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Anthology Portuguese 1 / Various on CD

Trás-os-Montes, a province in northeastern Portugal, has remained relatively isolated from the rest of Europe, allowing for what American musicologist Kurt Schindler called "the most grandiose survival of medieval music," including the preservation of the gaita de foles (Portuguese bagpipe). The province has also been a refuge for Portuguese Jews and their folk traditions for hundreds of years. Vol. 1 of the Anthology of Portuguese Music continues the quest for the region's unique multiethnic sounds, featuring a multitude of haunting a capella recordings of harvest songs, sung prayers, secular ballads, and ritual dances with castanets, bombo (bass drum), and other instruments endemic to the region. In contrast, the Algarve region in southern Portugal is a popular tourist destination. Musical influences from Morocco and Andalusia are audible in the stray bended notes, even though the sounds are distinctively Portuguese. These recordings originate from several small villages in the region and were carefully chosen by musicologist Fernando Lopes Graça for their folkloric authenticity. They range from religious ballads, lullabies, and holiday songs to more well-known forms like the corridinho (a joyful dance).