For the members of the Sevillian group Accademia del Piacere and their director, viola da gamba player Fahmi Alqhai, bringing the songs of the Cancionero Musical de la Colombina (Colombina Songbook) to life has been an honour and something they feel they were predestined to do. Particularly so, as it is believed to have been played in Seville by one of the world’s first known viola da gamba consorts. The group’s musicians have immersed themselves in the impassioned music of Juan de Triana and the unique style of Andalusian polyphony that existed during the Age of Discovery, and have gone to great care to reproduce the creative improvisational practices seen amongst instrumentalists of the time.

Preserved thanks to the bibliophile Ferdinand Columbus (Christopher Columbus’s son), who acquired it in 1534, it was most probably finishe within the opulent chapel of the Duke of Medina Sidonia. As such, it is testimony to the importance of Seville during this period, during which it was Europe’s main centre for trade and on the verge of becoming the gateway to the Americas.

The Cancionero Musical de la Colombina is one of the most important 15th-century collections of polyphony. Its 95 pieces, the majority secular (except for twelve that are religious, two that are in French, four that have no text and one that is instrumental), make up the oldest body of Spanish polyphony in existence. The best represented composer is Juan de Triana, although it also includes compositions by renowned individuals such as Johannes Cornago, Juan de Urrede and Johannes Ockeghem.