Mauro Sigura: Dunia

The Turin-born, Sardinia-based oud and bouzouki player and composer Mauro Sigura gave us one of the most singular albums of 2020 with Terravetro (S'ard Music). Leading an acoustic group, Sigura blended Sardinian and Levantine folk musics with North European jazz. The lineup was oud/bouzouki, piano, bass, drums and, on half the tracks, trumpet. (A review can be read here.)

Sigura could have continued ploughing that particular furrow productively, but on Dunia he has rung some substantial changes. The band is now an electro-acoustic quartet composed of entirely new musicians. There is no trumpet or other horn, and acoustic piano and bass have been replaced by electric guitar and bass guitar, played by Marcello Peghin and Pierpaolo Ranieri respectively. Evita Polidoro is the new drummer. Elena Ledda sings on the title track. The scope of the music has changed, too. Sardinian and Levantine folk musics still form the basis, along with European jazz, but rock and psychedelia are also to be heard, particularly when Peghin's licks go Eivind Aarset-ish on us.

Whether listeners prefer the new sound or the earlier one will be a matter of taste. And also a matter of perceived roots: some North European traditionalists may feel that electrification is a commercial modification which undermines the music; some Levantine listeners on the other hand may consider it a radical initiative which extends the reach of their folk music. The debate dates back to the emergence of "world music" in the 1980s. What is East and what is West? Is Dunia deep roots or new routes? As the YouTube below demonstrates, in 2023 neither question is any longer binary.

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