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From: Richard Widdess <[log in to unmask]>

In case anyone wants to pursue the Corsica connection, may I recommend an
article by Caroline Bithell: "Polypohnic voices: the recording of
traditional music in Corsica", British Journal of Ethnomusicology 5
(1996), pp. 39 - 66. It might provide some context for the attempt (in
itself surely laudable) to experiment with Corsican ways of singing. For
example: "Musical elements which are seen to be most quintessentially
Corsican or most exotic can be exaggerated. Melismatic figures in
particular tend to be elaborated by younger singers who have not yet
understood that, in the words of one older singer, 'one is not meant to be
spectacular'...Melisma is further identified by some as a specifically
oriental feature and so comes to play an important part in establishing
pedigree and in maintaining distance from the main body of Western
European music." So that cuts both ways! And later: "At the same time, a
conscious effort is being made by some singers to produce a sound which
audiences will not find alienating. Many feel that if they used the
quality of timbre commonly found in older recordings, 'people would
laugh'." What price authenticity?! 

I should make it clear that I hugely enjoy the one CD of Ensemble Organum
that I possess. 

 
Richard Widdess
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