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The fact that they have come to this music in their maturity seems to be important in that it is clear that ‘they did it their way’. Internet videos of them bear out the impression given on the LP cover; they are sitting singing at one café table and their audience around them are at other tables. No PA is involved. Some tracks were recorded at this sort of show; others were recorded in quiet back streets with good acoustics. Recording studios were studiously avoided. There seems to be a sort of ‘anti-per- formance’ approach to both recording and gigs and for many people this would be a valid way to sing traditional songs.
There are some fine songs amongst the thirteen here; there is a particularly familiar feel to the lyrics of Le 26 Du Mois D’Avril rem- iniscent of songs in English with soldier com- rades fearful under attack with their thoughts on absent lovers – except that here it is the Brits that are the baddies.
www.supercagouille.org/artistes/tartine-
de-clous/ Vic Smith
YOU SHOULDN’T KNOW FROM IT It’s Klezmer! Danzone, DANZ107
THE BROTHERS NAZAROFF
The Happy Prince Smithsonian Folkways, SFWCD40571
YSKFI, What a terrible name for a band! Thankfully their music is far better than their name. Based in Berlin, fast becoming the cap- ital of klezmer, their music is the real thing. Inspired by klezmer music from the first half of the 20th Century, particularly songs played at weddings and festivals, their music is authentic, full-bodied and celebratory. The excellent production brings to the table a col- lection of traditional tunes and songs which require no add-ons. They stand alone as great tunes well played. The instruments – clarinet, accordeon, bass and drums – never get in the way of each other, their sound is full and uncluttered. Guest vocalist Sasha Lurje has a beautiful voice as rich, deep and sweet as halva. If you have ever thought of exploring klezmer this is an excellent place to start, you won’t be disappointed.
www.knowfromit.com Brian Peters
In total contrast, The Brothers Nazaroff play a raucous and unkempt version of Yiddish music which could be, quite fairly, described as Yiddish punk or bar-room Yiddish. They take their inspiration from a 1950s Folkways release “Prince” Nazaroff’s Jewish Freilach Songs. Frailach is a Yiddish expression that means ‘happy’ or ‘cheerful’ and the music is certainly upbeat, at times almost burlesque or even slapstick (including several tracks featuring a singing ‘bird’). The production sounds like it is live in the studio and throws out any decorum, time codes or pitch correction and why should- n’t it? This music is from the street, plain and simple, made with lashings of organised chaos and possibly a few bottles of best vodka . The lyrics, sung in Russian, Yiddish and English are mainly feel-good with the odd bluesy tale of losing your girl to your best friend or getting drunk to forget. Full marks to the Brothers Nazaroff for making music like this in these sanitised times, but next time… kill the bird.
www.folkways.si.edu Mark T
BRIAN PETERS Squeezebox, Voicebox Pugwash PUGCD010
It has been longer than usual between solo albums for Brian; the last one was in 2010. This doesn’t mean that he has been away from the recording studio because there have been two high profile releases from other projects in the meantime. There were two in 2013; Brian was the senior performer along with younger singers on The Liberty to Choose, the very interesting selection of songs taken from the New Penguin Folk Song Book. Then there was the album recorded with Jeff Davis, Sharp’s Appalachian Harvest, a great album and a fascinating show devised by Brian.
So now it is back to a solo album that shows all the signs of careful research, prepa- ration and programming that we have come to expect from a Peters album. It was not a surprise to see an unusual version of The Wild Rover here; another project that has been occupying him has been research into this old war horse for a Folk Music Journal article and there has been correspondence and conversa- tion between us on this subject.
In fact there are a number of folk club standards revisited here; Our Captain Calls, Ranzo, The Jolly Waggoner and Swansea Town amongst them. All of them benefit from
the treatment he gives them especially when Margaret Peters’ voice adds a harmony line.
Unusually for one of his albums, there is
no big ballad included this time, but the out- standing song is The Ghost So Grim, which previously appeared as Flame Of Fire, the title track of a Brass Monkey album. In the tra- dition this song has been found mainly in north east Scotland. Brian bases his versions in the south of England and his approach to the five/four rhythm of the tune from Betsy Pike is quite magnificent.
The interspersed tunes range from Scott Joplin to those from English manuscript sources. Again there is one selection that stands out in fine company; the set of tunes in three/two time from the Winders manuscripts. They are all the same time signa- ture but Brian manages to put a different emphasis and stress on each tune. He’s a clever bugger, that Brian Peters,
www.brian-peters.co.uk Vic Smith
BRIDGET MARSDEN When I Listen To Bingsjö Dimma DIS 028
It might seem foolhardy, presumptuous even, for an English fiddler to make an album of the music of the iconic fiddle village of Bingsjö in the heart of Sweden’s Dalarna, a region not short of fiddlers.
But you only have to listen to know what an excellent musician Bridget Marsden is; this isn’t an outsider taking a shot at the obvious, or a fanatical convert uncreatively following. Her playing is fluid, with rich tone and very much her own expression, and her choice of tunes shows her familiarity with Bingsjö music.
She does have a useful outsider’s per- spective, but she’s a well-regarded insider too; if proof were needed, she has a masters degree in folk music from Stockholm’s Royal College of Music, with a specialism in the Bingsjö tradition, was awarded the scholar- ship named after Bingsjö’s famous Päkkos Gustaf, and some tracks are duets or trios with substantial players Ellika Frisell, Jon Holmén, and fellow-Brit well versed in Swedish music, Emma Reid.
The tunes, all traditional, she interprets from the playing of her teachers Ole Hjorth and Ellika Frisell, and from the recordings of Päkkos Gustaf and Hjort Anders Olsson. In one – and this really is taking a reputational risk but comes out fine – she duets, as she did while absorbing Bingsjö style, with a 1950 recording of Hjort Anders.
This first solo album, while newly record- ed, is based on the solo audiovisual show of the same title which Bridget first performed in Sweden in 2010, so before 2015’s fresh and creative duo album Mountain Meeting with accordeonist Leif Ottosen, reviewed in fR 389.
www.dimmaswe.com Andrew Cronshaw
MARIE FIELDING
An Seisiún Rumford Records, RUMFORDCD003
Recorded in Dingle, Ireland, this likeable album sees an Edinburgh fiddler join with her Irish and Scottish pals to pay loving tribute to the pub session, combining Marie’s fiddle with guitars, accordeon, piano, double-bass, percussion and vocal. The vibrant, glowing instrumental sets mix Irish and Scots tradi- tional tunes with Marie’s own excellent com- positions. Marie’s fiddle is dazzling on Martyn Bennett’s spine-tingling tune Polly Rhythm, which segues dramatically into Follow Me Down to Carlow. The tune-set Lock-In is a darkly rhythmic delight with a Balkan flavour.
Photo: Mary Dickenson
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