The rise and splendour of the Spanish Empire in the 16th and 17th centuries spread Spain’s cultural wealth and diversity far and wide, embracing musical traditions whose roots mixed Christian, Muslim, Jewish and American influences. This transformed cultural and musical fashions throughout Europe. The original scores were basic skeletons, to which the musicians added a plethora of personal interpretation: arrangements, glosses and a world of ornamentation. Accademia del Piacere and Fahmi Alqhai have spent years working on this Spanish approach in order to revive this spirit through improvisation, bringing this music back to life.