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are not being ignored, rather they are adapt- ed and absorbed. Tanga and his familial com- pany are frequently heard at village events in and around their own Isandra Valley and its surrounding area. Education is strongly encouraged among the younger generation, but professional qualifications do not seem to result in a neglect of their own culture.


With so many news stories of environ- mental destruction, it is really encouraging to read a Malagasy success story with this pro- ject having a strong impact that goes beyond its musical one.


www.budamusique.com Vic Smith


IMARHAN TIMBUKTU, DINTCHÉRÉ and OUSMAN AG OUMAR Timbuktu Echoes Clermont CLEO13


The area between Timbuktu and Djenné – in fact the whole of Northern Mali –was briefly in the news in 2012 when they came under the control of Islamic fundamentalist groups. There were some headlines again recently when the ICC in The Hague handed down its first sentence for “cultural destruction”. That does not mean that the area has returned to anything that could be described as normal. It has become one of the roles of the area’s musicians to strive to draw attention to the awful situation – and that includes those par- ticipating on this album. Imarhan Timbuktu are accorded five tracks, one of their gui- tarists, Ousmane has a couple of others and the remaining three feature a young Bamako-based band, Dintchéré.


The best-known musician to western audiences here is likely to be Mohamed Issa Ag Oumar, singer and guitarist with Imarhan Timbuktu, because of his prominence on Fes- tival In The Desert videos. His presence here seems more underplayed. In fact, the whole album seems to have a more direct, reflective mood than what we have become used to from modern desert rockers. The increased use of acoustic guitars and less dependence on wah-wah and sustain is part of this, but there is an overall sadness about the singing which may reflect the difficult situation that all these musicians find themselves in.


Mention of guitars brings us to the pair of tracks by Ousmane where his playing is very different from the rhythm guitar role that he has with the band. We have become so used to hearing modern Saharan singing in a band context that it is interesting to hear just the singer accompanying himself on gui- tar. Generally he eschews the use of chords, playing the melodies in unison with his singing and alternating this with improvised solos which do not deviate greatly from the tune, along with touches on the bass strings. His Legh Tanna is probably the most interest- ing item on a fascinating album.


www.clermontmusic.com Vic Smith


MICK, LOUISE & MICHELLE MULCAHY The Reel Note Clo Iar Connachta CICD 202


The familial role in the propagation of Irish traditional music is something not often com- mented upon in discussion of the genre. Cer- tainly the big names like the Ni Maoinaighs, No Domhnaills, Keanes, Brennans, Sands, and the almost forgotten McPeakes had their parts to play in the daily story. Now the Mulc- ahys from Abbeyfeale, Co Limerick but origi- nally of Kerry stock, take centre stage. This is not a new story for most traditional ears as Mick Mulcahy and his daughters Louise and


Michelle have been delighting audiences at festivals for years but their ensemble record- ed output hasn’t been around in a while. In fact 2009’s Reeling In The Tradition was the last combined effort. That absence, coupled with their increased profile makes the arrival of The Reel Note all the more worthwhile.


Individually Louise and Michelle have released solo albums in the meantime, but this new family effort is all the more worth- while because it’s just the three of them, father and daughters flying without a net, self-producing and self-accompanying as well as self-arranging all the music here. The Reel Note is their fourth ensemble recording and it’s a veritable feast of thoroughly researched, carefully plotted music executed with maxi- mum taste and efficiency. The trio spans accordeon, fiddle, concertina, flute and pipes with accompanying harp and piano allowing for plenty of individuality and unique touch- es including the regal Planxty Davis bordered with reels and a subtle take on O’Carolan’s Eleanor Plunkett. They reel and jig aplenty too but the performances are pure, unadorned, natural and unfettered with lots of space for instruments to shine without overkill in the accompaniment department.


Mick Mulcahy’s accordeon shines on his


own Rolling Hills Of Brosna while Louise acquits herself on flute and pipes and Michelle’s harp, fiddle, piano and concertina all work their own requisite magic. The Reel Note is a vibrant, joyous, learned and lived-in cele- bration of the glories of Irish traditional music.


www.cic.ie John O’Regan


THE STRAY BIRDS Magic Fire Yep Roc YEP 2475


This CD really hits the spot. The Stray Birds have augmented their sound, no doubt helped by the first-class production of ex- Dylan alumnus Larry Campbell, and turned out a proper country album. Country music with solid roots that is. Original songs, great harmonies, really nothing not to like. Many stand-out tracks. Sabrina has a great Cajun beat making it impossible not to tap some- thing whilst it is playing, fronted by solo vocal from the outstanding Maya De Vitry. Later she lends her voice to a classic duet on Some- how that could well have been a George Jones recording from the 1960s. As a bonus the lyrics are particularly strong, try Sunday


The Stray Birds


Morning or the short story of Mississippi Pearl which also has a another first class vocal from De Vitry. It all ends with another killer, When I Die, carrying the irony of a good John Prine song. Play this recording loud and often.


www.thestraybirds.com John Atkins


DON BIKOFF Hallowed Ground Don Bikoff 888295028271


‘American Primitive’ solo guitarist Don Bikoff isn’t someone who could ever be described as a prolific recording artist. The 2013 Tompkins Square re-release of his 1968 cult obscurity Celestial Explosions was the first that many (this writer included) had heard of this enig- matic master.


But it’s quality, not quantity that counts and this is a more-than-worthy successor to that debut record. Bikoff cut his teeth on the 1960s Greenwich Village folk and blues scene, where he met the likes of Dave Van Ronk, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Jesse Fuller and Mississippi John Hurt first-hand. That first- hand roots grounding has provided his own music with an inherent rhythmic and melodic brawniness that’s absent in the flaccid efforts of any number of lesser post-Basho noodlers.


Bikoff favours large-bodied guitars (a Gibson J-200 and a Taylor twelve-string) and here the vastness of their sounds evokes the natural landscapes referenced in tracks like Cypress Grove (a slow steel slide through the swamps, via Skip James), When The Troutfish Are In Bloom and the dazzling, fluttering Hummingbird Deluxe. A complementary theme of motorcycle travel also runs through the album, evidenced in Guzzi On Hallowed Ground and Demise Of The Zundapp. Respects are paid to John Fahey with a beau- tiful interpretation of Sligo River Blues while echoes of Davy Graham’s Anji are woven into Max’s Tune.


Equally adept with standard, twelve-string or resonator guitars and with an impressive technical arsenal of techniques including gutsy bottleneck and intricate hammer-ons and pull-offs, Don Bikoff is a tremendous gui- tarist. More importantly, each of the ten tracks on Hallowed Ground succeeds as an individual piece, which together coalesce into a satisfyingly complete album.


donbikoff.com Stephen Hunt


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