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Theis Langlands is also half of Rannok. Fiddler Michael Graubæk grew up in a musi- cal and dancing family on the big island of Funen, which is between Jutland’s east coast and the Copenhagen island Zealand. The duo’s music, like Svøbsk’s, unfolds new music from traditional roots, and the follow-up CD after their 2011 Danish Music Award-winning debut moves between traditional tunes and their own on very well-integrated fiddle and piano, sensitively played with fine command, lift and empathy. They’re augmented by Ale Carr on cittern and Sonnich Lydom on accordeon and harmonica.
Graubæk and Langlands met, as did the Svøbsk duo, ten years ago on Denmark’s only folk music diploma course, at the Southern Denmark Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in Funen’s city of Odense. The course has produced a flowering of Danish roots music and of new musics springing from it, but as I write this there’s a plan, being very much resisted by students, teachers and others, to transfer the folk music department across the country to another Academy site in the much smaller city of Esbjerg way over on the west Jutland coast. Though Esbjerg is handy for Fanø, this move will tear the folk roots out of the Odense music scene and presumably cut the very healthy and productive contacts that have built up in Odense between folk music and the Academy’s jazz and classical musi- cians. There’s a petition at
http://tinyurl.com/d259wjv .
www.gofolk.dk Andrew Cronshaw
THE KEELERS Tyne & Tide Keel Music KMCD107
Familiar strong yet distinct voices singing songs fixed in location and occupation. Har- monies consistent and not ‘clever’ but serving only to enhance and lift the songs. What’s not to like?
The opening Old Billy Blue sounds like an obviously traditional sea song from the time of the Napoleonic Wars – except this one is the work of Pete Wood whose songs flow like the album’s eponymous river strong and assertive. The track list includes settings of Cicely Fox-Smith, traditional shanties, materi- al both self-penned and collected from the great range of experience these singers have accumulated over the years. Purists might quibble over the preponderance of newly written material.
There are some challenges here. Fifteen
Men for example, is engraved in the memo- ries of all who watched Robert Newton’s Treasure Island back in the ’50s. Jim Magean’s major-key setting here seems a lit- tle tame after the grim rendition from the movie. But his taste is impeccable in the recognition of a great lyric, and here the whole ghastly tale is told with both convic- tion and not a little relish! The North East is celebrated in Cuddy, setting right the injus- tice that there were no songs to commemo- rate local chap, Admiral Collingwood, the man who was left to bring the Battle of Trafalgar to its conclusion after Nelson’s death. Back on land, Ed Pickford’s Ee Aye, Aa Cud Hew! is dealt with definitively and the gentle Tar Barrel In Dale, George Unthank’s eulogy on the Allendale New Year’s festivi- ties gives a subtle respite before we are invit- ed to join the crew of Victory in Carrying Nel- son Home by Mike O’Connor. This is, for me one of the finest anti-war songs ever written with its chorus in the three combatant’s lan- guages, it doesn’t preach but simply and gently questions the notion of ‘enemy’.
The production of this album is of the highest order with well composed photo - graphs and confident design. What I really love though, is the honesty of the whole pro-
duction. What you hear is what you get. If you like the CD and haven’t heard them live, this is The Keelers, pure and unadulterated. There is no list of flash guest musicians, no surging choirs of old or young salts in the background. All you get here is four men singing with love, passion and conviction. Like I said, what’s not to like?
www.keelers.net Paul Davenport
BOMBINO Nomad Nonesuch 534291-2
On his latest record, Omara Moctar – better known as Bombino – teams up with Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys to further cement his status as not just a rising star of ‘world’ music, but also a guitar hero for the 21st Cen- tury with a global audience.
From the outset Nomad builds on the foundations laid by 2011’s Agadez. But while still rooted in the traditions – old and new – of Mali’s particular take on the blues, Nomad also stakes itself a place alongside the likes of the Black Keys, Hendrix and, generally, the Western rock canon.
Auerbach lends not just celebrity kudos but also a wall-of-sound style of production. Opening track Amidinine sets a tone. You’re still knee-deep in Saharan riffs but there is also, in no short supply, an organ-fuelled glam that’s got Black Keys written all over it. Likewise on Niamey Jam we are reminded of the Doors and the heyday of psychedelic rock. The big, psychedelic keyboard noises, entan- gled with Bombino’s own musical heritage make for a profoundly intoxicating sound.
Nomad is also the sound of an artist growing into his niche and finding his voice. For me, Agadez was in places a little too light-hearted. Nomad, though, is a record with real depth of feeling. Azamane Tiliade in particular, and standout track Zigzan, are dark, driving tunes – the kind that set hairs standing on the back of your neck and again, credit is due to Dan Auerbach for finding the production to fit the songs.
Nomad is a big step forward for Bombi- no and a great record. We can only imagine where Omara Moctar is headed next.
www.bombinomusic.com Liam Thompson
Bombino LOFT SINGERS
The Bedmaking WildGoose Studios WGS 389 CD
The Andover Museum Loft Singers, a roughly- 30-strong community choir, perform under the guiding light of Paul Sartin. Compared to many similarly-constituted community-based chorales, though, the general feel of this ensemble is not that of a consciously ‘trained’ body of singers. The vitality in their music- making recalls the upfront vigour of Sacred Harp gatherings, each participant singing with abundant enthusiasm (so we needn’t fret over the occasional lapse in intonation or tentative entry).
This disc concentrates exclusively on English traditional folk songs, many with a specific local connection. Sources are plainly and economically credited in the booklet; texts aren’t needed since enunciation is suf- ficiently clear. Two songs associated with the Copper Family (Come Write Me Down, Pleas- ant Month Of May) enjoy a natural distribu- tion of parts; Wild Rover’s refreshing makeover stems from the version collected in Hampshire by George Gardiner; The Country Carrier jogs along nicely; and John- ny Todd sports an unusual minor-key mantra counterpoint. The arrangements are intelli- gent, maintaining listener interest through canny manipulation of colour, texture and harmony, and the unashamed occasional use of round and canon imparts even more vari- ety. On two of the selections, the ensemble’s lusty a cappella is augmented by nifty accordeon from Sartin’s Belshazzar’s Feast compadre Paul Hutchinson.
Sartin’s own flamboyance, and his embracing of experiment while paying due respect to tradition, are carried through into his direction of, and special arrangements for, the Loft Singers.
Not quite all of the settings entirely con- vince, perhaps (the shanty Hog’s Eye Man feels a touch laboured for instance) but what matters most is that the singers’ sense of commitment, and their pure enjoyment of singing together, both keenly expressed and keenly felt in the splendid recording, keeping their strong voices suitably ‘aloft’.
http://loftsingers.moonfruit.com David Kidman
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