Trempera - Saturnalia [CD]

Trempera is a Catalan word meaning excitement, enthusiasm or pleasure. It is the name adopted by the Trempera! Quintet who have just released their first album- Saturnalia. Three of the musicians are Catalan: Lluc Casares on tenor sax and clarinet, Xavi Torres on piano and Joan Terol on drums. Bruno Calvo on trumpet is from Andalusia and Giuseppe Romagnoli on bass is Italian. The album and track titles refer to the Ancient Roman festivities in honor of the god Saturn. It was a joyous festival characterized by role reversals. Masters served food to their slaves. Overeating and drunkenness were rampant and forbidden games were played. "We won a Records Award, given by the Keep an Eye Foundation, in a competition in Amsterdam," explains Joan Terol, who along with his fellow musicians are now mostly based in the city. "The prize consisted of money to record and release an album. We wanted a unifying, concrete concept instead of everyone just composing unrelated pieces. We thought it would be nice making happy, yet vigorous music that anyone can identify with, though composition-wise some parts might be complex."