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You could melt rock with the combined power and warmth of these four voices: Lucilla Galeazzi of Italy, Equidad Bares of Spain, Yiota Vei of Greece, and Hayet Ayad, the daughter of a Turkish immigrant family living in Strasbourg.
Though each voice is marvelous and muscular, each is different: Galeazzi's dark, sensual; Vei's like strong coffee; Bares's bright and mezzo; Ayad's with the tremulous nasality of a muezzin.
Puzzlingly, two other talented singers, Aicha Redouane and Karoline Zaidline, go undocumented and unphotographed; the liner notes use the page count for Philippe Eidel, the musician who put the project together and who plays accordion, guitar, piano, bouzouki, and other instruments.
It's a shame that the luscious vocal combinatorics aren't more thoroughly explored -- why does he insist on pairing each woman with herself? Never mind -- when all four voices manage to get together, the explosion is tremendous. "Amaria" (track 2) is exciting, a joyful triumph."Triste ey lou ceu" (track 3) must be one of the world's great sung questions -- forceful, sinewy phrasing, careful vinegar dissonances (is that Vei?) -- whatever it means, it sinks deep. Then, what glory when all six sing the haunting a capella lullaby that introduces "Secret" (track 13).