Every time you hear Sara Modigliani your heart opens up -- the sound of her voice brings warm feelings and stimulates the imagination, just as long ago peasant singers did during family parties.

Listening to those voices that bloomed with songs of betrayed love and stories of saints reassured people, helped them to survive their daily toil by taking them far away, along the road to restful sleep.

Those voices were enchanting because of the variety of the stories they told and the simplicity with which they performed the songs. This style was acquired and mastered by Sara -- who visited several women singers for years during her ethnomusicology research in Central Italy, and Lazio in particular -- and can be heard on this new and evocative recording.

Her voice too is charming as it speaks to us of simple things, unusual for modern times, borrowed from a culture which she loves. This love can be seen in the skill and command she employs to revive that culture.

The philologic exactitude achieved from careful attention given to the original material can also be seen in the choice of arrangements, performed by the accompaniment: simple but effective in coloring the diverse musical settings that characterize the repertoire.

The result is a lovely and varied disc, to be listened to with one’s heart. Let yourself be drawn by the magic of the lyrics and that “familiar” sound that we would like to have nearby always.

Ambrogio Sparagna

Rome, 1997