A free electron in today’s global galaxy of sound, Radio Tutti & Barilla Sisters are reawakening the force once again with an explosive second album. Music from Southern Europe is given a modern twist with stylish arrangements and an electro feel for a truly genre-defying album.
XOGO is inspired by Galicia and its inventive and festive folklore which draws on age-old earthly energies. Female voices are the common thread in this patchwork of Mediterranean and Oriental popular music, Creole influences from the other side of the Atlantic and plenty of other flavours besides.
For festivities with a truly global feel!
The story of Radio Tutti & Barilla Sisters began with a chance encounter, bringing together several artists who were (and continue to be) passionate about traditional music from Southern Europe and inspired by musical trends from all four corners of the globe. Since 2016, this musical melting pot has bubbled over with ingredients from popular traditions and a blend of exotic spices which have crossed the oceans. The sweat of hard-working people and oppressed minorities mingles with that of contemporary dancers to create a musical style without borders!
Radio Tutti combines adventurous arrangements which alternate between ancient and modern takes on Afro-Atlantic music, from cumbia to hip-hop. The proud, vibrant and powerful voices of the symbiotic duo of the Barilla Sisters are the perfect vehicle for the timeless rhythms and melodies of women from Southern Europe. These two women are united in their creative energy, their passion for sharing musical traditions and their desire to enter into a trance-like state with their audience. Radio Tutti & Barilla Sisters’ concerts are the perfect opportunity to embrace everything that group dances have to offer, somewhere between a folk ball and an all-out fiesta!
This new album is called XOGO, the Galician word for “play”: a mischievous nod to the origins of these musical genres inspired by working people. While the previous album was inspired by Italy’s South, this album has drawn on the energy of Northern Spain, a region which is renowned in this part of the world and where groups of women with big hearts (and bigger lungs!) mix Celtic, Latin and Eastern musical traditions with the frenetic rhythms of tambourines. As the sounds of the instruments come together, creating an invitation to dance, Radio Tutti & Barilla Sisters spice things up with their original arrangements and perfectly executed electronica interludes.
XOGO’s no casual walk in the park!
It’s a feverish fiesta on a Saturday night, an invitation to dance and live life to the full! Rumba Morena, the album’s first track, sets the tone and there’s no going back after that. High-pitched voices and Galician tambourines come to life with instrumental flights of fancy which evoke orchestras from Eastern Europe and beyond, combined with powerful flourishes. Forro de la Vida Viranta is a haunting ritornello, set between Brazil and Occitania, with a sultry dance feel and rhythmic scansion. Galician Rhapsody is a wonderful surprise as the last track on the album: a progressive and complex piece of music which will leave listeners in a trance. It’s a compendium of all the ingredients which make up this brilliant album, combining electro trance, deep and powerful rap, the soothing sound of the accordion and so much more…
Texts : Amaury Rullière
