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ERIC BOGLE WITH JOHN MUNRO Voices Greentrax CDTRAX 391


Eric Bogle – one of the more notable song- writers over the last few decades – is back in harness again with eight new songs emotion- ally going from anger (First The Children) to comedy (When I’m Dead). Freedom Lost is an effective musical treatment of Pastor Niemoller’s commentary on Nazi persecution “First they came… and I did not speak out” while the backwards looking A Fork In The Road is a tribute to John Munro, his musical partner in crime for 35 years. Still in reminisc- ing mode, The List harks back to the things Bogle still misses about his native Scotland.


John Munro is the source for two more songs (including Voices, the title track), and there are a couple of other contributors as well. A fine acoustic band provide low-key and appropriate accompaniment, and the result is one of the more satisfying of Bogle’s albums to listen to (as opposed to find songs from). He certainly doesn’t disappoint here.


www.greentrax.com Bob Walton


AYREHEART Barley Moon Sono Luminus DSL-92203


Ayreheart are an Elizabethan/folk crossover group who sing and play a variety of instru- ments of the lute family. They are led by US- born Ronn McFarlane who is a creative and outward-looking musician with over 25 recordings to his name.


The tracks on Barley Moon lean closer to Amazing Blondel than Julian Bream but, that said, their music is uniquely their own. McFar- lane is not a purist and the occasional non- Elizabethan riff displays his beginnings in rock and blues before he took up the lute. His experience plus his evident love and under- standing of both folk and Elizabethan music have enabled him to create a band around him which is both authentic and populist.


This music is accessible but deep and any one of the fourteen tracks could easily be lift- ed for a film score. One of the most enchant- ing aspects of this recording is the voice of Brian Kay. Singing in a countertenor voice, his singing has a sinewy otherworldness which is hard to describe on paper. At times he devi- ates from the text and tune to improvise with his own unique mouth music. His singing is equally good whether performing folk or art song and he is a master storyteller. His ability to convey a good storyline is best shown in Twa Corbies and the John Dowland song Come Again. This CD is essential listening for any lover of Elizabethan music and, more importantly for fRoots readers, it displays a unique and valid approach to English folk song rarely heard since the days of Shirley Collins’ Anthems in Eden. Beautifully record- ed and with a bonus high definition blu-ray audio disk, definitely worth a listen.


sonoluminus.com Mark T


VAUDOU GAME Kidayu Hot Casa Records


It can be hard to find good quality recordings of 1970s afrofunk – especially from the small West African country of Togo – so Vaudou Game have saved you the crate-digging and made their very own. All the material is fresh and original, but the band has gone the extra mile and recorded it all on tapes and ana- logue equipment to stay as true as possible to the source. The overall sound is stripped back, tight and clean.


The opening track, Natural Vaudou,


glides effortlessly out as soon as you hit play. It’s a clean, tight, afrofunk song with a healthy dose of attitude and expression, and lays the groundwork for the predominant sound that is consistent through the album – snappy snare and cymbal sounds from the kit, repetitive electric guitar hooks, and distinctly ’70s synthy organ hits. There is also a brass section on most of the tracks.


Revolution is perhaps the most recognis- able of the afrofunk grooves, with a relaxed but urging pentatonic guitar riff of the vari- ety that Fela Kuti and his band did so well. The guitar lick is muted, punchy and catchy, and the track as a whole feels as though it has emotion and energy. However, some of the other tracks feel a little bit too pushy and eager, and repetition – which in other cases can be entrancing – has the risk of becoming irritating. This is the case in the tracks Cherie Nye, La Vie C’est Bon and to a lesser extent, Elle Decide. It’s largely down to the electric guitar riffs, which stand out a little too obvi- ously instead of blending in more seamlessly.


But there’s lots more variety of styles which keeps things interesting! On Se Pousse maintains a fast tempo but has a relaxing, palm wine sound, where the lyrics swim fluid- ly amongst the polyrhythms. La Dette has a fancy disco sparkle and some classic synthesis- ers. Lonlon is a slow rock-out (although the vocals, without the rhythm, can’t quite carry it), and the final track, Locataire, is a spoken- word cinematic space funk voyage.


hotcasarecords.com/artist/vaudou-game/ Josh Coppersmith Heaven


KAROLINA CICHA & SHAFQAT ALI KHAN


Poland-Pakistan – Music Without Borders Karolina Cicha & Shafqat Ali Khan 4752662


The set by polyglot Polish singer, accordeon- ist and electronicist Karolina Cicha and multi-instrumental Bart Pałyga was for me a transcendent moment among the many spot-on showcases at last year’s WOMEX. Their new album, recorded in the Polish embassy in Islamabad, is a collaboration with Pakistani singer Shafqat Ali Khan, who like his father Ustad Salamat Ali Khan is a master of the improvising khyal genre of Pakistani classical music.


Vaudou Game


Pałyga plays electric cello, hurdy gurdy, duduk, whistle, jew’s-harp and throat-sings, and they’re joined by Zohaib Hassan on sarangi, Kashif Ali on tabla, and Mateusz Szemraj on dulcimer, rubab and electric gui- tar. The Poles’ instruments bring new tone colours and variety to Shafqat’s songs, and the sarangi and tabla to theirs.


It’s harder to make a total blend between the vocals; Cicha’s a hugely talented musician, and isn’t trying to copy or become a khyal singer, but for any singer from outside that tradition to completely connect with khyal’s long-established structures and details on a short visit is tough. Nevertheless she joins Shafqat’s songs with great sympathy and musicality. Shafqat isn’t an instrumentalist, so all his musical life has been devoted to the khyal vocal craft, a strong feature of which is improvising, albeit within the raga form, and he brings a wild exoticism to the Cicha-led songs, her own and traditional in Polish, Ukrainian, and Yiddish. The second track, Ale, in Yiddish, is a fine example.


The project, which is ongoing with live shows, demonstrates healthy outward- looking by Polish and Pakistani musicians, and indeed the initiation and support by the Polish embassy, Islamabad-based FACE, Poland-Pakistan Cultural Exchange and other Polish and Pakistani bodies for the recording, which was made in December 2014, is a wel- come positive in these troubled, troubling, border-erecting times.


www.karolinacicha.eu Andrew Cronshaw


BARK & BLIK Vildskud Go’ Danish Folk Music GO0116


A very interesting Danish string/wind quartet (violin, guitar, saxophone, clarinet/bass clar- inet) on a tasty mix of original tunes. The influence of Danish folk music is there, some- times in the lush melodies (Efterårssol is a prime example, bursting at the seams with tunes), and some quite dynamic rhythms. It’s intricate, with elaborate weaving in the arrangements that work so deftly, such as the guitar taking a bass role at times to underpin some glorious wildness. For all that, however, nothing feels cluttered. There’s plenty of space for everyone. They all slip and slide around with beautiful precision and expres-


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