Fandango - Inspiracion: The Dance of Joy. This lovely disc comprises both rarely heard and known fandangos in unique arrangements and with improvisation. The artists have employed an early music approach for the music which relishes in the unique instrumentation of trombone, recorder, guitar, harpsichord, guitar and percussion.

Rich or poor, young or old, great or small - almost everyone in town knew at least the basic figures of this improvisational song and dance. It was danced in theaters and on the streets, from the taverns and dance halls to the palaces of nobles. The fandango, usually accompanied by a guitar and castanets, was and is fundamentally an expression of joie de vivre!

And - as many a prudish contemporary at the time lamented - it was also a dance of amorous pleasure: "Their bodies move to the cadences of the music, full of passionate excitement, with extremely voluptuous gestures, with stamping feet, glances, leaps, all the movements brimming with lascivious intentions", complained the Dean of Alicante in 1712. If that is not proof enough of the charms of the fandango, let it be noted that even Giacomo Casanova himself expressly described the fandango as "the most seductive and voluptuous dance in the world". And he should know…