La Nef: Music for Joan the Mad (La Nef)

The daughter of King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile and the mother of King Charles V, Joan the Mad (Juana la Loca in Spanish) was a Spanish queen who lived from 1479-1555. She is believed to have suffered from mental illness — possibly, she experienced what is now called schizophrenia — and was confined to the historic castle at Tordesillas. A fascinating CD, Music for Joan the Mad was inspired by the life of the Spanish queen, who was believed to be a major music lover. La Nef didn't claim that Music for Joan the Mad was an exact re-creation of Spanish music from the 15th and 16th centuries — the Quebec-based ensemble takes its share of liberties. On this enriching CD (which contains Spanish and French lyrics), listeners will hear elements of both European/Catholic and Middle Eastern music. In fact, Music for Joan the Mad is full of what is known as "modal" or "scalar" playing — Arabic, Jewish, Armenian, Greek, Indian, Turkish, and North African music are all modal-oriented, and in the 1960s, modality was embraced by such jazz innovators as John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Pharoah Sanders, and Yusef Lateef. This album takes us back to a time when a lot of European folk was greatly influenced by Jews and Arabs, both of whom were violently forced out of Spain in the name of Christianity. Music for Joan the Mad is an enriching gem that lovers of world music should make a point of obtaining.