THE UNICORN ENSEMBLE

The cuts on this recording offer a musical journey from
England, the most western country and launching point
of the first Crusade, through France, Germany, Eastern
Europe, as far east as Syria. The musical selections from
Europe are thematically Christmas artsongs; the selec-
tions from the Balkans and the Near East are traditional,
meaning, with the exception of the Sufi music, that it is
popular music, rather than art music. As is usual with
popular music, the melodies were not, or were only
partially, notated. Information about performance prac-
tise is obtained only from secundary sources, such as
travel reports and iconography. This music was orally
translated, slowly changing over generations, before it
was only recently written down, within the last few cen-
turies. It is therefore not surprising to encounter dif-
ferent versions of the same piece of music. It is interes-
ting to note that many traditional instruments of the
Orient, such as the oud, kaval, gaida, chalumeau and
various percussion instruments, remain virtually unchan-
ged and continue to be used in traditional music today.