COMPOSERS: Marina Rossell
LABELS: World Village/Harmonia Mundi
WORKS: Maritim
PERFORMER: Marina Rossell (voice), etc
CATALOGUE NO: 498004
Nations within Spain are the source of two releases. Marina Rossell is a Catalan singer-songwriter with a genius for melody that catches the rhythm of her poetry. On Maratim, there’s a touch of bossanova about the first number’s hushed delivery and laid-back percussion, and even when more upbeat the delivery remains intimate.
About half the material in these songs of love and travel is hers, and she transforms the rest according to her own vision – even the unlikely finale, the national hymn of Catalunya which is aggressive enough to make the British anthem sound restrained.