Cendraires -

"Cendraires" (Sonifolk, 1998)

Cendraires is the first work by this new group from Valencia, Spain. They are Nestor Mont, Mara Aranda, Joansa Maravilla, Gonçal Palop and Didier Ferrand, but other musicians have also contributed to the CD: Albert Gonzalez, Paco Bernal, Efren Lopez, Jaume Gosalbes, Raul Nacher, David Mezquita, Lluis Osca, Lucas Ibañez and Amparo Llatzer. The melodies are ravishingly beautiful, a good mix of popular and traditional music. The CD contains 12 themes and also includes the lyrics, both in Spanish and Valencian.

L'ham de foc- -

 "U" (Sonifolk, 1999)

L’Ham de Foc took its very first steps in 1998 and surprised both critics and public alike with its strong character. Over the following years, until the group broke up in 2007, they recorded three albums of beautifully refined music based on local traditions with influences from all over the modal world ranging through Western Medieval, the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean traditions. The group made use of original instruments from each of these cultures and created an acoustic, though far from undefined sound.

Thus the omnipresent drones (hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes, tanpura, didgeridoo, trompa marina…) and percussion instruments (from the very basic tambourines and spoons through to the sophistication of the tomak and tabla) laid a foundation for the texts and crudely modal melodies woven by the voice, who was then accompanied by a wide range of stringed instruments (ud, various lutes, lyres, saz, harps…) and wind instruments, from the subtle Nay or reed flutes through to the energetic dolçainas, bagpipes or shawns

David Cervera -

"Talaud" (EMI-UPC, 2000)

The EMI-Chrysalis's most ambitious project on " Mediterranean Music ". Disc of the year of 2000 Radio 3-Dialogos 3).

L'Ham de Foc -

"C de dona i home" (Sonifolk, 2002)

After a long tour throughout Spain Efrén López and Mara Aranda continued their musical investigation and moved to Greece for 6 months in order to learn more about traditional Greek music and to meet important musicians. The knowledge obtained during this trip was used in their second album, Cançó de Dona i Home (Sonifolk, 2002).

L'Ham de Foc is one of the leading groups of a new Folk movement in Spain, that works the traditional roots into a new, modern music concept. But L'Ham de Foc's work is not just a superficial look at its roots. The musician's intention is to go back to where things originally came from, to learn how to play instruments, techniques and interpretations from first hand. Mediterranean folk music, including their own Valencian music, Greek music and also music from India or Northern Africa, are main influences for L'Ham de Foc. This mixture was responsible for a widespread acceptance of their music.

L'Ham de Foc -

"Cor de Porc" (Galileo, 2005)

To understand the group's work some things need to be known about the special cultural situation of the Valencian region. During the history of the southern Spanish coast, different cultures settled down, imposing their cultural roots. Due to its harbors, southeastern Spain was an important place for trading and the result was a permanent cultural exchange. Musically spoken, three different zones have the strongest influence:.

The Arabic countries in the south. The tradition from Catalonia, France and Italy denominated as the European zone. The central zone that is identified by a fusion of the north and the south. Hereto belong countries and regions like Greece, Andalusia, Yugoslavia, Albania, the Balearic Islands, Malta, Crete, Valencia, etc. These cultures are characterized by melismatic melodies, polyrhythms, double stringed instruments, wind instruments, quarter tone harmonies, and by the presence of the Arabic culture throughout 700 years.

The musicians from L'Ham de Foc are coming from different projects and music styles. The common focus is on a strong relationship to different music traditions in the world. They are experienced in an immense collection of traditional instruments like the Greek bouzouki, Tarota, Sitar, Didjeridu, Turkish Saz and many more.

"Alentejo Story concert" (2005)

A project by Luigi Cinque with Mara Aranda, Elena Ledda, Andrea Biondi, Sal Bonafede, , Efren Lopez, ‘el choro’.
Published in 2005, the DVD features an original and highly evocative concert. One can even say that it is truly a type of elongated blues music, arousing the same emotions and high poetic indefiniteness.

It is a project born of the creative talents of Italian, Spanish and Portuguese artists and is dedicated to the archaic rural world—which tastes of oil, wine and wheat—but also of cork, carob, the bright summer sun and the cold, obsessive winter. A world somewhat lost today, yet one that continues to influence and inspire—as if it exists in a hidden theatre, like recent memory or like a particular landscape of the contemporary soul. It deals with the colours and existence of rural life in southern Europe. It is a mythical pastoral sphere, characterized by magic and ritual, which embodies a silent yet extraordinary culture and sense of spirituality.

Aman Aman -

 "Música i cants sefardís d´Orient i Occident"(Galileo, 2006)

We are accustomed to listen to the Sephardic repertoire interpreted from a prospect of the world of the classical musicians, with all its tics: artificial voices, musicians corresponding with score and without space for the improvisation... Aman Aman prefers to throw the to arrive the fountain from where they themselves drank from the optics of the traditional music of those countries that accommodated the Sephardic ones, after the diaspora. Even, in some cases we have dared to mixing the music of the Sephardic ones with Turkish or Greek pieces, with those that have many resemblance.

The sonority of Aman Aman is based, as can listen in several recordings of field, in the sound of the strings, winds and percussion of the medium Orient, with the most "modern" contribution of the cello, although interpreted in the way of the modern orchestras of the Magrib, Turkey or Egypt.
 

 Al Andaluz project -

 "Deus et diabolus"(Galileo, 2007)

Al Andaluz Project is a collaboration between German Medieval music ensemble Estampie and Spanish world music group L'Ham de Foc. Both have a great interest in the music of Medieval Spain. The former Al Andaluz was Moorish-governed Spain, where the three dominant cultures of the western Mediterranean (Christian, Muslim and Sephardic-Jewish) lived in harmony.

The enthralling Deus Et Diabolus focuses on the music from that golden era. The exquisite selection includes Sephardic music, Christian Cantigas written by the famous Castilian king Alfonso X the Learned (also known as Alfonso the Wise) and Arab-Andalusian nubas and other genres.

"Med'Set Orkestra"

(Producció del festival 7soles7luas, 2008)

Med’Set is a project born from the common desire of an artist [Akim El Sikameya] and a festival director [Sete Sois Sete Luas] to give life, by music, to this idea of a Mediterranean culture, common to all people who live around, and stronger than any political division.
“Before being Portuguese, Spanish, Algerian, Italian or Greek, we are Mediterranean.”
- and to prove it, Akim El Sikameya, worldwide famous singer and violinist, wanted to reunite in an exceptional creation, seven musicians, met during different festival editions in Sete Sois Sete Luas : the confrontation between each of their directory makes come in to sight, beyond the differences, a common culture of song and rhythm, that the artists, during their collective work, try hard to reinforce.

 

Mara Aranda&Solatge -

"Dèria" (Galileo, 2009)

“Solatge“ is a poetic Catalan word that describes what is left after something has gone - and the musicians of Solatge come mainly from Mara´s musical past: Eduard Navarro (dolzaine, nyckelharpa, hurdy-gurdy...) who was member of L´Ham de Foc from the beginning to the end. Josep-Maria Ribelles (celtic harp) can be heard as guest on L´Ham de Foc´s last album “Cor de Porc” and joined the band for several concerts. Manolo López (double bass) played some gigs with Aman Aman; and only Jota Martinez (bouzouki, hurdy gurdy, tambourin mallorqui, renaissance guitar...) came in as a member, previously unknown in the L´Ham de Foc universe.

The title “Dèria” is also a Catalan word and means the idea or obsession that serves as stimulation and motivation; and the conceptual ideas behind this album are rural musical folklore and the Sephardic tradition from the mediaeval kings of Aragon to the 16th Century, as a basis for new and contemporary compositions. This luxury digipak CD contains an extensive booklet (52 pages) with poetic landscapes and explanations of the songs (in Catalan, Spanish and English).

Mara´s voice sounds more ‘in front of the band’ than on recordings of L´Ham de Foc and infuses the music with her very special emotional, spirited and Mediterranean character. This new album is an indispensable acquisition for all fans of Mara Aranda and L´Ham de Foc that once again points out her outstanding quality as vocalist and musician.

Al-Andaluz Project -

"Al Maraya" (Galileo, 2010)

IThe Al Andaluz Project is a multicultural fusion experiment that combines two European folk and early music bands who share a common interest. L'Ham de Foc, with the well known singer Mara Aranda, are from Valencia in Spain, where he havs specialised in reviving the music of the Jews who flourished in Spain under Moorish rule until the end of the 15th century, when they were expelled by Christians. Estampie, from Germany, are medieval revivalists also fascinated by the music of that era. Both are known for their powerful vocalists, and in this project L'Ham de Foc's Mara Aranda and Estampie's Sigi Hausen are joined by a third female singer with a fine, clear style, Iman Kandoussi from Morocco. The result mixes Sephardic Jewish, Christian and Arabic styles, with the three singers all handling lead vocals and adding harmonies, against a lush backing that includes Middle Eastern instruments such as the saz and qanun, and hand-percussion such as the Indian tabla.