Saz’iso is the brainchild of producer Joe Boyd, who has worked with various rock ‘n roll luminaries, including Pink Floyd, Nick Drake, and R.E.M. At Least Wave Your Handkerchief… is a collection of Albanian Saze songs, recorded by musicians assembled by Boyd in order to capture this largely undocumented folk tradition. While the instruments used are modern, the songs interpreted here go back hundreds of years. The jaunty lament “Tana" tells the story of a shepherd whose flock is stolen by bandits and who plays his flute one last time before he is killed. The maudlin melodies and tense guitar work of “Penxherenë E Zotrisë Sate” tell a story of unrequited love, and gives the album its title: “You keep going in and out of your gate / O poor me outside!/ At least wave your handkerchief at me.” Many of the other songs on this album are about partisans fighting foreign invaders and men leaving home to find work, a perennial theme in Albanian music to this day. I don't know what else to say about this one other than it is extremely wonderful and not like anything I've heard before. I cannot recommend it enough.
This album was released via Glitterbeat... sometime in the last five years, I think.
