Arianna Savall is the daughter of world-renowned musician (and owner of the Alia Vox label) Jordi Savall. She has toured Australia several times with her family's ensemble, Hesperion XXI, and enjoys a strongfollowing for her multi-faceted talents: as an ensemble player, gifted vocalist and harpist. This, her debut on the ECM label, is a special event. Savall and band co-leader Petter Udland Johansen describe their project as a journey linking the Mediterranean and the North Sea. "Hirundo Maris" is Latin for "sea swallow" and, like that bird's flight, the quintet - part early music ensemble, part folk group - drifts on musical currents between Norway and Catalonia, adds its own songs, created on the wing, and swoops down to dive beneath the surface. Hirundo Maris: was recorded in January 2011 in the Austrian monastery of St Gerold, with Manfred Eicher producing. Arianna has dedicated the recording to the memory of her mother, Montserrat Figuerras.