fR321 PAGES 69-71-72-73_Layout 1 29/01/2010 17:30 Page 1
69 f
2 Various Ouaga Affair: Hard Won Sound 2 Joe Broughton’s Conservatoire Folk
Of The Upper Volta 1974-78 (Savannah- Ensemble Sardines (own label SAECD7) All
phone AFCD012) Deliciously obscure – special- hail Professor Broughton. Raise a glass to the
ist subject in Mastermind – this expedition lad from the Albion Band whose alternative
into the historic highlife/ rock/ Latin/ Afrobeat path through the hallowed halls of Birming-
headwaters of inland West Africa will thrill ham’s Conservatoire has given birth to the
the adventurous seeker after dance grooves. wacky and wonderful Folk Ensemble. With a
Echoey, fuzzy, wired-up, likeable, diverse: like membership that clocks in at around 75, broth-
UK church hall rock ‘n’ roll of early ‘60s – only er Ben is to be congratulated on capturing a
heavier. Available via
www.honestjons.com veritable orchestra all jigging and fiddling of
1 Afro Anatolian Tales Live In Teheran
typical JB diversity. What a way to celebrate
(Papyros MWCD 5020) Hailing from Iran,
your first decade!
www.folkensemble.co.uk
Turkey, Romania and the Netherlands, this 2 David Surette The Green Mandolin
five-piece blend Middle Eastern sounds with (Madrina Music MM 205) Multi-instrumental-
laptops. Their meandering four-track jam is ist Surette has proven himself one of the bet-
pleasant enough, but you get the feeling ter of the ‘90s string players. Influenced by
that this recording doesn’t really capture the Mick Moloney and Artie McGlynn, he purveys
live experience.
www.musicwords.nl, dis- Irish music with a familiarity that is welcome
tributed by Proper in the UK. and salutary. Jigs and reels are played with
2 Jordi Savall with Andrew Lawrence-
care and musical dexterity. Definitely one of
King The Celtic Viol (Alia Vox AVSA 9865)
the better US Celtic addictions worth pursu-
Savall has released several classically inclined
ing.
www.burkesurette.com
The albums – good (2), adequate (1) and collections but this is the first recording of Celtic @ Miriam Makeba Mama Afrika 1932-
bad (@) – which didn’t get the full-length music on the viol. Suitably classical in inspiration 2008 (Gallo 5051865-3593-2-6) Proposed by
treatment, contributed individually by a and chamber music in execution. The combina- the Gallo company as the definitive Makeba
selection of our various reviewers cowering tion of viol and Irish harp is lyrical and aestheti- anthology; clearly remastered but unchrono-
under the cloak of collective anonymity. cally sound, emphasising the academic nature logically assembled. Some great singing,
2 Various Murder: Songs From The Dark
of the recording. A praiseworthy endeavour some not so – a toe-curlingly off-key Mbube
Side Of The Soul (Trikont 0398) An engag-
heightened by a 140-page explanatory booklet (Wimoweh), for instance – the whole not
ing hotchpotch of American blues, country
in several languages.
www.alia-vox.com helped by cut-and-paste sleeve notes of gush
and jazz dealing with murder and mayhem. 2 Kamerunga The Push (Kamerunga KAM
and limited utility. Other anthologies are
Everyone from Sonny Boy Williamson to the CD 001) Australian outfit mixing Celtic, Anglo
available.
www.gallo.co.za
Delmore Brothers to Wilmoth Houdini. Nicely
Saxon and native folk strains with jazz and 2 Shotgun Party Mean Old Way (own
presented gatefold digipack, 23 songs, none
rock elements that include a horn section. label no cat no.) Austin, Texas-based trio for
of which serious collectors won’t already
Clever and tasteful concoctions devoid of whom comparisons with Hot Club Of Cow-
have but great fun.
www.trikont.com, dis-
overkill and kitchen sink tendencies. Ethnic town will be inevitable. Fronted by singer/
tributed in the UK by Shellshock.
elements breathe peacefully within the cos- guitarist Jenny Parrot, who writes all of the
@ Angelique Kidjo Oyo (Proper Pass004)
mopolitan jungle. Recommended. www.mys- songs, with fiddle and bass they offer a
The voice is as luminous as ever, the produc-
pace.com/kamerunga delightful set of original acoustic swing
tion is bright and crisp, and there are a couple
1 Cándida Mil Perdones (DiscMedi DM
music.
www.shotgunfiesta.com
of real stunners in Bechet’s Petite Fleur and an
1274-02) A passable debut by this young 1 Jimmy Docherty & The Velvet Tinkers
Africanised Cold Sweat. The rest is a mix of
Valencian singer, who clearly prefers Buenos Jimmy Docherty & The Velvet Tinkers
sanitised traditional fare and limp soul covers
Aires. The mostly self-penned material is based (own label no cat. no.) Pop folk from a
(including a pairing with John Legend for
in tango but flirts with jazz and pop, with Juan Glaswegian with a crew of usual suspects
Move On Up of all things) in which Angelique
Barcala’s electric guitar clearly modelled on including Michael McGoldrick, Dezi Donnelly
does herself no real favours. Disappointing.
Marc Ribot’s. The cover of Those Were The and John Joe Kelly. The results are more pol-
www.kidjo.com;
www.properuk.com
Days is out of place, and her voice lacks true ished pop-rock than fRoots-type sounds,
1
grit, but it’s early days.
www.discmedi.com however Docherty’s impassioned vocals
Various The Village (429 Records FTN
17773) Ambitious project to record 13 songs
2 Sibo Bangoura Keyim Ba (own label
demand attention and songs like Spacekid
from the golden era of New York’s Greenwich
SBG 001) Teaches drums and dance in Sydney,
and Needle In My Hand show promise.
Village folk music scene. Dylan gets five of his
but returned to his native Guinea to record
www.jimmydocherty.com
songs reprised, including a superb reading of
this lovely set. Djembe, kora, balafon, voices 2 Emerald The Great Divide (Leiselaut
Positively 4th Street from Lucinda Williams.
to set you open in the heart – the usual tradi- LLCD 1-013) A German band that mixes Irish
Artists featured include Los Lobos, Bruce
tional ingredients, still working their timeless traditional and new compositions with con-
Hornsby, Cowboy Junkies and others. Interest-
magic today.
www.douniya.com temporary American material. Sure-footed
ing yes; essential, no.
www.429records.com,
2 Katia Guerreiro Fado (Milan 399 269-2)
arrangements and a sensitive approach to
distributed by Proper in the UK.
Another solid, if fairly unadventurous disc
their source material augurs for solid and suc-
2 Pierre Bensusan A La Carte (DADGAD
from this great fadista. Her trio of bass, gui-
cessful outcomes.
www.emerald-music.de
Music DM 1010) Fifteen exemplary tracks of
tar and Portuguese guitar and the mix of tra- 1 Chris Dawson & Keltiac Out On The
ditional and new material remains the same. Edge (Vocation VOC1355) A UK flautist based
one of the world’s finest guitarists are com-
If you have her other records, you probably in Brittany, Dawson’s music lies in the Breton
piled here, including a stunning live version
don’t need this. Otherwise, a fine place to Celtic/ rock/ jazz fusion vein melded with Irish
of Intuite. Bensusan’s been recording solo
start.
www.milanrecords.com trad. As a player he veers between the breathy
and with other musicians since 1975, and his
styles of Jean Michel Veillon and the huffy
invention and technical flair are always to the
Angelique Kidjo
Sligo style of fluting. Using the heavy artillery
fore. Now go out and get the albums these
of Dan Ar Braz, Michael McGoldrick etc.,
tunes come from! Distributed by Discovery.
allows for possible sterling results. Quality
@ Among The Oak & Ash Among The Celtic crossover folk rock – not bad at all. mys-
Oak & Ash (Verve Forecast B0012931-02) A
pace.com/keltiac, myspace.com/chrisdawson1
pretty unimaginative indie-rockish bash
@ Woody Pines Counting Alligators (own
through US folk staples like Shady Grove, The
label no cat. no.) Woody Pines is the lead
Water Is Wide, Peggy-o etc. Sort of REM
singer of this American roots outfit, file
meets the Kennedys but not a patch on
under Americana, and a very poor one who
either, or the likes of Snakefarm, Last Forever
just fails to hit most of the notes he should.
or the Crooked Jades. Indeed, the only sur-
Should also know the difference between
prise is why this of all things should get a
Milwaukee Blues and Casey Jones. They sing
major label release (via Universal).
the first and call it the latter. Well played,
2 Traveler’s Dream Cold Blows The Day
but…
www.woodypines.com
(own Label TD 004) Indiana-based duo Michael
1 Jon Bickley Wayfaring Stranger (Tiger
Lewis and Denise Wright (accompanying 231009) Home Counties-based singer and gui-
themselves on guitar, bouzouki, whistles and tarist presents his interestingly idiosyncratic
concertina) return with an attractive winter (third) collection of engaging original compo-
collection, presenting pleasing, elegantly sung sitions and his own arrangements of tradition-
and harmonised renditions of carols from the al songs. Jon has some great ideas, and there’s
UK and France; yet it’s the original songs nes- some lively accompaniment on accordeon and
tled among them (two by Michael, and Bob mandolin, all of which at least partly compen-
Pegg’s Rise Up Jock) that really strike gold sates for the unfortunate fact that he con-
here.
www.travelersdream.net Photo: Philip Ryalls stantly sings rather flat.
www.jonbickley.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84