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Eliza Carthy
ELIZA CARTHY Wayward Daughter Topic TSCD772D
I’ve said it before but by jingo I’ll say it again – English folk music was in a sorry old state until Eliza Carthy came along with her blue hair and nose ring to grab it by the scruff of the neck in the mid-1990s. Headstrong, deter- mined, passionate, fearless and, yes, visionary too, Eliza’s background, pedigree and musical understanding not only afforded her the con- fidence and freedom to dismantle and recon- struct various sacred cows and take some breathtaking liberties with the music, but forced others to take it seriously when she did.
Now she’s part of the furniture it’s easy to
forget the sort of impact she made back then – effectively opening the door for the young cavalry that has charged in behind her – but this 31-track double compilation CD is a salu- tary reminder of the sheer breadth of musical challenges she’s vigorously confronted in the 21 years or so since it all started in earnest.
In the meantime we’ve had Eliza the peerless traditional song interpreter who gave us a new benchmark with the Anglicana album, magnificently represented here by Worcester City and the whimsically nostalgic Willow Tree; Eliza the genre explorer teaming up with Salsa Celtica on the still delightful Grey Gallito; Eliza the experimentalist flirting with hip-hoppery on Billy Boy and Adieu Adieu; Eliza the ebullient playing with impu- dent rhythms with the underrated Kings Of Calicutt on the dancing Mr Walker; Eliza the charismatic, delivering her uncle Mike Water- son’s Jack Frost with a majestic sense of won- der; Eliza the Imaginary Villager as popstrel re- interpreting Ewan MaColl’s most bizarre song Space Girl with husky relish; Eliza the eager duettist with Nancy Kerr on I Know My Love and Martin Green on Lemady; Eliza the colour- ful songwriter, offering widely contrasting ingredients of sauce, morality tales, keen
David Wax Museum
observation and personal reflection on the likes of Little Big Man, The Company Of Men, Britain Is A Car Park and Mohair. And, of course, always at the heart, there’s Eliza the Waterson, gloriously belting out May Song with the family while her peerless delivery of The Nightingale reminds us of the brilliance of her Gift album with mother Norma Waterson.
Of course, someone who takes so many
risks won’t always get it right but the art of a good compiler – in this case our very own Editor – is to omit all that stuff and, drawn from 22 albums, this collection gets it abso- lutely right. It’s a proud career CV but more importantly it stands powerfully alone on its own considerable merits – vibrant, modern and relevant.
www.eliza-carthy.com Colin Irwin
DAVID WAX MUSEUM Knock Knock Get Up Own Label
Dontcha love it when the more enlightened US musicians cross the border and start mix- ing it up with music
down Mexico way? I know I do. Recent exam- ples have included Calexico and Mariachi El Bronx and now we can add the unusually monikered David Wax Museum to the list. The Waxers, as I’ve just decided to call them, are a new name to me. Featuring Harvard- educated, Boston-based singer-guitarist David Wax and Suz Slezak on fiddle and qui- jada (the donkey’s jawbone favoured by Afro-Peruvian musicians), plus percussion, accordeon, brass and bits and bobs of field recordings, they create a heady mix of folk and pop which they describe as Mexo-Ameri- cana and is a lot less ethno-muso and a lot more fun than all that makes it sound. Wax
sings in a light tone, a bit like Vampire Week- end’s Ezra Koenig, but minus the self-con- sciousness. An attractive affair all round then, and one whose melodies worm their way fur- ther into my consciousness with each play. Harder Before It Gets Easier (heard on this issue’s free fRoots 44 compilation) and Vivian sound like they were made to blare out of radios and make you smile; The Rumours Are True is the sort of tune that could give wistful plaintiveness a good name and the whole thing sounds tailor-made to be danced to very badly (by me at least) in a festival field. Good news then that they’ll be coming over this summer to play Womad.
www.davidwaxmuseum.com Jamie Renton
BABA SISSOKO & DJELI MAH DAMBA KOROBA Baba Et Sa Maman Goodfellas GF2724
BABA SISSOKO
Afro Blues African Griot Groove Goodfellas GF2720
Italian-based Malian tamani master Baba Sissoko took his time in recording this CD with his djeli muso mother, an evocative and emotive acoustic recording, exploring their griot roots. And it feels unhurried, a loose and luxuriant unfurl- ing of ngoni, kamalengoni, soku – all played with skill and warmth – and varied percussion and voices. I’m particularly struck by the bab- bling, trance-like Djasere and the scratchy melodic lines of the soku throughout.
Mah Damba Koroba’s open, bountiful voice is redolent of red earth and heat and homecoming and Baba Sissoko’s spoken
Photo: Jak Kilby
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