53 f


consistently fine recording artist. He seldom gets mentioned in the euphoria of the music’s modern state, name-checked by bright young things in groovy new bands or lauded by revi- sionist authors, but Backbone is an apposite description of his role at the core of the folk movement these past 40 years.


Yet we’re not talking long-service award Moussu T E Lei Jovents MOUSSU T E LEI JOVENTS


Putan De Cançon Manivette / Le Chant Du Monde 274 1877


Banjo-driven and brimming with gruff, jaunty swing, Mar- seille’s Moussu T E Lei Jovents have one of


the most distinctive sounds in roots music. A kind of ramshackle combination of local Occi- tan culture with blues, Caribbean and African influences. Sometimes (especially live) they can get too ramshackle for their own good and whilst each of the three albums that have followed their 2005 debut Mademoi- selle Marseille has had much to offer, they’ve never, to my ears at least, completely recap- tured the thrill of that first release.


Putan De Cançon see’s the five-piece string and percussion band upping their game and taking things a bit more seriously to generally positive effect. A couple of the tracks veer a little too close to French global- ist rock for my tastes, but my God when they get it right (as they do most of the time here) they get it very right indeed. Empêche-Moi, with its loping rhythm and sing-along chorus, is classic Moussu T; the snaky sea-port shuffle of La Marraine insinuates itself into your sub- conscious within the first few bars, whilst Dins La Nuech De Mon Astre is delicate and lonesome, with singer Tatou hitting just the right note of soulful regret (the lack of lyric translation means I don’t know what the song’s about, but I find it hard to believe that it doesn’t involve soulful regret).


This is as good an album as they’ve ever put out and I’ll keep checking their website to find out when they next plan to play in the UK, as I’d very much like to hear how these songs sound live.


Distributed by Harmonia Mundi. http://moussut.ohaime.com


Jamie Renton


PETE COE Backbone Backshift Music BASH CD57


The 1970s may be British folk music’s lost generation, but some key figures did make it through to


play an enduring role in succeeding eras. Few more so than Pete Coe, urbane multi-instru- mentalist, reassuringly composed singer, reli- able assembler of stimulating material and


affection here, for this outstanding album ably demonstrates that not only is his strength undiminished, his hunger for explor- ing the music and presenting it in new and interesting ways is as keen as ever. There’s a gorgeous version of an old favourite Byker Hill to open – with some lovely fiddle, subtle layers of brass and all – while evocative banjo arrangements accompany the dark balladry of Fair Margaret & Sweet William, The Wife Of Usher’s Well and The Cruel Mother. They are heavy songs given appropriately serious dressing but, with a full supporting cast, including familiar compadres like Johnny Adams and Chris Coe adding fiddle, ham- mered dulcimer, concertina, harmonium, trombone, etc. – in addition to some full- blooded chorus singing – it’s a well-balanced, astutely programmed collection.


This includes a couple of jigs and some Swedish fiddle tunes, an inspired smoky jazz arrangement that brings an entirely new perspective to Cyril Tawney’s mighty Mon- day Morning and the gleeful tale of The Blind Man He Can See with its wondrous closing line “Just because I’ve made it up doesn’t mean it isn’t true…” The album clos- es with the stirring hymn Light From The Lighthouse – there’s that fabulous brass again – and, lest we still be duped by that hangdog expression and his taste for a trag- ic ballad, Coe throws in a droll live bonus track parodying Paul Simon’s The Sound Of Silence as The Sound Of Hohner.


Who said he was a miserablist? www.backshift.demon.co.uk


Colin Irwin


DANYÈL WARO Aou Amwin Cobalt 138831


The first new album in four years from Réunion’s maloya master must have had something to do


with the fact that he is just about to pick up a Womex Award. Aou Amwin is a double CD, and more experimental than anything he’s done so far. It’s also probably his most uncompromising album to date, and as such is not really the best place for the novice to start at.


Up till now, he has largely stuck with the stripped-down percussion-and-voice attack of the tradition in its purest form, but here he colours in several arrangements with melodic instruments and includes a couple of rather unexpected guest vocalists. It’s neither an attempt to sweeten the music, nor make it more accessible, and takes some getting used to.


There’s more emphasis on Waro’s intense spoken-word poetry and singing, and less on beats than ever before. Even so, the thudding triple-time rhythms of the roulér drum and call-and-response vocals of maloya are still the album’s default setting, typified by the opening Kénya and later tracks like Larzan Karné. On Degaz Anou Vitman, a bed of thumb piano underpins these elements. And the subdued, bluesy Kanza, features Damien Mandrin on takanba, a West African guitar/ ngoni that may be familiar from the record- ings of the late, great Alain Peters, to whom it is dedicated – try to track down his extraor- dinary Mangé Pou Le Coeur. Mandrin also plays a flute on Veli to suggest the Indian music so beloved of the song’s composer, Titi


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