71 f JOHN FAHEY
The Guitar Artistry Of John Fahey Vestapol 13121
BERT JANSCH
The Guitar Artistry Of Bert Jansch Vestapol 13125
Two more DVDs from Uncle Stefan Grossman and his Guitar Workshop, and the latest in what is a pretty estimable series all round.
The Fahey one has links of the guitarist in his later years talking about his career and influences, intercut with clips from three sources: TV footage of a young Fahey in the 1960s and studio and concert performances in the 1990s. The contrasts over 30 years are fascinating, with the earlier tracks played with Fahey’s trademark thumb- and finger- picks on his legendary ‘30s Bacon & Day gui- tar and a Weissenborn lap model – the delica- cy and precision of Red Pony and Death Of The Clayton Peacock are allied to a hard, clear sound; by the time the later tracks were filmed Fahey had stopped using picks (because, he claimed, Dobro stopped making the ones he liked), and tracks such as the medley of Blueberry Hill and Special Rider and The Story of Dorothy Gooch are more fluid and rambling, and use a wider range of semi-classical techniques. The interview sec- tions are particularly good: for a PhD, Fahey could be amazingly inarticulate when faced with a microphone, but here he is relaxed and good-humoured; his memories of Eliza- beth Cotten and Skip James are revealing, and his version of his true hero Sylvester Weaver’s Guitar Rag explains a lot about how he created his sound and style.
By contrast, the interview ‘bonus’ in the Bert Jansch DVD is probably the weakest part: the questions are banal, Bert himself seems ill-at-ease, and the 1985 concert
footage is dark and wobbly. Ignore this bit and cut straight to the main section, in which the 1980 line-up of The Bert Jansch Conun- drum is in concert in Athens, Ohio. Flanked by Nigel Portman-Smith on fretless bass and Martin Jenkins on fiddle and baritone man- dolin, Jansch leads the twists and turns on original songs such as Poor Mouth, Ask Your Daddy and Running From Home, all beauti- fully played if not brilliantly mixed: the gui- tar gets lost in the trio pieces, but thankfully is full-on with the ever-brilliant solo version of Blackwaterside, still a benchmark for accompaniment. Jenkins plays a set of jigs and reels and sings his own Nightfall, and Sovay and the instrumental Bittern show all the folk/jazz/ blues influences, often within one line, that have brought Jansch such acclaim. There are even a trio of extra Jan- sch/Jenkins tracks from 1978, with the rolling Come Back Baby apparently mystifying a Swedish nightclub audience.
To sum up, the Fahey disc is a bit of a wee gem, but you have to be somewhat selective with the Jansch one. Don’t let this put you off getting hold of either, or the other titles in an impressive set.
www.guitarvideos.com Ian Kearey
RAVI SHANKAR Raga East Meets West Music EMWM1002
Raga: A Film Journey To The Soul Of India is a film with a chequered history. For a fair old period of time it was more spoken about than watched, for, although Mystic Fire released it on VHS video, its US NTSC format reduced its accessibility. It gained a cult repu- tation and a cult following. Its re-emergence gives an opportunity to re-examine it with a measure of critical distance.
After all, reviewing Raga in November
1971, New York Magazine’s Judith Crist was pretty swingeing. She described the Howard Worth-produced and -directed documentary film as “lack[ing] a point of view and a sense of thesis”. (Mind you, she had a reputation to maintain, a critic dubbed a professional evis- cerator in a January 2011 article in The Observer.) But, in the temper of the times she disingenuously spoke of it as “the portrait of a man whose music is indeed a spiritual expe- rience” (maybe assisted by Shankar talking about his spiritual guru, Tat Baba and the footage of the University of California’s hon- orary degree presentation ceremony).
The India that much of this film cap- tures is gone yet much looks as if it could have been shot last week. The hurly-burly of street life, the dust, the views from the train windows, the weight of humanity, the funeral ghats, the rock pigeons and stray dogs and the creak of bullock carts are all still there. What is no longer there is what renders this film so must-watch for music lovers. It is the stuff of wonder. Like Shankar returning to visit his aged guru, Allauddin Khan. Or Shankar reflecting on change (“I’m so much in love with the past of our coun- try”) and that bugbear echoed down the generations of loss or imminent loss and others’ indifference to what is perceived as slipping through the fingers. Or comparing himself studying with Allauddin Khan to one of his own shishyas (disciples), saying, “He cannot come to me with the same spirit”. There is a lot more transferability in this film than I remembered. The practice sessions are really illuminating. The footage of Shankar’s Indian orchestra (including Alla Rakha and a youthful Shivkumar Sharma) recording can- not but interest anyone with an interest in this music. Plus there is music played with people such as Alla Rakha, Yehudi Menuhin and George Harrison.
There is no reason why in 1971 Judith Crist should have understood this remarkable film. To be honest, I only understand this remarkable documentary and its messages now. Don’t let bygones be bygones.
www.eastmeetswestmusic.com Ken Hunt ARI EISINGER
The Ragtime & Blues Guitar Of Blind Blake Stefan Grossman’s Guitar Workshop GW 824/5
Over three hours of this double DVD shows you how Blake’s guitar stylings were unique, how to tackle his distinctive ‘double-thumb’ right-hand technique, and how to blend this with fast treble-string work. Eisinger certainly knows his stuff, and his method of starting pretty slowly and then building up is a good way to become more confident. To back it all up, there’s also a booklet with notes and TAB. If one must cavil, there could be a few more tracks of Blake himself in among the teach- ing, rather than shoved on the end, but for the intermediate-standard blues player this is a very useful tool to have around.
www.guitarvideos.com Ian Kearey
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