f62


BALTAZAR MONTANARO-NAGY Nü Own label BM001


Baltazar Montanaro-Nagy plays in a bewil- dering assortment of bands, projects and duos, including Zef, I Fratelli Tarzanelli, and a duo with Sophie Cavez (as featured in fR 355- 56). But he has always wanted to make a solo album. “I’ve made 1000 copies”, he told me last time we met, “and if it takes me ten years to sell them that’s OK.”


Nü is Turkish for ‘nude’ according to Google translate. A headshot of a bare- shouldered Montanaro-Nagy appears on the cover and the music is equally stripped- down. Opening track Valge Marge is a sparse, dramatic violin piece, where tense moments of silence give way to grand sweeps of the bow. The album continues in the same vein with no other musicians, and few, if any, overdubs. The music, which was spontaneously composed at the time of recording, draws on his Occitan and Hungari- an heritage whilst moving into more experi- mental zones. As Nü progresses, there are fewer clear melodies and instead you hear spinning coins, the twang of spoons inserted between fiddle strings, various household objects as percussive instruments and the vio- lin itself pushed to its musical limits.


It’s fair to say that Nü is a difficult album that requires contemplation. Try listening to it whilst you are getting on with something else and it can be quite aggravating. It’s also bold, ambitious and, ultimately, rewarding. I like it, I’m just not sure if you will.


www.baltazarmontanaro.com/ Christopher Conder


ESZTERLÁNC Jegesen / On Ice Fonó FA291-2


“I am wearing a mourning dress, you are wearing a celebration hat,” berates the young victim in the compellingly morose ten minute title track. And things do not get any better for our protagonist in this bleak mid- winter: “My mother loved me so much, she rocked me in my crib. Nursed me and rocked me. And still gave me away to a stranger.” There are no happy endings here, just raw grief, resonant as the grimly slow beat of double bass that dominates a brilliant fiddle chorus, strings savagely carved into the beau- tiful and very tough landscape of a land- locked and isolated Transylvania. Even when the snow thaws, it’s not exactly celebratory:


Eszterlánc


“The sorrow is still in my heart. I am leaving, you are staying; you won’t hear any more about my troubles.”


We hear a great deal more, however, in a collection of traditional music that is stubborn and spiky, anachronistic and austerely beauti- ful. This is music from a hidden Transylvania, valleys and sources that are more Hungarian than Hungary itself, separated from the motherland by lines on maps imposed almost 100 years ago. This is still the meditative world of Bartók and Kodály, therefore, a grimly mirthful record of seasons and stasis and a bit- ter, elemental dance for survival. Halálra Tán- coltatott Leány is the story of a maiden literal- ly dancing to death in the company of two dashing devils, sung through the gravitas of Anna Szilagyi’s unblinking experience. It’s the parents who are ultimately blamed, for allow- ing their daughter to go alone to the ball. And though there is little in the way of wed- ding music, there is a hint of Christmas in Búzai Kántálás, a selection of unfamiliar carols stripped of sentiment, trimmings and bells in favour of grave harmonising. The readings – bedrock local faith, untranslated local humour and local plum brandy – are a win- dow into a wholly other existence.


The core Eszterlánc ensemble are joined by the very greatest local virtuosi and singers, and sensitively augmented by Mihály Dresch on flute and saxophone. And when the wider ensemble create Küküllo there is a momen- tary glimpse of something spry and dreamy, a bridging of tones and moods in a final sum- moning of a wholly rural world, with wonder- fully phrased affirmations and perfectly con- templative string playing. This is an ensemble that breathes together, but only just.


www.eszterlanc.hu John Pheby VARIOUS ARTISTS


I Pray You Pay Attention (2-CD) Musical Traditions MTCD367-8


Ten years ago and just before his death, Keith Summers was able to see the release of a dou- ble album of 37 of the songs that he had col- lected in and around the Co Fermanagh. Now, ten years after his death, another 50 of them are released here largely featuring the same singers who appeared in the previous release.


If the earlier release was able to cherry- pick the best of the 150 recordings that Keith made, then listening to both doubles again this reviewer would disagree. In fact my favourites from the four albums would be on the current release.


The best, and best-known, singers here would probably be Maggie Murphy and ‘Big’ John Maguire but the standard of all the per- formances are high. At the last playing before writing this review it was Francie Lit- tle’s rarely heard but delightful The Tyrone Tailor that stood out, but this is an album where different songs grab the ear at differ- ent listenings. Clearly there are albums that you have to live with for a long time.


Having a social function plays a large part in the survival of a traditional song and the singing associated with the hunts which chased, but rarely caught, hares was the core that unified things here, though only a minority of songs are about hunting.


The collection coincided with Keith’s day job visits to the north of Ireland in the six years around 1980. This means that as well as Keith, many of his singers are no longer with us. This made information gath- ering on these recordings very difficult for MT’s Rod Stradling and Forest Track’s Paul Marsh, the two men behind the project, especially as a flood in the garage where the field notes were kept and the loss of tapes in a car theft occurred, thankfully after they had been digitised.


Under the circumstances they have done a remarkable job that deserves praise from all who love authentic traditional song.


www.mtrecords.co.uk Vic Smith


RATTLE ON THE STOVEPIPE Old Virginia Wildgoose WGS398CD


Having seen Rattle On The Stovepipe live on many occasions, it is possible to reveal that they always start their performances with an instrumental. Invariably, it has the audience leaning forward on their chairs in an attitude of pleasurable expectation of musical treats to come. It is the same with this album; the lovely opener, Chinquapin Hunting, sharpens the listeners’ ears for more delights – and they are not to be disappointed.


The trio brings together two of the British folk scene’s most admired veterans, Dave Arthur and Pete Cooper. Both have been members of leading bands and duos for decades now but never has either been heard to better effect than in this line-up. The third member is the much younger multi- instrumentalist Dan Stewart. Living in the same area as Dan and seeing him perform fairly often, it has been a great pleasure to see his rapid progress on his main instrument from talented newcomer to his present posi- tion as one of Europe’s leading Old Timey banjo players.


On their earlier albums, the band con- cerned themselves with the transition and transfer of songs and tunes from Britain to the New World. This time they have clearly landed in North America as they present a well-programmed and carefully researched selection of tunes and songs. Following the usual sequence of listening to the album a few times before reading the notes, it came as a considerable surprise that Young And Venturesome was in fact written by Dave, when it has all the qualities of a 19th-Century Civil War-era American composition. Ah yes, and the notes…


It is very interesting that every word in the excellent booklet tells us about research, facts and anecdotes on the tunes and songs and not a word about themselves. That seems to tell us quite a lot about the band’s attitude and approach.


www.wildgoose.co.uk Vic Smith


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