83 f DREAMERS CIRCUS
Dreamers Circus Go’ Danish Folk Music GO1610EP
Sometimes a debut, even a brief one like this EP, can be so accomplished that it’s hard to believe it’s a first outing. That’s definitely the case with this violin/cittern/piano trio from Denmark and Sweden. Playing the compositions of Swedish member Ale Carr, they have a sparkling spontaneity not a mil- lion miles from Väsen or Trio Mio (of which the pianist here, Nikolaj Busk, is a member). The music is definitely folk-inflected and has its roots there, but along the way its tendrils have wandered into modern classic, a touch of Nordic jazz and even a tiny hint of acoustic pop.
There’s an effortless lyricism to the five tracks here, especially the closer which fea- tures Väsen’s Roger Tallroth (who also pro- duced this disc) and singer Sofia Karlsson. It’s elegiac in its beauty, one of those tunes that could well end up adopted by many bands, although few might give it the love- liness it has here.
This is a small offering that packs a great deal into 20 minutes, but each one of them is perfect.
www.myspace.com/dreamerscircus Chris Nickson
BLINDNOTE Blindnote Muziekpublique 003
Brussels folk and world music arts organisa- tion Muziekpublique has gathered six Bel- gian-resident musicians from different coun- tries and traditions to perform together in concerts where both they and the audience are in the dark, in order to focus on hearing rather than sight. A strong idea, but there’s more: the beautifully and unusually designed CD packaging has titling in braille, probably one of the very few CDs to do so, and the pro- ject supports the work of Light For The World, a Belgian NGO that cares for blind children in Africa.
So far, so novel and worthwhile. But the
music? It’s a lovely album, whatever the light- ing conditions. Duduk and shvi from Arme- nia’s Vardan Hovanissian, vocals from Mada- gascar’s Talike Gellé, vocals, hoddu and guitar from Senegal’s Malick Pathe Sow, Turkey’s Emre Gültekin on vocals, kopuz, baglama and guitar, Osvaldo Hernandez Napoles from Mex- ico on percussion and cuatro, and Karim Bag- gili, Belgian singer, guitarist, ud-player and bassist of Jordanian-Yugoslav origin. Sensitive musicians who listen and play only when they can really contribute, they’ve created a fulfill- ing string of varied, distinctive and finely- formed songs and instrumentals that draw on all their repertoires and compositions.
On a usual gig the dominance of the eye can distract from the occasional auditory clanger, but not so in these dark-concerts (come to that, not usually on a record either). That could mean over-carefulness, but there’s plenty of freedom and life, and the six have obviously overcome the initial problem of lack of the visual cues that sighted perform- ers take for granted.
We’re not told whether the studio lights
were off for the making of the album, but it clearly captures the essence of the music in the concerts. On YouTube there’s a video from one of them, which seemed a witty touch; actually, though, it’s from the last number of the show, when subtle lighting creeps in, gradually adding to the sensory experience and perhaps making the audience even gladder of their sight.
www.muziekpublique.be Andrew Cronshaw
DALE JETT AND HELLO STRANGER
Going Down The Valley Virginia Folklife Program VFH 00261 29688
Dale Jett is the son of the late Janette Carter, grandson of AP and Sara and the first of the third generation Carters to perpetuate the family tradition. Where have you been hiding, Dale? He has a first class clear, strong voice that leads the trio on a well-chosen selection of Carter Family classics alongside a few tradi- tional songs including the title track, a firm favourite with Janette Carter. Instrumentation is simple, usually guitar, bass and autoharp with neat breaks decorating the songs.
It took me a while to work out why this recording was so different, when over the years I have heard many, many versions of the same songs. It then hit me. It is all down to the timing. Nothing is rushed, particularly the phrasing of the vocals where both lead singers, Dale and his partner Oscar Harris, have plenty of time between words and lines, whether trading lines, as they do on Hello Stranger, or whether making a trio with Dale’s wife Teresa on, for example, Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone, one of the standout tracks on the album. The recording quality also helps; not too bright, not bursting out with compression, just the voices and instru- ments as natural as they can be. My Dixie Dar- ling is another well-used song and provides yet another example of perfect timing, gaps between the lyrics of the trio on the chorus, nothing rushed and the feeling of someone who has played and understood this music for a long time.
This is a gem of a recording, and I would go as far as to say some of the best readings of Carter Family songs since the original family.
www.dalejett.com John Atkins FREYA ABBOTT FERGUSON
Get Well Soon No Masters Cooperative NMCD 37
No Masters’ seemingly bottomless pool of tame solicitors has brought forth another triple-barrelled collaboration that makes excellent capital out of the talents of three musicians who so very closely share artistic and political sensibilities. Of course, these chums have joined forces much of late on other pro- jects, so you could say that making a record together which “combines all their favourite bits from their other bands (Chumba wamba, Blowzabella, etc)” is a wholly natural develop- ment. But Jo, Jude and Neil have cannily resist-
Freya Abbott Ferguson
ed calling their aggregate Bellachumba, hav- ing instead settled on the plain surname com- bination that just happens to share its initials with Folk Against Fascism (stroke of genius, pure coincidence or wot?!)…
All the hallmarks of the trio’s individual and collective musical expertise are here: sumptuous vocal harmonies, intensely versa- tile musicianship, witty, savvy and perceptive commentary and clear-sighted engineering. The disc opens with Boff Whalley’s cheery, distinctly-Chumba ditty Real Men Can Wear Pink, a dapper little number set to a catchy, scratchy, jazzy sandpaper-shuffle beat, which is neatly bookended by Jo’s breezy, brassy portrait of San Fran, which to my hearing has definite overtones of both Chumba and Lal Waterson. Lal, of course, provides another link, for one highlight of Get Well Soon is the trio’s wonderfully limpid take on The Piper’s Path – a song pre- viously covered by Christy Moore (on This Is The Day), but unrecorded by Lal herself.
Old Community is a poignant chunk of the deep-buried iceberg of brilliant yet obsti- nately unrecorded Ray Hearne songs, beauti- fully done to a gentle guitar rhythm and understated brassy choir. Dear God bestows an ornate and lavish string setting on a well- deserved exhumation of this obscure 1986 XTC B-side. Surprisingly richly scored, too, is the trio’s doom-without-overmuch-gloom rendi- tion of the grisly traditional ballad Two Sisters.
In addition to three of the disc’s instru- mental items (lively miniatures that span the world’s music traditions), Jo contributes four of her own fine songs, all typically incisive yet wickedly simple in expression. Mirrors clever- ly couches its scary reflection of self- knowledge and doubt in an unsettlingly twinkling instrumental arrangement; Corn- wall bouncily castigates timeshare merchants; and the ballad of Betsy Walton is set to a deceptively sweet melody and lilting arrange- ment that belies the fate the protagonist rel- ishes meting out to her unfaithful lover in this subversion of the traditional scenario.
Yes, you could say that Get Well Soon is a marriage made in musical heaven.
www.nomasters.co.uk www.freyamusic.co.uk
David Kidman
MARIUS PREDA’S UNKNOWN ALLSTARS Budala Hop Opa Cupa Music 002
Young Romanian Roma cimbalist Marius Preda, a regular collaborator with Dutch band Flairck, put together a ten-piece band to play at the International Gipsy Festival in Tilburg, Netherlands in May 2010, where reviews and online videos indicate they were a big hit. A couple of months later they made this studio album.
Its first eight pieces, composed or arranged by Preda, some with vocals from Romanian Roma Florin Mocanas, move from pacey scamper to the duduk-and-sax-led surge of Gloomy Sunday. There’s singing vio- lin from Cristian Tanasa, eloquent jazz trum- pet from Bulgarian Raya Hadjieva, saxes, kaval, clarinet and trombone, often teaming up in sections for tight harmonising lines, driven by guitar, bass and percussion, with Preda’s skilful cimbalom generously not dominating but chording, quivering and skit- tering where it’s needed. The ninth item (designated a “bonus track” but a track’s either on a CD or it isn’t) is a bass-sample powered remix of the earlier Michael Jack- son Hora that I suppose might get it some Balkan-disco dance-floor action. All the best stuff precedes it though.
Andrew Cronshaw
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