which takes the form of a concept album that could be described as "world opera". This songbook was elaborated over a period of more than four years, in the company of a group of renowned singers who wrote or co-wrote each piece in their own, very different expressive and stylistic traditions. The title, Strange Fruit, refers to the song of the same name, majestically embodied by Billie Holiday, which remains an essential musical masterpiece as well as a humanistic symbol. On the album we find an inspired version of the original, dating from before "Lady Day" along with another, a sort of colorful fresco inspired by her interpretation as well as by Bach chorales or Malian men's choruses, and accompanied by the heavenly voices of the forty girls of La Choraline. The association between Strange Fruit and Some Days, a poem by James Baldwin and a major piece of inner feeling, doubt and the possibility of a salutary catharsis, creates an axis, a "mirror of sense", around which are woven the other themes such as spirituality, passionate love, the call to gather and freedom, poverty, abandon, child neglect, dreams and self-questioning, celebration and respect for elders.

Very appropriately, Valentina Nafornita devotes half of her debut album released on Outhere to the composer who makes the highest vocal demands, with his incomparable dramatic complexity and inspired musical invention. Ever since she sang her first Papagena as a new ensemble member of the Vienna State Opera in the autumn of 2011, she has repeatedly enjoyed enormous success performing Mozart’s great female roles, which are so challenging in their diversity. The charismatic Moldovan soprano impresses with an astonishingly wide palette of expression and emotion. The second part of the CD is devoted to the Slavonic repertory. With her rich, bronze timbre, she is ideally suited to the tragic depth of expression of Dvorák’s ‘Song to the Moon’, with which she made her breakthrough at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, and to Tchaikovsky, whose Iolanta she sang at the Opéra de Paris in May 2019. The recording ends with a song dedicated to Valentina by the Moldovan composer Eugen Doga, recounting the life story of this singer who has been known as ‘The Nightingale’ in her homeland since she was five years old.

I Silenti is the poetic expression of those who are silenced, the voiceless, of what has disappeared over time, of the blank pages of unwritten letters. It becomes a catalyst towards other ends: those of comfort, healing, regeneration and beauty. The project is conceived around the Gypsy jazz singer and multi-instrumentalist Tcha Limberger. He embodies a musical and literary nomadism that extends into the geographical and timeless depths of orality. The fact that he has been blind from birth has protected him from the superfluity of appearances, so that he has always remained connected to the essential; from his prodigious voice, the most intense songs emerge; from his violin, the most moving melodies resonate. Beyond his universality, he is naturally at one with his people, the Roma. His sublime gift and his blindness are perhaps not unrelated to the trauma that his people have experienced, the ‘forgotten Holocaust’ that sealed their words with the convention of silence. Echoing this repertory, Monteverdi’s madrigals were the first vocal works to express human emotions with their dramas, passions and joys. The music is rooted in the words and their meaning; from the very heart of these polyphonic pieces, Monteverdi created the opera as a new genre.

Mozart’s Requiem is one of the most iconic works in the history of western music. After exploring its labyrinth of secrets in several years of research, Fabrizio Cassol wanted to reframe the mournful ritual of the Requiem to express other emotions as well – such as joyfulness – transcended by music and dancing. He confided his wish to Alain Platel, who was immediately fired by the idea. The choice of musicians was key: the ensemble is made up of six singers, three likembes, accordion, guitar, bass, euphonium and percussion. The basic narrative and formal scheme of the original Requiem is retained: recognizable fragments from it are quoted in almost all the sections. Joy and intense exultation, the power of the ‘groove’ and profound incantations all meet and intermingle with polyphony from many different sources. Five African languages intertwine with the ancient Latin text, and invocations to the ancestors ring out, creating a unique journey towards the hereafter – a journey open to the reality of the world today.

The present release is a wonderful concert by Mohammad Rezâ Shadjariân, master of Persian classical singing, both composer and performer at the same time: inspired improvisation, poems chosen with great taste, subtle instrumental accompaniment. Traditional Iranian music is a message, a call from the artist's inmost consciousness, which is tightly linked to his age-old history and culture. Poetry is regarded so highly by Iranians that music is often accompanied by sung poems (by Ferdowsi, Mowlavi, Saadi, Hâfez, Bâbâ Taher, Khayam etc.). The technique of Persian singing is very complex, and while it is of great subtlety, it demands great physical force and support –The singer improvises ornaments and vocalizations in a form of singing, free and arhythmic, the beauty of which depends on his sensitivity, mood, and enthusiasm and depth of the performance.