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throw herself into those choruses with rare abandon and maybe her own hand-picked choir and change some of those hoary old perceptions of her.


Not that all the material is entirely drawn from her local pub tradition. She has a stab at The Wren – the St Stephens Day anthem once so gloriously recorded by Steel- eye Span (as The King) – but its ritual signifi- cance again sinks in genteel politeness. She has excellent musicians around her – Ed Boyd on guitar, Damien O’Kane on banjo and gui- tar and Duncan Lyall on double bass, plus a brass section which adds atmosphere, depth and, yes, gravity; yet far from suggesting a close identity with the music, it feels like alien territory. The Seven Good Joys sounds more like Seven Bad Dreams, the shepherds would remain slumbering listening to this version of the Copper Family favourite Shep- herds Arise; and despite the affecting fragili- ty of Little Town Of Bethlehem and Rocking Carol, the best track is probably the one self- written song, Home, where the plaintiveness sounds entirely appropriate. Not the uplift- ing,community album that begs to be made of these songs.


www.katerusby.com Colin Irwin


ANOUSHKA SHANKAR Traveller Deutsche Grammophon 477 9363


For her label debut with Deutsche Gram- mophon, like her father did so many times before her, Anoushka Shankar has chosen to dance the fusion path. The encounter in question is a thoroughly modern meeting of the subcontinent’s light classical and folk- flavoured forms and the peninsula’s Gypsy and flamenco idioms. Its pedigree might be traced to include the similarly-minded but tamer Yehudi Menuhin and Ravi Shankar- curated From The Sitar To The Guitar project delivered live in Brussels in November 1995.


The permutations of collaboration, helmed by Javier Limón and Anoushka Shankar, go from duo to guest colour to fully-fledged ensemble performances. Boy Meets Girl is a sitar and guitar exchange with Pepe Habichuela; it vamps too much and consequently neither develops a strong enough narrative nor manages to pull off a satisfac tory flourish of a finish. But there is far better fare being served up. The absorb- ing Casi Uno (Almost One) melds low-regis- ter sitar (alas not surbahar), Concha Buika’s husky vocals, Limón’s guitar and Pirashanna Thevarajah’s South Indian percussion – kan- jira (frame drum) and ghatam (tuned clay pot). As to the best of the fusion material, Inside Me (“It dances inside me/Life dances...” sings Sandra Carrasco in Spanish) blends what could be harmonised Rajasthani and Romany themes. The excit- ing instrumental Bulería Con Ricardo with her sitar to Pedro Ricardo Miño’s piano against Spanish rhythmicality, is my favourite. (It’s unlikely to happen but it poses the question of how her collaborating with the flamenco pianist David Peña Dorantes might sound.)


As with the trail-blazing Menuhin- Shankar project West Meets East (1967), not every track on the set is a cross-cultural col- laboration. Krishna, her setting of lyrics by her dad, sung most sweetly by Shubha Mud- gal with Krishna-colour bansuri (bamboo flute) from Ajay Prasanna and her Bhairavi are vehicles for straight Hindustani exposi- tions. Traveller nevertheless emits a rare cohesion. Traveller does not serve up its charms like fast food on a platter. Take time to know it. It rewards ear-time spent on it.


www.anoushkashankar.com Ken Hunt Anoushka Shankar


BILLY BRAGG Fight Songs Billy Bragg BB5112


Subtitled “Polemical Tunes In An Age Of Indifference”, Billy remains one of the sadly few contemporary champions of political song, voicing our collective discontent through his words of rage and passion, and also a champion of radical young voices (attested by his current tour with The King Blues, Sounds Of Rum and Akala.)


Billy has long championed the digitisa- tion of music as a means for the artists to con- trol production and distribution for them- selves. Fight Songs is such an example, repre- senting “a decade of downloads” – one off singles and recordings, past and present, which touch on “the major concerns of a post- ideological world: war, terrorism, the politics of identity, the unaccountable power of capi- tal”. As is Billy’s great talent, as well as cogent, intelligently worded lyrics, these songs also sport some toothsome melodies and a high quotient of heart-tugging resonance.


The usual suspects line up: fascist- bashing tirades (The Big Lie and The Battle Of Barking), rejection of war in the name of a god (in the sparse and atmospheric Wolf Cov- ers Its Tracks with a haunting Lu Edmonds’ guitar part), 99-percenter anthems (We’re Following The Wrong Star and Last Flight To Abu Dhabi) and anti-war sentiment (Bush War Blues and The Price Of Oil). All stirring and galvanising to a man, the tracks that really hit home for me are the poignant Never Buy The Sun and Billy’s tribute to the young woman killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza strip, The Lonesome Death Of Rachel Corrie (a revised version of Dylan’s ballad of Hattie Carroll).


Certainly now is a time for a revival of polemical song. And as ever with Sir Bragg, raging against the machine never sounded so good.


www.billybragg.co.uk Sarah Coxson VARIOUS ARTISTS


World Routes On The Road Nascente NASCE001


There’s an old Taoist saying that the journey is the reward, but with 30 tracks from 18 countries spread over five continents and some islands in between, this might easily have been one bumpy ride. Assembling something cohesive from the World Routes


programme’s diverse field trips, albeit a mid- price double CD, can’t have been easy but they’ve succeeded admirably. Radio 3 produc- er James Parkin deserves credit for his hands- on role here; although Lucy Duran’s influence is never far away.


Naturally there are many gaps and long- time listeners may be surprised at the rela- tive lack of African and Latin music. But the key element of such a compilation is not just source material but sequencing, with all the particular logic that entails. Nor, despite its largely traditional nature, is the selection short of well-known artists. Toumani Dia- bate, Justin Vali, Alim Qasimov, the Misra Brothers and Aruna Sairam from India, not to mention young artists like Khyam Allami and Hari Sivanesan.


In this delicate balancing act of so many styles, there are times when the more refined and extended pieces of music provide a nec- essary measure of gravitas and glue – among them the opening duduk piece from Georgia, the saz player recorded in a Turkish bath- house and the great Greek clarinettist Petroloukas Chalkias. Other items such as the village musicians from Uganda just break out in joyful spontaneity. And then there’s always the pleasure of unexpected discovery. A pair of refreshingly different recordings from Brazil, a good Azeri muqam, and even the Peruvian tracks – normally so passé – are nice- ly nuanced. One hopes there may eventually be further volumes, either thematic or studio, but for now lets just enjoy the journey.


www.demonmusicgroup.co.uk/nascente Phil Wilson


STEVE TILSTON & THE DURBERVILLES The Oxenhope EP Splid RecordsCD009


Amid the organised, cheery chaos that is Cro- predy, I stumbled across this pairing livening up an afternoon crowd dozing in summer sunshine. Uncharitable thoughts might say it’s acoustic troubadour Steve T getting his rock kicks in not too raucous a fashion and at five tracks you might think there was little evidence to the contrary, but you’d be wrong. While Oxenhope won’t blow your socks off, it’s a neat little souvenir.


Though he might be the first to admit he


doesn’t exactly cut it as a swaggering front man for an electric band, the Durbervilles are smart enough to meet him halfway and so a balance is struck between the soloist and the band. I prefer the opening cuts Oil & Water and Same Boy in which the Durbs really shov- el in behind Tilston and bring out the best, on the opening track in particular. Likewise the closing, cajunised Jackaranda which wheezes and chuffs with a shuffle beat and ST’s laid- back vocal coming in off the bayou. The union might be a one-off or not. All done with aplomb, this is a shot of northern tan- glement that can’t help but raise a smile. www.stevetilstonandthedurbervilles.co.uk


Simon Jones LAS HERMANAS CARONNI


Bagüala De La Siesta Snail Records SR 66020


Per the Argentine Academia de Folklore, the bagüala is the pentatonic ‘deep song’ (cante jondo) of the northeast countryside, resonant with the nation’s sublimated indigenous her- itage and a yearning for places, people and things forever and always just out of reach. For twins Laura (cello, voice) and Gianna (clarinet, voice) Caronni, from an intensely musical family, conservatory-trained in Rosario, ‘bagüala’ is an apt metaphor for the sisters’ remarkable, entirely original blend of


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