Elesa
Buda Musique (50 mins)
A quintet of American, Peruvian, French and Iranian origin, based in Rennes, Brittany, is a pretty odd collective of musicians to perform Georgian music, but with more than 25 years of study behind them, Mze Shina’s songs are almost enough to transport the listener directly to the Caucasus Mountains.
Now on their fifth album, and their first since 2018’s Odoïa, the group continue their quest to explore the depths of Georgia’s polyphonic vocal tradition while adding their own modern, international twist. Although the group’s repertoire is traditional, their arrangements are innovative and exciting, and seem to emphasise global polyphonic traditions, with subtle harkings to Occitania, Bulgaria, Albania and more throughout.
The group’s four voices – three male and one female – are in a near-constant tumble, with voices cropping up in various combinations, harmonies and different styles of polyphony throughout – there’s even some impressive rapid-fire yodelling. With just voice and percussion, each intertwining vocal part rings clear within the weaving, and this album’s new addition of Milad Pasta’s Persian percussion (daf, zarb and riqq) provides more intriguing connections both east and west.
Mze Shina’s music is modern, traditional, global and inescapably Georgian – no matter where they call home.