Elina Duni takes you to various villages of the Mediterranean and middle east on this enticing album of folk music. She plays piano, percussion and guitar as well as adding voice to dreamy traditional material from places like Albania, Armenia, Macedonia and Arab-Andalusia, singing in various languages to add to the rural atmosphere. Her voice and piano are solemn for Jacques Brel’s “Je ne Sais pas” whle going soft and delicate on “Oyfn Veg.” She is earthy and whimsical on guitar for the Macedonian dance “Ani Kaj Lulije” and gets exotic with percussion on with Middle Eastern intrigue during “Lamma Bada Yatathanna.” Most alluring is the mystical Armenian “Lusnak Gisher” and the sparkling “Meu Amor” with gentle, spacious strums while “Amara Terra Mia” haunts the memory long after it’s over. A worthwhile caravan of a journey.
ECM Records