This album is the second release by Gothenburg-based trio Salamander, founded in 2010. The trio, composed of musicians Marita Johansson (vocals, guitar), Jonas Liljeström (fiddle, vocals, ghatam) and David Odlöw (Irish bouzouki, melodeon, piano and vocals) is joined by guest musician Emil Pernblad (guitar), who is also the recording engineer and producer of the album, and who has, since its release, replaced David Odlöw as a full member of the group.

On this recording, the ensemble, which has ample experience performing music of a wide variety of origins and periods, explores principally Jewish musical traditions, particularly those of the Sephardic Jews of the Eastern Mediterranean. As declared in the album’s liner notes, their intention is to present their repertory in an original and deliberately anachronistic manner, which diverges from historically informed performance and is consistent with their own musical preferences and experience: Salamander’s musicians also perform as the ensemble Krilja, where they focus on the traditional Roma/Gypsy songs from Russia and Eastern Europe.

This breadth of musical interests informs the material and arrangement choices made for the purposes of the present recording: Como La Rosa is an original anthology of songs and instrumental pieces where musical material of different, and indeed diverging, traditions is unusually juxtaposed, and where the sacred stands alongside, and merges with, the profane.

Examples of this syncretism are track 5, where we witness the Sephardic song “Durmo la Nochada” giving way to “Der Terk in Amerika,” a tune composed by Klezmer clarinetist Naftule Brandwein, or track 4, where the Hungarian Jewish piyyut “Adir Ayom V’Nora” is followed by the Hungarian eighteenth-century dance “Magyar Tantz.”

The selection of Sephardic Jewish material on this recording is imaginative, the only widely familiar song being the (logically) final “Addio Querida.” The Jewish songs on the album are complemented with a couple of early-modern pieces of Dutch and French origin (“Seght Nu Ghy Nieuw Soldaten” / “Une Jeune Fillette” of track 7), and with a Scottish air followed by an English dance (“Fye Gae Rub Her O’er Wi’ Strae” / “Abbots Bromle Horn Dance,” track 8). Interestingly, all chosen Sephardic pieces are rather slow and melancholy, while quicker-paced material is drawn from other sources.

The album, which is presumably intended for a mostly non-Jewish audience, is provided with liner notes containing useful information on the primary differences between Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews, as well as a general introductory section on Sephardic music and its traditional performance practices. Information is also provided on individual pieces; however, it must be noted that the level of informative detail lacks some balance, as Sephardic songs, unlike the rest of the musical material, are only introduced by a succinct summary of their textual content, without a geographical, historical or cultural context.

The instrumental arrangements on the album are suggestive and atmospheric, and Jonas Liljeström’s performances on violin are striking and memorable. The performances of the ensemble’s instrumentalists in my opinion overshadow somewhat Marita Johansson’s renditions of the Judeo-Spanish lyrics, which are at times difficult to understand and occasionally inconsistent with the pronunciation of Judeo-Spanish.

Como La Rosa is overall a well-produced and interesting album, which can appeal to general audiences with an interest in folk, traditional and world music.