"Idrisi Ensemble are a useful corrective to the stereotyping of medieval music as smooth, pious and sleepy. Hearing the howls of this London-based group sometimes powered by up to 19 members you're reminded of song's inexhaustible capacity for conjuring fresh pain."
"For one, Fournil recast these male-dominated repertories for mixed voices; today, Idrisi's distinctly individual female voices drawn from pop, jazz and multinational folk traditions are one of the group's central draws. There's a political strain running through their work too."
"Like Corsican singers, they often sing in a horseshoe shape, arms linked, without sheet music. Over drones from a portative organ and vielle, they unfurl expressive, ornate vocal lines. Where other vocal ensembles in Britain value pure blends, their sound is coarser, spikier."
Idrisi Ensemble, founded by Corsican composer Thomas Fournil in 2016, transforms ancient medieval music from Corsica and Occitania through contemporary reinterpretation. The London-based group, comprising up to 19 members, recasts traditionally male-dominated repertories for mixed voices, drawing singers from pop, jazz, and folk traditions. Their approach prioritizes individual expression and emotional rawness over smooth historical recreation. The ensemble celebrates trobairitz, the female troubadours of 12th-century Occitania, and incorporates political messaging into their work. They perform in traditional horseshoe formation without sheet music, accompanied by portative organ and vielle, creating coarse, spiky vocal textures that emphasize improvisation and collective emotional weight.
#medieval-music-reinterpretation #corsican-and-occitan-traditions #female-vocal-ensemble #political-music #contemporary-folk
Read at www.theguardian.com
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