Mzaza – Journey Over Skin

CD review by Graham Blackley

Brisbane based band Mzaza, who played at the Illawarra Folk Music Festival earlier this year, take the listener on a colourful international tour on their excellent eight-track mini-album Journey Over Skin which features the dexterous playing of Flamenco guitarist Andrew Veivers.

This musical trip encompasses intriguing destinations such as Spain (La Tarara), Bulgaria (Les Fleurs Qui Fanent) and Turkey (Black Sea Dance and Rampi Rampi). French-born lead vocalist Pauline Maudy, who sings beautifully in several languages, has a wonderfully dramatic delivery and sounds particularly alluring on Mon Amant De Saint Jean which was recorded live at Brisbane multicultural radio station 4EB.

The exotic collection of instruments used on the EP include ney and kaval (Balkan and Turkish end blown flutes) kamanche (a Persian bowed string instrument), and darabuka (Turkish hand percussion).

The music is of a uniformly high quality and it is easy to see why the band has achieved airplay on ABC Classic, Radio National, Triple J, SBS and Qantas.