f38 Six From The Field
There are always new musical marvels to munch on at Womad. Elizabeth Kinder points you at half a dozen lively bands we think you should get your teeth into.
P
robably more so than at most festivals, Womad’s savvy audi- ence knows that the best and most life-changing musical moments may not necessarily
be delivered by the stellar billtoppers at peak times on the main stages. It’s an annual feast of the unknown, inviting you to dip into new experiences from around the globe, delivered by great artists who – unless you’re an fRoots reader, naturally – you’ll most likely never have heard of.
2012’s 30th Anniversary Womad at Charlton Park in Wiltshire, over the week- end of 27th to 29th July, is no exception, for which we once again salute the Womad team and in particular Paula Hen- derson who assembles the annual artistic jigsaw. To aid you in your quest for sum- mer musical nirvana, Elizabeth Kinder pro- files half a dozen bands appearing at Womad 2012 that we here at fRoots think you definitely shouldn’t miss… Ed.
The Alaev Family
Forget Jedward. Oh, you have. When it comes to members of the same family per- forming together, The Alaev Family are first class. Jewish musicians from Tajikstan who emigrated to Israel in 1991, the band is led by 80-year old doyra (frame drum) maestro Allo Alaev, and features his two sons and four grandchildren, on darbukka, dlofon (percussion), cajon (Turkish clar- inet), carmon (accordeon), bayan (Russian accordeon), violin, Bucharian horn and duduk (Armenian horn). They’re joined on bass by Yonathan Levy.
Together they belt out traditional
music of Tajikstan, with its Persian influ- ences, and the Jewish music of Buchara in neighbouring Uzbekistan. It’s a wonderful- ly exuberant sound, with lots of beautiful- ly clear (though sometimes guttural), microtonal, polyphonic call-and-response singing, soaring over driving polyrhythms which strongly suggest you party. (For me, bizarrely, Captain Beefheart – his music, not his voice – sprang to mind, though I’m sure this is not a useful comparison!).
Their album The Alaev Family & Tamir
Muskat features traditional wedding songs, folk songs and self-composed num- bers with poetic lyrics. There’s some
heart-wrenching violin and solo voice moments which contrast with the general exuberance. The whole was produced by Balkan Beat founder member and pro- ducer Tamir Muskat.
Grandfather Alaev is a veteran tour- ing musician, having spent 50 years as the lead percussionist of the Folk Opera com- pany of Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikstan, and judging by the family band, musical brilliance is in the genes.
Apsilies
This Greek quartet perform lusty and soul- ful rembetika. Traditionally considered the music of the under-classes, rembetika has its roots in the music of refugees from Turkey who arrived in Greece after the compulsory exchange of populations in 1923. The music was thought of as rough and raw – the product of underground clubs associated with smoking hash and prostitution – and is widely called ‘the Greek blues’, much as fado gets called ‘the Portuguese blues’ because of both feeling and subject matter: the songs are general- ly about love, longing (often desperate), and drugs and abuse.
Apsilies stand out from other bands riding the rembetika revival (the music has
The Alaev Family Apsilies
become popular with a new club genera- tion) in that they source less well-known songs – mainly from the ’20s and ’30s – which were composed by musicians origi- nally from Smyrna, and thus are rooted in a more Eastern sound-world than those more commonly covered.
Singer Theodora Athanasiou (voice, baglama), has studied string and vocal tra- ditions of Greek music from the East and she performs with great flair and passion, a passion that’s matched by the rest of the band. Dimitris Mistakidis, (voice, guitar),
Photo: Aliza Hayon
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