Medieval Dance Music
Medieval literature abounds with references to dancing, yet less than fifty dances are documented before 1400 A.D. and still survive today. Much of the music performed by medieval minstrels was improvised and often performed with a combination of instruments such as the oud (lute)and the rebec which were introduced to Europe by Arabs as early as the 8th century. By Drawing on tradition and reproduced using combinations of reconstructed medieval instruments and eastern instruments virtually unaltered since the middle ages, the aim of this album is to recreate the essence of medieval dance music and the exciting art of the medieval minstrel.