Home [Enhanced]

Fiamma Fumana | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 9, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Label: Omnium
• ASIN: B0000C505A
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #425,856 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Combining electronic dance music with traditional material in a convincing manner is an exceptionally difficult task, but Home...is an exceptionally good example of the meeting between these two very different musical forms. --fRoots (UK)

..a natural but thoroughly contemporary sound ...a smooth balance of traditional acoustic instruments with high tech effects. --Sing Out!

The sounds of the past alternately come forward and fade into the background. Some tunes weave in voices of feisty old-timers, while others festoon folk tunes with curlicues and dabs of electronic sounds. ...While this mix seems at odds, Fiamma Fumana keeps its age-old soul rather modern. --Global Rhythm

Product Description

Fiamma Fumana is simultaneously a tribute to womens singing traditions in Italy  (like the choirs of mondine, the rice gatherers who were all young girls), and a revitalization of that tradition by a new generation and its musical culture = electronic dance music, the most natural musical expression for young people in 21st century, post-industrial, affluent Italy. The result is an intriguing blend of old Italian songs and dance tunes played to new Italian dance grooves, traditional ballads and state-of-the art electronics (with strong black coffee!)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Who wants to put a limit on freedom of spirit?, April 17, 2006

By 

Tish "justish" (CA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Home (Audio CD)

This album is packed with spirit that cannot be constrained by a few rating stars. While the sound recording is slightly anemic, the SOUND of this group resonates in a way that gives it power and appeal beyond the production. I discovered the group at a world music fest in California (and they are indeed best heard live), but when I listen to the CD, the music tracks take me directly back to flying along the autostrada in Northern Italy, where I had a fantastic time. When I feel like smiling, soaring and gliding freely, this is the CD. The music also has such affinity to the Celtic roots of Galicia that a composer friend there first thought the dialectic songs were Galician. This CD rapidly became my favorite for travel and it always and instantly appeals to my friends, getting more requests and compliments than any other. I've given several as gifts (I keep having to come get a replacement, like now) and they compliment them even more later. So while I agree with two of the three previous reviews about the recording quality, I have to give it all the stars for the tremendous lift of spirit it brings ... after all that's what music is about, not the medium.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Powerful pipes, August 10, 2005

By 

Karl M. (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Home (Audio CD)

Fiamma Fumana is one powerful, striking group of women. These women combine modern sensiblities with the shifting and powerful sounds of traditional Italian music. Their sound can verge on an almost Galician or Asturian style of piping and whistle-playing as in Balla and on Voi Tor Mari they possess a minor-key style that sounds quite Scandinavian. The singing is brassy, moving and possessed of the same slightly off-key sound as Varttina (minus the polyphonic aspect of some of that group's singing). The electronic trickery is restrained and only enhances Fiamma Fumana's sound, rather than drowning it in electro-shlock. I would recommend this CD for someone who does not like the washed-out pap that passes for "world music" in many circles.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Home Is FF's Sophomore Slump, March 9, 2005

By 

Wil (AL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Home (Audio CD)

The second album from Italian group Fiamma Fumana features much of what made their debut album 1.0 distinct and interesting, but without the same results; whereas that first disc was fun, accessible and contained infectious musical dance grooves, Home relies more on traditional folk tunes and rarely hits the highs of 1.0 in terms of accessibility.
That is not to say the album is a total bomb -- there are great tracks here, namely Balla!, Maridem, A Voi Tor Mari, and Oasis, all of which evoke the best moments of FF's unique sound. But there are duds as well.
Another problem the disc faces is that although they are a real "band" now -- with the additions of "Lady J" Lombardi on pipes and bass and Medhin Paolos on the electronica to Alberto Cottica (accordions, acoustic guitar, piano, vocals) and Fiamma (vocals) -- the sound is weaker than the first album, due mostly to the absence of fiddles and teeny sounding effects. The electronica sounds like it was created on an old Casio keyboard, like the one's you would get for Christmas when you were a kid.
The production is also lacking -- the sound is not integrated overall as on the first album and sounds like it was recorded and mixed on someone's laptop in their living room -- oh wait, it was. (Read the liner notes!) This band is so good and needs a real studio to capture their full, layered folk/dance sound.
It may sound as if I am being hard on FF but after the first album it is obvious that this is the band's sophomore slump. Hopefully the next album will put FF back where they belong -- squarely in the midsts of the thumping groove of old world rhythms and modern dance beats layered behind Fiamma's wonderfully melodic singing that welded together so nicely on 1.0.