Sabbatum

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Well isn't that lovely, you think as you enter the room where the CD player is on. Pretty female vocal duets sung in Latin, medieval instruments weaving soothing acoustic tones on an ancient sound loom. Hang up your coat, sit down by the roaring fireplace, draw yourself a hearty mug of frothing mead and relax.

Then you pick up the CD case and discover that while what you are listening to is indeed a group of musicians playing instruments from the Middle Ages, the material covered is not Gregorian chant or troubador paeans to courtly love from Provence, but Black Sabbath. Good ol' headbanging grandfather rock played on hurdy-gurdy, lute, psaltery, bagpipes, Gothic harp, fiddle and frame drum. Does that make it any less lovely?

Rondellus, founded by Maria and Robert Staak in their native Tallinn in 1993 for the express purpose of performing Medieval and Renaissance music, having previously released several albums of material from the sacred and secular canon of those eras. With this record, their aim was to invite a rock audience into their world. Whether that will succeed is moot; instead, this record makes a very interesting comment on the importance of context. Unless you are fluent in Latin and/or a Black Sabbath fan able to discern the tunes in their new codpieces and wimples, you'd be unable to realize that this was a tribute to Ozzy and the boys. And what will the Early Music enthusiasts, renowned for their purism, think of Rondellus' "sacrilege"? Either way, an entertaining oddity.