Charlemagne had a vision.

 

He saw in the sky a path of stars starting at the Frisian Sea, running through the country of the Teutons, Gaul and following in a straight line Aquitaine,  the Basque Country, Navarre and Spain to Galicia. It was the Milky Way, the star field, Campus Stellae, Compostela.

 

St Jacques appeared to him and asked him to open the way to Galicia so that Christians could pray at his tomb, in a Spain under the influence of the Moorish Muslims. According to this legend, the emperor succeeded and paved the way for 9 centuries of an exceptional human adventure. 

 

WithThe Thousand and One Voices ofCOMPOSTELA, ODO Ensemble travels the musical paths that have crossed Europe since the Middle Ages and that have pushed men and women from all walks of life to walk thousands of kilometers towards the end of the world. Entire cultures intersected: those of Christians of all languages and from the four corners of Europe, those of Berbers, Arabs, Jews.

 

On these immense journeys, piety to Mary, protective, benevolent, miraculous, was expressed with exaltation and the ways of Santiago were dotted with places of devotion to the Virgin. It was sung at Montserrat in Catalonia, in the cantigas of Santa María, but also in the great abbeys, places of refinement and musical compositions, in Limoges or Burgos.

 

ODO Ensemble traces a journey of musical universes crossed by travelers from a thousand paths: from Scotland, Flanders, France, Italy, Corsica, Spain...: Scottish and Galician Celtic music, sacred vocal polyphonies , Cantigas de Santa Maria, traditional music from Auvergne, Italy, Chanson de Roland, trouvère songs, Judeo-Spanish songs, Arab-Andalusian music, Corsican songs, songs from Montserrat in Catalonia.

 

Arrived at Santiago, the pilgrims could hear the songs to the glory of "Jacobus", recorded in the Codex Calixtinus  still visible in the Cathedral today, including the oldest written three-voice polyphony in the West, Congaudeant Catholici.

 

And they were on their way back.