Some tracks
These are quick grabs from evening rehearsals. We'll do proper ones soon.
Tant que vivray, Claudin de Sermisy (1490 - 1562) "As long as I live I will serve the God of Love ... her heart is mine, my heart is hers ..."
A rarity – a happy song of happy love. Claudin was the King of the Chanson, whose artfully artless songs were extremely popular. This one remained in circulation for many years.
La vida vidita, un sarao de chacona by Juan Aranés (d. 1649-ish)
Music for a rumbustious Spanish knees-up – "It's a wedding – let's all dance the chacona!". Reading the words of this dance-song you can see why the church tried to ban it. Probably hailing from South America, the chacona was swirling and sexy at that time; later, under its French name of chaconne, it became very staid.
Esterica Safarti; traditional Sephardic song arranged by Kevin Holland
The Sephardic song tradition contains many songs traditionally sung unaccompanied by women – "while performing household tasks", according to Wikipedia. The lyrics are in 'Ladino', a Judeo-Spanish language assimilating many other influences. The tunes have been collected and archived; this one was arranged for us by Kevin Holland, from the North of England.