Vaiano’s Paisanos has released “Ardo D’Amore,” the lead single from the group’s upcoming self-titled debut. On the track, Rachel Meirs leads with a winding violin line that runs through the Italian waltz in close exchange with Maxwell Apra’s tenor banjo.
The string band includes Rachel Meirs (violin, mandolin); Maxwell Apra (mandolin, tenor banjo, tenor guitar); and Van Burchfield (guitar), with Quentin Bardinet (mandolin, tenor banjo, tenor guitar) and Albanie Faletta (guitar) joining for expanded lineups. Together, the musicians draw from early 20th-century recordings made in New York City, with a repertoire that includes Italian mandolin music, Cape Verdean fiddle tunes, pre-Belafonte calypsos, and Venezuelan waltzes.
Although the members first met while busking in New Orleans, Meirs traces part of the project’s foundation to her time at Brooklyn’s Jalopy Theatre, where she encountered recordings that later influenced the band’s direction. In turn, Vaiano’s Paisanos built a set of material rooted in immigrant musical traditions that circulated in New York in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
“Almost everything in our repertoire was originally recorded in New York City,” explained Meirs. “It’s not that we chose to play immigrant music; it’s that we come from a society largely made up of immigrants, and this music is a beautiful byproduct of that melting pot, as are we.”
So far, Vaiano’s Paisanos have appeared at the Brooklyn Folk Fest and the Subdued Stringband Jamboree. Two tracks from the album were also recorded at the Brooklyn Folk Fest. Next, the band will begin a tour with The Forty Drop Few in April, with the run set to conclude at Asheville’s Shellac Bash.
Album art by Ethan Frances, Minoot Illustration.
Author: World Music Central News Room
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