Album Notes

The Middle Ages - a time of tramping in mud, the smell of wet wool and lack of toilet-paper. But there was more to it than misery and bubonic plague. This past age was full of music, sounds and instruments which today are almost forgotten.

Falsobordone's goal is to present the music of the Middle Ages in as authentic a way as possible, all the while keeping the most important aspect - the swing!

Falsobordone has specialized in music of the mediterranean countries (Spain, Italy and France) of the 13th and 14th centuries. The core musicians are:
- Erik Ask-Upmark: Harp, bagpipes, portative organ, shawm, hurdy-gurdy, vocals
- Anna Rynefors: Fiddle, rebec, bagpipes, percussion, vocals

Guest musicians on this CD:

- Göran Hallmarken: Hurdy-gurdy, percussion
- Anders Ådin: Hurdy-gurdy, medieval lute
- Karin Strinnholm Lagergren: Voice
- Sven Jansson: Percussion
- Stefan Wikström: Sackbut

ABOUT THE CD:

Figs, fiddles and fine play - a musical taste of the 14th century is Falsobordone's second CD and the result of a collaboration between medieval music group Falsobordone and two archeologists and accomplished historical cooks! The booklet contains five medieval recipes to go with the music, creating a medieval banquet complete with entertainment!

TEXTS FROM THE CD:

Food and music have been companions since long before the Middle Ages - in Antiquity there existed set rules for which music best accompanied meals and improved digestion. The two fields of cooking and music-making are dependent
of creativity, esthetics and good taste, since they are both experienced with all of our senses. The most important connection, however, between music and food is perhaps the practice of accompaning food with entertainment - be it
microwaved food in front of the TV or a fullfledged medieval banquet with musical diversions! With this CD we want to give you listeners a chance to rediscover the age-old connection between food and music. We wish you good luck
with both cooking and listening, and wish you many hours of pleasure for all your senses!


The Middle Ages have left us plenty of descriptions of both food and entertainment. The Parisian music theorist Johannes de Grocheo writes around 1300 that "Only three kinds of music are commonly played at the banquets and entertainments of rich men, namely, lyric song [cantus coronatus] and shorter and longer dance pieces [ductia et stantipes]." This is our attempt to recreate some of the festive atmosphere of those occations.
For this CD, we have chosen music from Europe's three most renowned food countries: France, Spain and Italy, where feasts and banquets have enriched every-day life and special occasions the last 2000 years. The reconstructed recipes are meant as a complete meal, although some medieval banquets could contain twenty courses ormore. The recipes are gathered from the same countries as the music
(with one exception from Denmark) and are in some instances slightly adjusted to fit our modern ingredients.