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According to David Krakauer, the clar- inet “is to Balkan music what the electric gui- tar is to heavy metal”. And he’s right. But, while this music is both monumental and heavy, it is not loud. It’s a concentrated stream of profound experimentation and genuine summoning, an extended suite of brazenly atmospheric music, hinting at tradi- tion, embracing jazz, special in its jettisoning of any national need.
It was the Goethe Institut who originally instigated a quest to find the right players, the right components. And while many pro- jects showcase the excitement and intrigue in pairing the disparate and the conflicting, here the aim has been to create a seamless statement of commonality. The gestation was tough, apparently, and the album is a refine- ment of a tour. There’s a movie, too, but the project is not the usual triumphant rite of backslapping surprise, but a testament as to how an almost telepathic level of cross cultur- al artistic sympathy can be honed and chan- nelled, once the right project managers and artists are on board.
Tyrans Daughter presents the full panoply of solos that the Insitut surely desired. Geamparale is all subtle staccato, and an unpredictable swing between the familiar and the experimental. Snake Lick Jab presents assured bass clarinet through serrat- ed percussive effects, appreciative live whoops, and uneasy laughter. Colors Of Istan- bul is a contemplative improvisation, a city of gloomy dawns that never quite develop into anything brighter. Sumptuously sad, expan- sive and dark.
www.piranha.de John Pheby ALTAN The Widening Gyre Compass 746402
Altan have been around forever, of course, and you fondly imagine they’ll remain here forever delivering quality Irish music with the mixture of Mairéad Ni Mhaonaigh’s genteel vocals and the excellent musicianship both of herself and Ciaran Tourish on fiddles and the rest of the band around them. In Irish music terms they are part of the furniture and, as such, get taken granted.
This, perhaps, is their bid to make peo- ple look at them anew and rejuvenate themselves, blending their own core values with a formidable array of guest musicians, among them Alison Brown (banjo), Bruce Molsky (vocals, fiddle), Natalie Haas (cello), Mary Chapin Carpenter (vocals), Mike
Altan ZIVANIA ENSEMBLE
Zivania And Tsamarella EasternGate EG140730
A double CD of mostly (I think) Greek Cypriot songs recorded over many years by a fluctuat- ing band of six male singers and musicians centred around Yannis Saoulis together with various guests. Zivania is a Cypriot liquor; Tsamarella is salted goat-meat, a Cypriot food.
The recordings sound fresh and acoustic, live in the studio. The songs are performed at stately tempos; they take their Mediterranean time. The down-to-earth lyrics are interesting and I imagine that understanding Greek would add to the pleasure. The songs are a mixture of traditional, anonymous, and authored over the last century or so, part of a living tradition. The singers mostly sing in chorus with the voices blending into an
McGoldrick (flute), Tim O’Brien (vocals, mandolin), Sam Bush (mandolin), Eddi Reader (vocals), Darol Anger (fiddle) and the great Jerry Douglas (Dobro).
If that was the plan, it worked. They may not have all got together in the same place at the same time but there’s a cohesive beauty about the whole thing that makes it sound like a proper unified project rather than just another Altan album with a bunch of guest musicians bolted on to garner attention. It’s not an original idea – Solas, Cherish The Ladies and The Chieftains have all been down this road (The Chieftains several times) – but they get the mix of Americana and Irish just about right. McGoldrick’s flute shows up well on a lively bout of jigs; the Haas cello adds a sinister element to Cúirt Robin Finley; Anger, Bush and Douglas drive the American empha- sis of The Triple T to good effect; Eddi Reader plaintively sings the tragic Far Beyond Car- rickfin; and Alison Brown’s banjo certainly gives them a different dimension as they plunge headlong into the reels, while setting a lively pace on a likeable version of The House Carpenter, on which Mairéad duets with Tim O’Brien.
Yet none of them should diminish the importance of Altan’s very own guitar mae- stro Dáithí Sproule, whose lightness of touch serves as the linchpin of the whole thing as well as constructing the album’s most beauti- ful track, A Tune For Mairéad And Anna Ní Mhaonaigh, with some lovely fiddle from Stuart Duncan. Marketing concept or not, it’s good to hear Altan firing on all cylinders again.
www.altan.ie Colin Irwin
agreeable whole. The packaging is a small book in Greek and English with the story of the making of the album, lyrics, info and pho- tos. Definitely a good buy for collectors.
How much does it appeal to the non-
specialist? Well, a single album version would perhaps have worked better for the great unwashed (me). For my taste, many of the songs lack distinction without being bad in any way. The singers are all nice without being wonderful. And I would have liked the whole album to have more edge and be more concise. A record I’d love to love but end up only liking. On the other hand some of the songs are slow growers so I’m loathe to be hard on this album.
www.easterngate.net Nick Hobbs JOGLARESA
Nuns & Roses – Medieval Songs of Sin and Subversion JOG005
Led by respected singer and musical director Belinda Sykes, Joglaresa are a nine-piece band whose sound is a glorious throwback to the great eclectic bands of the ’80s and ’90s, at times sounding like Mara and Jo Lai, turn- ing mediæval music from Catalonia, France and Italy into world music.
They do so by deliberately avoiding the Early Music scene’s pitfalls, no mediæval frocks for this lot – rather tight skirts, sharp suits and sunglasses. The music too avoids mediæval clichés, taking the listener to magical new places and venturing way out of the box.
Special mention needs to be made of
Jean Kelly’s electric harp playing which, alongside Sykes’ vocal arrangements, really brings this CD home and contributes to its overall sound.
For the most part their approach works
brilliantly. However, I did find the occasional quote from Blondie or Viva Locca broke the spell of an otherwise enchanting CD. No doubt this ingratiates them, live and on air, with new and non-specialist audiences but far more satisfying, for me, was the inter- weaving of voices on songs like Santa Maria Amar Devemos. Music as good as this really is in a class of its own.
What about the sin and subversion? Well,
Joglaresa’s research into and discovery of lyrics about pregnant nuns, women turning tables, anti-crusade songs and texts railing against church and state do a lot to counter our tradi- tional view of mediæval society meekly accepting its lot. Below the songs of courtly love there appears to have been a punk riot going on in the taverns and brothels.
If you think you know, and don’t really
go for, mediæval music, you may want to take a listen to this. Joglaresa are touring extensively throughout 2015.
www.joglaresa.com Mark T
KEDEM ENSEMBLE La Yave De Mi Kaza CPL-Music CPL004
Exploring the emotionally necessary music of the dispossessed, the title, ‘The Key To My Home’, refers to the desperate and habitual retaining of said keys by Spanish Jews, after their expulsion from Iberia in the 15th Cen- tury. There was a vain but definite hope of return, hence so many songs of both longing and of loss. But this record is also concerned with the experience of early 20th Century Jewish migrants to Palestine and their strange reconnection with the Spanish gold- en age – of its art, culture, commerce, society and music – from 500 years before. Omri Hason, once of Israel and now of Switzer- land, here yearningly traces his ancestors’
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