Nani Dschann by Aquabella

Nani Dschann evolved into a musical and historical world journey on which the five women of Aquabella sought typical women’s songs, ultimately encountering themselves along the way. Aquabella sings songs from all over the world in their original languages from: Ireland, Tanzania, Chile, Georgia, Armenia, Romania, Bulgaria and Italy, as well as traditional melodies of the Antilleans, the South African Bantu, the American Jews and the Sephardim (the Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal).

This unusual CD was named after the old Armenian folksong “Nani Dschann” (dear mother). With the words: “Your tender care fills an ocean. May your blessing protect us always”, a young bride takes leave of her mother, providing a first glimpse into the thematic spectrum of this fascinating a cappella album: sorrow and happiness, desire, love, hope, jealousy and everyday life.

In an arrangement by Miriam Makeba, Aquabella presents a South African nursery rhyme which is an exercise in the pronunciation of the difficult clicking sounds of the language of that region (“Baxabene Oxamu”). And in the Yiddish song “Ich bin a Mame”, a mother stands sadly by a fence beholding her daughter who is soon to marry, and for whom the mother is a stranger. The older woman has had to give up her child at birth, and how she would have loved to lead her daughter to the wedding canopy!

Aquabella is an unique ensemble presenting world music a Capella. The group has been founded around the curiosity of its members towards Bulgarian women’s choirs, but after a while this changed into a search for songs and sounds from all over the globe.