NARAGONIA INVITES

For almost two decades now, they have been playing their folk music on the wind, building up a musical universe based on traditional Flemish music, but regularly adding various sounds gleaned from their travels in Brittany, Galicia and Portugal. The presence of Galician, Irish and Breton bagpipes is proof of this.

Like many musicians in their case, they took advantage of the forced rest due to lockdown. Instead of cancelled concerts, Pascale and Toon had the idea of inviting a dozen musician friends to create an album based on encounters. Hence the title The Guesthouse Sessions by Naragonia Invites.

Initially based on two accordions, the band thus formed added percussion, piano, guitar, soprano sax, trumpet and oud, not forgetting a few songs on which they had their own children, The Swallow, collaborate.

The fourteen tracks here are all composed by P. Rubens and T. Van Mierlo. Their rhythms are, depending on their moods, sometimes light and bouncy, sometimes quiet or melancholic or more energetic. Of particular note is Jos Patrol, a track that sounds very traditional and reminiscent of an andro rhythm.

This is an album on which the musicians have succeeded in creating a rich and varied soundscape, based on the accordion enriched with multiple instruments.

Trad Records TRAD016 - www.naragonia.com