f68


Irish music were present in the origins of American country music and the blues, espe- cially in the southern states of the US.


The musicians performing here are Scot- tish and Scandinavian folk musicians au fait with American jazz/blues, plus an American bluesman au fait with Scottish and Irish tradi- tional music. The fabulous line-up includes American blues singer/guitarist Eric Bibb, Aly Bain (fiddle), Fraser Fifield (saxophone, whis- tle, bagpipes), Knut Reiersrud (guitars, lap steel, harmonica), Ale Möller (mandola, trum- pet, shawm, flutes, dulcimer, harmonium), Tuva Syvertsen (vocals, hardanger fiddle), Olle Linder (double-bass, percussion). The Scandinavians add a further layer of musical complexity by bringing traditional Scandina- vian elements into the mix.


Eric Bibb and Ale Möller’s arrangement Constantinople


CONSTANTINOPLE Passages Buda Musique 4790379


Constantinople is a grand name for a band, and Passages is a vague name for a record. The band is all-acoustic, made up of four musicians plus guests. The core group seems to be more or less Anatolian and the largely instrumental music sounds good, fresh, well recorded, well played. Their influences include SE Mediterranean and Anatolian styles in a way which sounds perfectly natural.


The album doesn’t wander into kitsch and it sounds like the band greatly enjoyed making the record. The compositions are mostly by the band members. Generally, I’d pigeon-hole the album as Anatolian art music. They are musical cousins of Arifa and many Anatolian recording projects which are little-known outside the region. The sleevenotes are in French and English and include French translations of the lyrics of the album’s two songs (only one of which is trans- lated into English). The notes say that the band has toured the world and that this is their thirteenth album. (To my shame, this is the first time I’ve heard them.)


Of the eight pieces, I liked four, while the other four I thought merely alright. As a whole, I wish the album would soar more, I wish it were more transcendent. The music settles down for quite long ‘passages’ which drift and don’t hold my attention, and then there are the parts which are lovely; it seems a pity that they couldn’t distil more, take some risks, lose the parts which were not up to the level of the best pieces. Fave track: the epic Nour which includes what I take to be a Sufi-inspired text and music which sounds like it could be Azeri. An album definitely worth checking out if you’re into the genre.


www.budamusique.com Nick Hobbs ZMEI3


Rough Romanian Soul Six Degrees 657036- 123625


The blurb is compelling: a ‘kickstarting’ plot to bring a renowned producer to the spooky hills of Vlad Dracula in deepest Transylvania, in order to define and record a new form of Central European music. The result is a paean to the band’s homeland and also a reaching out for connections with the jazz, blues and folk music of beyond. These are panoramic views of rarely glimpsed landscapes, secretive


communities and personal histories. And the album transcends the complexity and trauma of the region’s history, its brave and bare sim- plicity giving rise to real beauty.


Comfort zone is left far behind, in the slippery and alluring vocals of the remarkable Paula Turcas. Having escaped her traditional rural context to become a fine opera soprano, Turcas has returned to own her origins. She evokes the scars upon her land, and the wounds in the stories. She is now an artist grounded in the struggles of everyday life, and an artist intent on flight.


Imn (Hymn) is just such an attempt. Word- less and inspiring, but not comforting, breathy against a heavy and seething background rumble, close and lovely, revelling in the potential wonder of normality. The song con- siders what nation might mean, what resis- tance could be, what love is, when isolation and loneliness is imposed upon a community.


Most of these stories are bittersweet, but genuine wonder arises from the prodigious work of producer Ian Brennan (he of Tinari- wen and Malawi Mouse Boys fame). He brings the judicious contemplation of the ‘outsider’, giving the conflict of seasons and myths and music a certain raw romance, while composer and vibraphone wizard, Oli Bott, ensures that the music is both redolent of the land and a sound that is entirely alien, an unusual lead instrument sounding confi- dently languorous.


Standout is Vis (Dream), an original med- itation dedicated to resistance and resistance fighters, with all the feel of a ‘recovered’ and plaintive elegy. Simple phrases are repeated with gradually increasing momentum, as things tear apart across almost ten fatalistic minutes, until an uplifting, and sudden bril- liant climax.


www.sixdegreesrecords.com John Pheby VARIOUS ARTISTS


Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic VI – Celtic Roots ACT Music ACT9836-2


The concert series Jazz At Berlin Philharmonic aims to reflect developments in jazz. Each one-off concert takes a different theme, assembles a fresh configuration of musicians, and is recorded on disc. The sixth concert/disc – Celtic Roots – showcases the influence of Scottish and Irish music on jazz. Following the waves of 19th Century emigration from Scot- land and Ireland, elements of Scottish and


of Mole In the Ground (a traditional moun- tain banjo song from North Carolina, where many Scots settled) counterpoints the soulful optimism of Bibb’s smoky voice and finger- picking guitar with the yearning beauty of the traditional Scottish melody Da Silver Bow, carried on plangent fiddle and sweetly plain- tive saxophone. In The Pines is an example of fatalistic Scottish folksong refracted beyond recognition by the rich musical culture of the American South, transforming into the Amer- ican Gothic of traditional bluegrass ballads. The fear and grief in Eric Bibb’s bluesy, anguished vocal is spine-tingling.


Lament For The Children re-interprets Pàdraig Mór MacCrimmon’s 17th Century Scottish piobaireachd as a modern jazz improvisation, with the saxophone replacing the bagpipes, to haunting effect. St James Infirmary is another traditional American bal- lad of Scottish origin. Here it is spliced with a whirling-dervish rendition of the traditional Irish jig Farewell To Ireland, with hypnotic Berber-sounding percussion and the wild skirl of Scottish bagpipes. You can hear the Berlin crowd’s enthusiastic appreciation through- out. I agree with them!


www.actmusic.com Paul Matheson FÁSTA Un Canadien Errant Fásta SLFOR 002


The presence of the ‘chanteur et musicien québécois sans égale’, André Marchand, the title of the album and the first track featur- ing one of the voice of one of the rising stars of Québécois music, Sophie Lavoie, singing to foot tapping and jaw harp accompani- ment must assure us that we are in for an album full of the delights of the French Canadian tradition.


Well, actually no. André restricts himself to some nifty guitar accompaniment and the album is dominated by the third member of Fásta, Fiachra O’Regan, playing the incongru- ous combination of uillean pipes and banjo and singing the exquisite sean nós Brid Thomáis Mhurchadha. From this you may sur- mise that alongside the Québécois there is a very strong Irish content.


This in no way distracts from the enjoy- ment of the album; the two traditions sit happily side by side; it is just not what we expect and, of course, the Irish tradition was one of the cornerstones in the development of French Canadian music.


Having accepted that Marchand plays a minimal role in the trio and gives the younger musicians the limelight, it must be reported that they are both excellent. Sophie’s singing and fiddle playing are both very pleasing and every aspect that we hear of Fiachra’s contribution shows that he has a deep understanding of Irish music.


www.fastamusic.com Vic Smith


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84