AFTER last week's appearance on BBC2's Later...With Jools Holland, Southern Albanian musicians Saz'iso perform their mesmerising arabesques, joyful dances and heartbreaking laments at the National Centre for Early Music in York tomorrow.

The eight-piece group will be promoting their new album, At Least Wave Your Handkerchief At Me: The Joys And Sorrows Of Southern Albanian Song, released in October on Glitterbeat Records.

Co-produced by the legendary Joe Boyd, best known for his work with Pink Floyd, Fairport Convention, Nick Drake and R.E.M. the album was recorded by Grammy-winning engineer Jerry Boys, whose credits include the Buena Vista Social Club, Ali Farka Toure and Orchestra Baobab.

Saz'iso, an ensemble from the isolated mountain regions of Southern Albania, provide an introduction to the haunting sounds and songs of Saze, one of Europe's richest but most overlooked musics, with Saze and iso-polyphony carrying the status of a UNESCO-protected "intangible heritage".

While there are traces of more well-known Balkan idioms in their repertoire, encountering the powerful moods of this earthy, long-hidden music feels like a revelation, as Saze music is among the least recorded musical forms and remains largely unknown outside Albania.

The group of virtuoso musicians and legendary singers was assembled by Boyd, in tandem with fellow producers Edit Pula and her friend Andrea Goertler, both passionate advocates of traditional music.

York Press:

The album cover for Saz'iso's At Least Wave Your Handkerchief At Me

"I had long been intrigued by Albanian music," says Boyd. "In 1988, I saw a smuggled video of that year's Gjirokaster Folklore Festival, but good recordings were hard to find. When I finally went in 2014, I was captivated by the country and its mesmerising music; the germ of a plan to make a record took hold."

A Kickstarter campaign supported by friends and strangers, musicians and fans from around the world ensured the Saz'iso project could come to fruition, leading to the formation of the line-up of Donika Pecallari, vocals; Adrianna Thanou, vocals; Robert Tralo, vocals; Aurel Qirjo, violin and vocals; Telando Feto, clarinet; Agron Murat, lute; Agron Nasi, frame drum, and Pellumb Meta, flute and vocals.

"We set out to record these virtuoso singers and musicians like a Blue Note jazz session or a Deutsche Grammophon string quartet," says Boyd. "Saze is, after all, a classical form, its essential elements unaltered over the decades. With its ancient roots, the intensity of this world-class music has the power to entrance any listener."

The recording sessions took place over the last three days of October 2016 at the Marubi Film Academy in Tirana, the Albanian capital, where Boyd’s friend Boys converted the film school’s screening room into a warm, bright studio. Everything was done live, with no overdubs.

"Recording Saz’iso was a wonderful experience, especially as the musicians were so obviously thrilled to be part of the project," says Boyz. "They are all brilliant performers and we rarely needed more than two takes to get a master.”

The songs tell of joy and sorrow, love and loss, heroism and tragedy. Tana is an ancient song about a shepherd whose flock is stolen by bandits that grant his wish to play his flute for the last time before they kill him. The plaintive melody conveys his terrible fate to his beloved in the valley below.

York Press:

Saz'iso vocalists Adrianna Thanou, left, and Donika Pecallari. Picture: Andrea Goertler

A line from the beautiful Penxherene e zotrise sate gives the album its title; a boy yearns for the girl next door, pleading, "You keep going in and out of your gate. O poor me outside! At least wave your handkerchief at me."

Other songs relate stories of partisans struggling against foreign invaders and men forced to depart in search of work, leaving behind grieving wives and families, a recurring theme in Albanian music to the present day.

The instrumental dances have deep roots in the region’s history. Valle e Osman Takes originated with a captured rebel leader dancing his way to freedom and is now a spectacular male dance that constitutes a test that only the most skilled attempt. The delicate Valle Postenance, on the other hand, is a popular women’s dance.

These songs and more besides can be heard on a November tour promoted by Making Tracks. Here in York, the NCEM is running a Buy One Get One Free ticket offer, whereby ticket holders can see both Saz'iso and Chouk Bwa Libète's drums, poetry and trance from Haiti's vodou heartlands on February 21 for the price of one ticket.

Should you need further encouragement to attend, Los Angeles roots musician Ry Cooder says of Saz'iso: "Why not give yourself a break from the unending cavalcade of modern high-speed insanity and rest up with this album of deep soul from Southern Albania."

Making Tracks presents Saz'iso at National Centre for Early Music, York, tomorrow at 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 658338 or at ncem.co.uk