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plays one of those new-Nordic mandolas bluesy harmonica and concertina and Fiddler and nyckelharpa player Emilia
with extended bass strings. The latter has a O’Dowd’s fiddle work gelling on The Duke Of Lajunen is in a slew of notable young bands
fatter, more gutty and wide-range sound Leinster, while Out On The Western Plains whose albums have been reviewed in fR
than the silvery liquidity of the usual fado mixes Leadbelly/ Rory Gallagher folk blues including Suo and Kirjava Lintu and is one of
instrument, Portuguese guitarra; harmonicas with Seamie O’ Dowd’s bluesy vocals out front. the three dancing fiddlers in the beautiful
haven’t really been used in fado before, and Cathy Jordan’s voice breathes easy on Sweet show Silmu.
the fiddle is hardly a core fado instrument. Becky Of The Loom, her plaintive delivery suit-
Sara Puljula has become the session dou-
But the essence of vocal fado isn’t the
ing the laid-back old-timey presentation and
ble-bassist, and sometimes percussionist, of
instrumentation, it’s the singing style and
It’s Cool To Be Green inhabits jugband territo-
choice with much of the current Finnish
the song. And Liana is an impressive and
ry. Rick Epping adds a breathy vibrato to Jag-
scene, including Frigg, Gjallarhorn, Tsuumi,
attractive singer, here not just performing
ger/ Richard’s No Expectations and a laconic
Pekka Kuusisto and Hilja Grönfors.
fado, and a passionate new fado-style song
reading of Jim Kweskin’s Morning Blues with
In Spontaani Vire these four talents are
by Simon and Liana that draws on the power
O’Dowd’s slide guitar adds a perfect Irish
concentrated. Everything on High Caffeine
at the high end of her vocal range, but also a
American folk exchange. Of the three present,
Content is a composition by one of them,
fast corridinho dance-song from Alentejo,
while all have been exposed to crisscrossing
throwing around well-commanded styles
and her lyrics to a tune learnt recently by
Irish/ American forms, Californian Rick Epping,
from Kaustinen-style polka through east Euro-
Sérgio from an old fiddler in Portugal’s
ex-Pumpkinhead and now Arcady 3 member,
pean, Georgian, Hungarian csárdás, waltz, to
north. She pitches in with the Nordic
acts as mentor coming from an American
tango and theatre music, and it’s all strong,
material, too, writing Portuguese lyrics to
background exposed to Irish music in Sligo
with no easy borrowings or pastiche, and each
Swedish and Finnish songs and blending a
with Joe O’Dowd (Seamie O’Dowd’s uncle),
melody is taken to new places in dazzling,
Coimbra fado with a well-known Swedish
while the homegrown others developed an
constantly surprising group arrangements.
song from the Åland archipelago. The songs
interest in American music from their Irish per-
It’s a combo that would, with more
are mainly from Liana, but the guys
spective. Cathy Jordan’s closing a cappella
record company or management push, be
sometimes take vocals too, and add in
Eileen A Ruin allows music from the Atlantic
one of the Finnish scene’s top exports. I hope
instrumentals including a couple of polskas
fringe to fade into the ether with quiet effec-
that happens before their multiple individual
written by Sérgio, a waltz by Simon and a
tiveness. This is an intriguing and promising
career paths take up all their time.
schottis by Filip.
sideline which augurs well for those involved.
www.texicalli.net
There’s no special history of musical
www.unwantedtrio.com
connection between their two countries –
John O’Regan
Andrew Cronshaw
sailors or traders in antiquity or whatever.
This is a new connection, but a natural one.
If people love the music of two places, and
NIWEL TSUMBU
KHALED
inhabit both, why not play them together,
and see how they blend? They do, and this is
Song Of The Nations Offbeat OBRCD0015
Rebel Of Raï: The Early Years Nascente
NSDCD007
a proper group, beginning to transcend the
sort of cross-cultural experiment that the
Grew up in the Congo, learned guitar, arrived
name suggests, with an appealing album
in Cork in 2004, and this is his second album.
Hot on the heels of Khaled’s new album Lib-
and, as the couple of City Of London Festival
Nothing if not bold, he’s a spirited and garru-
erté, Nascente have released a compilation of
gigs in our sunshine-and-showers summer
lous singer and a most accomplished gui-
his vintage material. The ‘King of Raï’ was
showed, considerable live charm.
tarist, Django Reinhardt meets chamber
first propelled to international success in the
music meets Africa. Playing here with a small
charts with hit singles like Didi (1992) and
www.westparkmusic.eu, distributed by
group of violin, bass and percussion, plus
Aïcha (1996). Casting the clock back to the
Proper. www.stockholmlisboa.com
some flute and keyboard, there’s a sense of
rebellious ‘early years’, we are introduced to
Andrew Cronshaw
restless adventure, and it produces all kinds
the astonishing past of one of Algeria’s
of fusions and reflections.
biggest musicians. That’s not to say we don’t
get our fair share of Khaled anthems: classics
Only cautious quibble is a tendency to
NO CROWS
like Chebba and La Camel have always
get a little over-tricky – like for example hid-
ranked amongst his most popular songs.
Magpie Whirling Discs WHRL012
ing the last track so you don’t hear it until
you think the CD is over and you’re off your
The shifting genre of raï was once the
THE UNWANTED
guard. A surprise the first time; after that,
preserve of Bedouin folk instruments. Gradu-
ally, other acoustic instrumentation – violins,
what? But this is still a prodigious guy.
ouds and accordeons – were introduced.
Music From The Atlantic Fringe Whirling Already causing much favourable comment
Khaled’s first solo single, Trig Lycée (The Way
Discs WHRL013 in Ireland, Tsumbu has every chance of a
To College), is – for me, at least – the high-
wider audience. www.niweltsumbu.com
Two releases with a pronounced Dervish con-
light of this collection. The 7-minute gem
nection emanating from their Sligo-based
Rick Sanders was recorded in 1974 by a 14-year-old
hamlet. No Crows is an eclectic quartet fea-
Khaled, and has never been included on any
turing violinist Steve Wickham, Anna Hous-
of his albums. Accordeon-led, understated
ton from Switzerland on cello and mandolin,
SPONTAANI VIRE
and roughly recorded, the track makes a
French guitarist (and one-time Dervish man-
refreshing contrast with Khaled’s typically
High Caffeine Content Texicalli TEXCD 092
ager) Felip Carbonell and bassist Eddie Lee.
slick production values.
Their second album Magpie features a gab- Its CDs haven’t really been promoted outside
By the late ‘70s, the drum machine and
hail of tunes from mainland and eastern Finland, but the instrumental quartet Spon-
synthesiser had been introduced to raï – with
European sources, original tunes and an taani Vire has been quietly developing, with
Khaled a leading figure amongst the earliest
Astor Piazzolla cover for good measure. The some line-up changes, since the early 1990s.
stylistic range extends to klezmer and Gypsy The current members are all now front-line
Cheb Khaled
with a strongly baroque feel creeping in on players in their own right, and this third album
occasion. Des De Mallorca A l’Alguer veers is a tour de force of creativity and variety.
from hoedown to more pronounced Sardini-
Johanna Juhola is top class, at least the
an strains while Sa Sibil-la careers between
equal of Maria Kalaniemi and Kimmo Pohjo-
atmospheric semi-classical and German
nen in 5-row accordeon skill and composi-
baroque styles. Houston’s title track recalls
tional creativity, but very much in her own
Irish roots while The Hot Bulgar sees them fir-
styles bridging acoustic and electronic. Her
ing on klezmer cylinders. The four musicians
solo albums are even more quirkily inventive
possess an emphatic understanding of each
than her striking visual appearance, and she’s
other’s musical nuances and the results are
in dynamic duos with guitarist Roope Aarnio,
collective alchemy in action. Magpie is a glori-
pianist/ composer Timo Alakotila, the excit-
ously freewheeling eclectic combination
ing, innovative Kraft with violinist/ fiddler
which, like No Crows, defies classification.
Pekka Kuusisto, the group Troka with
www.nocrows.net Alakotila and hot fiddlers Ville Ojanen, Matti
The Unwanted, comprised of Dervish
Mäkelä and Frigg’s Antti Järvelä, and with
vocalist Cathy Jordan, ex-member Seamie
Milla Viljamaa, Las Chicas Del Tango and
O’Dowd and American multi-instrumentalist
Tango Orchestra Unto she’s taking tango to
Photo: Adrian Boot
Rick Epping, likewise take an eclectic musical
new Finnish places.
route. Outlining the similarities between Irish Eero Grundström, of harmonica quartet
music and its American folk, old-timey and Sväng, is the only survivor of the original
blues counterparts, it’s an exhilarating roller Spontaani Vire. Long a noted harmonium
coaster of varied yet related sounds. Musically whizz, on this album he also plays piano and
O’Dowd and Epping carry the weight, Epping’s classic Hammond sounds.
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