Albaluna – Heptad (Albaluna, 2021)
Portuguese band Albaluna continues to surprise. Their superb new album, Heptad is inspired by the ancient Silk Road. Albaluna use traditional musical instruments from Asia, the Middle East and North Africa in combination with Medieval European instruments and the high energy power of rock-style drums, bass and progressive rock electric guitar. This fantastic fusion of styles and instruments is topped with vocals and poetic spoken word in Portuguese.
The lineup includes Ruben Monteiro on sanfona (hurdy-gurdy), Afghan rubab, Turkish bağlama (kopuz, kisa and divan), Arabic ud, guitar and vocals; Christian Marr’s on bass; Carla Costa on Turkish ney and tin whistle; Raquel Monteiro on violin, medieval viola and dilruba; Dinis Coelho on bendir, davul, tombak, dahola, tabla, nal, tbilat, riq and darbuka; and Tiago Santos on drum set.
Albaluna’s previous album was Amor, Ira & Desgosto.
Buy Heptad
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.