Close to your ear, Blessed echoes

Long before Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, there were already singer-songwriters who could enchant an audience with nothing more than a voice and some strings. In England around 1600, they were called Dowland, Campion of Morley, and their ‘lute songs’ were the pop ballads of that time: personal, poetic, and touchingly simple. What makes this music so powerful is its directness: a call-and-response game between voice and instrument. Près de votre oreille digs up the most beautiful pieces from this iconic repertoire. Master-of-melancholy John Dowland takes center stage, flanked by lesser-known contemporaries. The warm sound of the viola da gamba and the elegant energy of the lute form a combination that sounds both intimate and rich – a velvet soundbed for the vocal part. For a moment, AMUZ becomes a room in Elizabethaans Londen, where one can listen breathlessly and enjoy wholeheartedly.