Xeno Manía is an instrumental suite composed by Ale Möller, originally commissioned by the Swedish National Radio in 2021. A totally unique sound is created from having double percussionists, a horn section and a Swedish “nyckelharpa”/keyed fiddle blending in. The 9 piece orchestra is meticulously picked and every member is a respected instrumentalist in her own name.
“I've travelled far and wide with my music, and I am amazed at the power certain musicians still have over me. This record is dedicated to four of them; Barba Thodoros, It isn't an attempt to demonstrate how they played, but their approach to what they did, their energy and their ability to tell stories through their music have been a major inspiration in the making of this work. None of them are with us anymore. Their memory fills me with happiness and gratitude.”
Ale Möller
Barba Thodoros
Ambelas is a village on the island of Paros in the Greek Cyclades. Barba Thodoros lived there. I was just over twenty years old; he was a little more than sixty. We became friends.
Barba Thodoros loved to sing, but he had a problem. According to village tradition, when someone died, everybody had to wear a black armband and avoid singing or dancing for six months. Thodoros was frustrated. He was the youngest of six siblings, and when each six-month mourning period was coming to an end, another elder brother or sister would die. He never got the chance to sing.
One day I rented a car and said, “Thodoros, nobody in the village need to ever know what songs are being sung in a car late at night.” Throughout that night we drove around the hills in the pale light of the full moon. Barba Thodoros sat in the back seat and sand “amanes” in his powerful, rough-edged voice while I sat at the wheel, thrilled.
Röjås Jonas
Just north of Rättvik in the Swedish province of Dalarna, in the village of Boda, lived traditional fiddler Röjås Jonas. In the early 1980´s I moved into a neighbouring village and struck up a friendship with him which later developed into a musical collaboration.
Jonas was a very complex personality: both exacting and generous at the same time. Very serious, but also a lot of fun, full of playful pranks. The intensity of his polska playing often took my breath away.
Tarak das baul
Travelling around Bengal in India a few years ago, I met Tarak Khyapa das Baul, a spiritual and musical guro from the ancient order of the travelling Bauls. Above all, though, he was a musician of the moment, with an incredible energy and presence.
We had long conversations without understanding a word of each other´s languages. We got our meaning across with looks and gestures, but above all through music.
His songs Kangal and Sadhu are the ones who now keep his legacy alive for the future.
Gibril Bah
The village of Toubab Dialaw, a few miles south of Dakar in West Africa, was the home of Gibril Bah, a master of the Foulani people´s one-string fiddle, the “riti”. Gibril was a proud man. The two of us always made music together as equals.
Once, when I pointed this out, he said: “You´re right, Ali Mullah, we are the same. But there's one difference: you travel the world, you make records and perform on the TV. I don´t. I'll be staying in this village and playing for the same people till I die.”
As it turned out, he was right. We had come a long way in our plans to bring him to Sweden, but a heart attack intervened.