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mance, and this on a song which anyone this pair of instruments plays the dance tunes. and spins them through ambient trad in fine
might find in the ‘Classic Book of English Folk As well as the two keyboards mentioned, style, Angus Grant’s fiddle a marvellous coun-
Songs’. This is an object lesson in taking a Daniele Caldarini also plays what sounds like a terpoint to a jazz underscore. The DJ’s imagi-
song and making it your own. church organ. In accompanying slower songs nation recasts Dolphin’s Delta Dotteral as a
Although the album is dark in tone there
this works well, but when it joins in halfway sonic scat shuffle with vocal injections
is plenty of light in the dexterity of the instru-
through a set of dance tunes, the sprightly stretched and reshaped, it’s a piece of
mental passages. Musically the album is pow-
playing takes on a lugubrious quality. humour and wit. And that’s a strength in
erful and well crafted. Chris Sherburn proves www.folkclubethnosuoni.com
Shooglenifty’s favour, that they can allow tin-
himself a master of the anglo concertina and
kering with material from disc to disc and yet
Vic Smith
Denny matches this with skilful and consid-
it remains distinctive. Elsewhere, The Dancing
ered guitar playing. The balance of tradition-
Goose is a jet of hyper ceilidh and Glenn-
al and contemporary material is well thought
finnan Dawn, a banjo leading a misty morn-
out and it would be a good album without
SHOOGLENIFTY
ing chillout after a night of hearty revelry.
the final two tracks. But with them? Wow! Murmichan Shoogle Records SHOOGLE09010
The invitation to Murmichan reads “Here it is,
www.chrisanddenny.co.uk; via Proper.
make of it what you will”, your reaction
Thank God for individuality, three cheers for should be as individual as the music, but real-
Paul Davenport unpredictability. Hoorah for Shooglenifty! ly it’s impossible not to love the sheer cere-
By doing exactly what they want to and
bral rush and intelligence.
for the most part appearing to ignore every Shooglenifty as ever, come celebrate the
CHRISTINA ROSMINI trend out there, yet quietly assimilating bits distinction… and dance a bit as well.
Sous L’Oranger Le Chant Du Monde 274 1736
and bobs that might be useful, their magpie
www.shoogle.com; distribution: Proper.
tendencies have produced the wonder that is
TRANSPIRADANSA
the scrapbook called Murmichan. I don’t use
Simon Jones
the analogy without reason, from the cover
Granuba Appel Rekords APR1426 alone, decorated with pictures, keepsakes,
odds and ends that you might find in a drawer, AFENGINN
PICOTAGE you can glean that the band might be on a
Bastard Etno Westpark 87183
clear-out or experimenting wildly. As it hap-
Je N’Irai Plus Aux Champs FolkClub
pens they do both, since what comes in the
Ethnosuoni ES 5376
You can’t accuse Afenginn of sitting on their
excellent fold-out pack is not one but two CDs: laurels. Denmark’s finest bastard ethno band
“Wherever it is possible, combine more than
the first stacked with the wide eyed psychedel- (as they refer to their music) just released the
one item into a joint review”, say our review-
ic folkish funk that has made them dance floor expansive and ambitious Reptilica Polaris last
ers’ guidelines. Ok – here’s a group of diffi-
favourites at festivals the globe over, and the year, and now they’ve turned around and
cult-to-categorise continental releases.
second a playpen/ laboratory where they’ve come back with what’s essentially a ‘best of’,
taken their repertoire to further extremes.
Hailing from Marseille, Christina Rosmini
but with the kind of twist they like to put on
is a very fine singer/ songwriter who really
The main work on Murmichan is actually
things. There are some new tracks, as well as
puts over her songs in a crisp, clear and com-
over a year old, having been laid down at
older material, which encompasses not only
municative way. If you could take her
Castlesound back in October 2008, yet given
last year’s disc, but also the previous two,
melodies and the topics that she tackles in
the gap in time between recording and
Akrobakkus and Retrograd. There’s a definite
her lyrics and imagine them against just an
release, what comes over is a merry, cavalier
logic behind it, however. The material has
acoustic guitar, then you would hear a singer
soup, swirling with dashes of traditions clash-
now been well played in with endless gigs,
who writes mainly but not exclusively in
ing and melting together. Take the opening
and the most recent member, bassist/ gui-
French and in the chansonnier tradition,
Road To Bled for example, which hustles a
tarist Aske Jacoby, has had an influence on
drawing her inspiration from the likes of
simple Balkan line, building over and again in
the sound, changing things. So, with violin
Georges Brassens. However, here her songs
hypnotic fashion to a whirling fiddle, man- and clarinet, it’s still very Balkan (but in the
are given a variety of mainly Iberian accom-
dolin wig-out. The track also appears in live same offbeat way, let’s say, that 3 Mustaphas
paniments, usually deriving from flamenco
guise recorded at 2009’s Celtic Connections as 3 could be very Balkan), but always springing
and fado. From the evidence of this album
a balance to close: here it’s even bigger, more around, thanks to the imaginative pen of
she is a compelling performer who draws suc-
bear-like, the slap bass and dark rhythms mandolinist Kim Nyberg, who’s responsible
cessfully on a range of traditions and disci-
right up there; extra musicians lend eastern for all the compositions.
plines. The videos on her MySpace site show
touches, Shooglenifty generously making
The playing is more impressive than ever,
that she is also an excellent dancer with a
space so they give maximum impact.
and the re-recordings emphasise the sense of
commanding stage presence.
Elsewhere on the bonus disc, the han- cohesion that’s now a major factor of the
www.lechantdumonde.com, distributed
dling of Up All Night by Dolphin Boy, has cre- band, and which is especially evident on the
by Harmonia Mundi.
ated a laconic groove that hooks your senses newer work, like Eine Kleine Bit Of Amore or
Perky. A new version of Iguana Segregatis
If you would like to play a game of ‘spot
Shooglenifty perhaps offers the greatest sense of change,
the world music influence’ then the album
not only featuring group vocals on what had
that you need is Granuba. Led by the inspir-
previously been sung by a Russian-sounding
ing figure of Belgian fiddler Wouter Vanden-
choir, but also a musical scaling-down,
abeele, this collection of 24 fine young
although it never sounds diminished. It might
singers and musicians draw on salsa, big band
be a summing up of the first five years of
jazz, Kurt Weill-style cabaret singing, the
Afenginn, but it’s really much more than that,
European folk dance tradition, Balkan and
a case of this is how we really do it now, as
Turkish rhythms, township jive… well, in view
they prepare to step into the future.
of the space allowed, you will have to imag-
ine the rest for yourselves. Sometimes they
www.afenginn.dk; distributor: Proper.
are all playing full tilt and with a big, beefy Chris Nickson
sound, but there is also much that is subtle
and delicate. A particular delight was hearing
a favourite poem, Gacela Of The Terrible
ODADEWETHU
Presence by Federico García Lorca, set by Van-
denabeele and sung in a deliciously cool man-
Kuyoxaban’ Amadoda Gallo 5051865-1745-5
ner by Anke Verlinden. It could be said that
Old-fashioned South African jive from two
the album lacks an overall direction but it
impressive ladies shown on the sleeve in full
should also be stated that it achieves much in
Zulu regalia à la Mahotella Queens. What
a multiplicity of styles. www.tsmiske.be
they sing is socially-conscious, as follows the
Sometimes, the introduction of a new maskandi tradition, combining education
instrument into a tradition works well – sub- with entertainment. This is what the Soul
stituting the guitar for both the mbira in Brothers did to such excellent effect: lots of
Shona music and the kora in Manding music advice and telling-off and an irresistible com-
has proved successful. Picotage ask us to con- bination of beat and melody. It’s folk music,
sider that the Hammond organ or the mel- but also commercially popular, just like the
lotron has a role in central French dance music glorious mbaqanga of yore: same corn-
and song and on this evidence the case that pounding beat, chattering accordeon, electric
they make is less than compelling. In fact the guitar ringing out intricate and fascinating
better moments on the album have the very lines that recall the late Marks Mankwane –
agreeable voice of Nadia Marolli singing to great man that he was – and softly insistent
hurdy-gurdy and various bagpipes, or when Photo: Judith Burrows vocals, quite far back in the throat.
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