02.14.05 (MusicPortal.com) BALANESCU QUARTET's first album since 2000's "Il Partigiano Gionni" (Virgin Music Italy) and first Mute Recordings release since 1995's "Angels And Insects" soundtrack will be released On March 28th. Entitled "Maria T," the new album is a re-connection with Alexander Balanescu's Romanian roots, evoking the spirit of one of his earliest musical influences, the glamorous and iconic Folk singer and actress Maria Tanase (1913-63). Hailed as "Romania's Edith Piaf," Tanase led a life of contradiction which mirrored her country's troubled history and also connected with something timeless. Alexander Balanescu explained the concept: "Following on from my work on the album 'Luminitza,' for which I took elements of Eastern European folk music as sources of inspiration for new musical material, on this particular project I took the songs of Maria Tanase as a basis for new compositions. My intention was not to make transcriptions or arrangements of the ethnic material, but through my own particular musical perspective, (with its classical, jazz, electronic, and generally very eclectic influences) to develop a new personal language, but always remaining true to the spirit of the original source material." "Maria T" was conceived as a multi-media experience, reflecting his interest in mixed-media performance. Working in parallel with acclaimed Austrian video artist Klaus Obermaier, the two have created a compelling live show that began touring the UK This month. Taking footage from Maria Tanase's live concerts, archive recordings of her songs, and images from Romania's history they developed, re-imagined and manipulated them into a warm and tragicomic world of live music, archive sounds and video projections.