Unsurprisingly there are plenty of rousing moments, as the jubilation of new nationhood is celebrated…But over the upbeat music of victory hangs the heavy shroud of social conditions in the country.

The singing and playing – on strings, flutes, fifes and percussion – are plain but not raucous and the sound nicely naturalistic, as if we really were in a meeting hall.

Much sounds like folk song but everything is notated, with partsongs often cast in what Anne Azéma refers to in the notes as ‘rough-hewn frontier harmonies’...The results are homespun but stirring, thanks in no small part to the disc’s journey from rallying to repentance and eventually pride...Most impressive is this group’s channelling of ‘a young society full of vigour’ in performances that prioritise the time and the feeling over any idea of perfection or the concert hall.