There is a river that runs near the border between France and Italy, which the French call Var and the Italians, Varo.
When they were casting about for a name for their new musical project, Consuelo Breschi and Lucie Azconaga decided that a river that was sometimes French, and sometimes Italian and “just kept changing borders” was a good fit. After all, Azconaga is French, and Breschi is Italian.
So now, together, they are Varo, and they perform traditional Irish tunes with “sensuous, harmonious” vocals and “mystical” countermelodies. Right now, they’re working with Belfast bouzouki and mandolin player Frank Tate, too.
In this month’s episode of our Music at Marrowbone Books podcast, the pair talk about their journeys from Florence and Bordeaux to Ireland’s trad music scene. And they perform some tunes at the bookshop in the Coombe.
If you’d like to come along to the regular series of evenings of music at Marrowbone Books, they’re on the third Thursday of each month.