Libérica is the brainchild of double bassist and arranger Manel Fortià, who spent a season playing jazz in New York, before returning to Spain and recording this project with Antonio Lizana (sax, vocals), Pere Martínez (vocals), Raphaël Pannier (drums) and Max Villavecchia (piano). Their debut album Arrels (Roots) is a novel exploration of traditional Catalan repertoire with the magic of a dynamic jazz fusion perspective. This worthy musical experience merges music from a range of styles, from folkloric and flamenco to contemporary and jazz. While in the U.S., Manel Fortià’s longing for home no doubt inspired this compelling approach to refresh, present and keep his traditional music alive by using free jazz as the driving vehicle. Recorded in the Catalonia province of Girona (NE of Barcelona), Arrels demonstrates how a jazz musician can reawaken and connect with musical roots.

Folk lyrics and stories are kept alive by song-carriers who transfer them from generation to generation. While additional liner notes would’ve been helpful (with English translation of the Catalan lyrics), it is interesting how these stories can be presented in this way over the foundation of a cohesive jazz quintet of masterful interpreters.  Among the seven tracks, several stand out.  “La Dama d'Aragó (The Lady of Aragon) is a very famous Catalan folk song about Anne Marie, daughter of the King of France and sister to the King of Aragon “who is as beautiful as the sun” and “has a blond mane of hair that reaches down to her heels.”

At track two, “El Cant dels Ocells” (The Song of the Birds) is a traditional Catalan Christmas song and lullaby that tells of nature's joy at learning of the birth of Jesus Christ in a stable in Bethlehem. “In seeing emerge, The greatest light, During the most celebrated of nights, The little birds sing. They go to celebrate Him, With their delicate voices.” The song is often considered a symbol of Catalonia.

“Els Tres Tambors” (The Three Drummers) is a Catalan children’s song with lyrics that ironically explain the love affair between the smallest of the three drummers and the king's daughter. “Once upon a time, there were three drummers, they were coming back from war, and the youngest among them was carrying a little bouquet of poppy blossoms. The good king's daughter comes out to her window, ‘Drummer, my kind drummer, Give me a poppy blossom!’” 

Mirroring a theme often found in folkloric music, “La Presó de Lleida” (Lleida Prison) tells the tale of a jailer's daughter in love with a prisoner. To close the journey, “La Calma de la Mar” (The Calm of the Sea) is a jazzy fandango rendition that explains, “When I was but a few years old, My father would take me to his boat, And he'd tell me, ‘When you grow up, Never trust the calm at all...Never trust the calm at all, For she's the mother of the sea storm!’” For something a little different, Libérica’s Arrels is an adventurous album of world music. (Joe Ross, Roots Music Report)