Solitude is the island of poetry and of creation, a single body with its limits. But what happens when a poet creates on an island, and this island is Malta, a crumb of earth broken from the bread of Africa or from that of Europe, and fallen here in the middle their common sea, as we could say with the words of another poet from an island, Mario Brai?
Costanza Ferrini, foreword to Oliver Friggieri, Nous sommes un desir, Euroeditor Louxembourg, 1998.

[…] the sounds of the tiny but boundless universe of the wonderful island of Carloforte […] through the contribution of a group gathered around guitarist and composer Mario Brai, who has written in his very DNA the love for blendings and for Mediterranean music.
 Walter Porcedda, La Nuova Sardegna, 16-6-2000

MARENOSTRUM, with their fascinating Mediterranean contaminations…
Walter Porcedda, La Nuova Sardegna, 19-6-2000

[…] music at 360º, in all its forms and shades, this is the main merit of Mario Brai. The group's watchword is to innovate, to make experiments on the fund of Italian traditional music […] Nothing seems able to stem the passionate energy of MARENOSTRUM…
Il Corriere di Firenze, 28-8-2000

[…] their new and stimulating CD of Mediterranean music…
 Walter Porcedda, La Nuova Sardegna, 30-8-2000