PORTE D'ORIENTE

Good collection with two new songs that could be an excellent way to explore the music of this interesting band born from the meeting, in may 1994, of Rodolfo Maltese (guitarist of BMS) with Mario Pio Mancini, Arnaldo Vacca, Pierluigi Calderoni (former drummer of BMS), Luca Barberini and Carlo Mezzanotte, musicians "bound together by the same desire to break down the musical fences" as they wrote in the booklet. There are many guests here that contribute to make interesting this album, like, among others, Andrea Parodi (from the Sardinian band Tazenda), Mauro Pagani (PFM) and Francesco Di Giacomo (BMS). The music is a kind of "ethno prog" that reminds of bands like Radiodervish and some works of Franco Battiato and Mauro Pagani.

In the whole, this album is a kind of musical journey where you can find many geographical influences: from Argentina ("Il volo del gabbiano" reminds of Astor Piazzolla) to Scotland ("Father P." with the Celtic harp and the voice of Fiona Davidson), from the Mediterranean Sea (the lyrics of "Salentu", that means "Salt and wind" and "Soneanima" that means "Sound of Soul" are in Sardinian dialect with the vocals of Andrea Parodi, while "Teatro do mar" is in the dialect of Naples) to the "Doors of the East" ("Waiting for kundalini and "Mantra"). The prog roots are stronger in the instrumentals "Su nuraghe" (that seem to come out from some PFM album), "Andalusiana" (with violin and flute by Mauro Pagani) and "To the lighthouse"... Anyway, my favourite track here is "Tharros", song very close to BMS' amazing style where Francesco Di Giacomo sings "Questa mia isola non troverete mai / Potenti uomini senza dubbi ormai" = "Powerful men without doubts / You'll never find this isle of mine".

Although perhaps not essential in a "prog collection", in my opinion this is an album that is worth listen to.