"Nani" is Armenian for "mother," and there are similar words in many languages. In Yiddish it is "Nam"-wet nurse, in Hungarian "Neni"-older sister, in Russian "Njanja"-mum. "Dschann," from the original Persian, is a term of endearment which can be attached to any name. For their second CD, recorded in Berlin, the five German women singers of Aquabella looked for songs in which women tell their stories. Women seething with jealousy, women annoyed by midnight love serenades, women making fun of the village priest, women crying to their children or lovers, women who simply want to marry. The passion of Aquabella is filling these stories with life, in carefully but pointedly thinning out the song's prototype in order to enrich it with their own personal stories. These songs, most of them old ones, are thus sung to the world as responses. There are 15 songs here, all in languages like Russian, German, Armenian, Italian and Bulgarian, as we see in the beautiful full-color liner booklet. The sound is hauntingly beautiful and authentic; each song filled with spirit, feeling and passion! |