guitar taqsim/Cantiga de Santa Maria 123 Simon Thacker’s Ritmata

A composition by Simon Thacker based on one of the 13th century Cantigas de Santa Maria collected by the Spanish King Alfonso X. This is a movement from Simon’s large scale Cantigas Suite. The original text of Cantiga number 123 “De Santa Maria sinal qual xe quer“ relates the story of how Holy Mary saved a friar from devils as he lay on his death bed. This version starts with a guitar “taqsim“ or solo improvisation that introduces and develops the mode/scale of the piece, an idea used in much Middle Eastern music, to the accompaniment of a shruti or drone. Throughout the Cantiga (with the whole group), the rhythmic “tihai“ of Indian music is used frequently. Led by the visionary Scottish guitar virtuoso, Simon Thacker’s Ritmata play exhilaratingly direct new music by Simon combining sounds from every corner of the globe with the incredible musical experiences of all four performers: the unbridled expression of flamenco, the limitless emotions of the ragas o