69 f


For all that, it’s the singing of Lorcán Mac Mathúna that leaves the most indelible impression. By turns visceral and stoic, instinc- tive and disciplined, this (even without prior knowledge of the adventures of 6th Century Irish warrior monks or understanding of the Gaelic language) is simply some of the most powerfully affecting vocal music you’ll hear.


lorcanmacmathuna.com Steve Hunt


JEAN-GUIHEN QUEYRAS, SOKRATIS SINOPOULOS, BIJAN & KEYVAN CHEMIRANI


Thrace – Sunday Morning Sessions Harmonia Mundi HMC 902242


There are a number of approaches to review- ing music. A cursory look at the gathering on Thrace – Sunday Morning Sessions and its instrumentation strongly suggested that reading the booklet notes ‘cold’ in advance of listening to the music might be advisable. Jean-Guihen Queyras plays cello, Sokratis Sinopoulos the bowed stringed instrument called the lyra (which in Iran is called the kemençe) and Bijan and Keyvan Chemirani the zarb and daf drums. The notes are a com- bination of illuminating and knowing. The first piece’s description starts, “Khamse (Frank Leriche): as the title suggests, this piece is in quintuple time (khamsa in Ara- bic).” It necessitated first reading the French and then the German to double-check the translation. Jumping ahead to see who had written them, it proved to be the French eth- nomusicologist Jean During, one of the truly greatest illuminators of the music of Iran and Transcaucasia (for me, notably Azerbaijan).


This music ranges widely between folk and art music forms. There are traditional tunes (the Greek Sunday Morning and the Istanbul-flavoured Hasapiko) and improvised traditional themes (the Chemirani vehicle Dast É Kyan, meaning ‘The Imperial Hand’) and the concluding Dance in seven/eight. Alongside these, they deliver a variety of con- temporary inspirations. Jörg Widmann’s Étude Digitale is a homage to the French composer Pierre Boulez (1926-2016) for his 90th birthday in 2015. Karsitama is an extract in nine/eight from a Ross Daly dance cycle and, best of all, is a piece from the Persian classical ostad or maestro Mohammad-Reza Lotfi (1947-2014) called Zarvi É Shustari. Brainfood.


www.harmoniamundi.com Ken Hunt BROOM BEZZUMS


No Smaller Than The World Steeplejack Music SJCD017


Broom Bezzums is the close-knit duo of Andrew Cadie and Mark Bloomer, originally from Northumbria and the Black Country respectively but for most of their career based in Germany, possibly why they’re not better known here in the UK.


These guys seem to have everything going for them – a stack of impressive and stylish original songs and tunes, superb multi- instrumental skills (eleven different instru- ments here including fiddle, Northumbrian pipes, acoustic and electric guitars, mandola, piano, trumpet and drum kit), two contrasted but complementary vocal styles, and an instinctive feel for tradition. All are brought into play on No Smaller Than The World, their fifth studio CD, whose canny title, though taken from Katie Doherty’s song Passing Through, could equally be taken as an indica- tion of the span of their musical coverage,


from solo fiddle-singing (Bonny At Morn) and delicate, intimate spare-canvas treatments through to more intricate instrumentals (lul- laby Down By The River) and even full-on folk-rock (tune-medley Ashgill Force Rant).


Musical arrangements are both highly capable and satisfyingly sophisticated, enhancing material such as the Woody Guthrie and Jez Lowe covers. The latter track is one of many featuring vocals from Andrew and Mark’s long-term collaborator, Newcastle-based singer-songwriter Katie Doherty (who by now might even be count- ed a permanent member of Broom Bez- zums), while other guests on the album include Ian Stephenson, Andy May, Keike Faltings, Brian Haitz and Gudrun Walther


and Jürgen Treyz (both of German folk band Cara). The songwriting is often influenced by tradition (the shanty Keep Hauling – lat- terly covered by Show Of Hands – and Who Stole My Love?), but sometimes there’s a dis- tinct political and condemnatory edge, (Fish- ing In Troubled Waters, The Drawbridge and Here We Go Again).


Well packaged, with fifteen tracks (not a filler among them) and just over an hour’s playing time, the album is an object lesson in quality and value-for-money. Broom Bezzums are a class act, whose animated, committed performance style has won them many admirers (and awards) in live performance and on record alike.


www.broombezzums.com David Kidman


PUSHKIN KLEZMER BAND


Klezmer Über Alles Oriente Musik DANZ108


We know that the expanses of Ukraine and Bessarabia were once the event-filled realms of rituals and rites of passage, where usually brilliant and often itinerant musicians sound- tracked lengthy celebrations long into the night. The klezmorim and the finest Romani musicians were entwined with each other, according to tradition, in the dance.


Broom Bezzums with Katie Doherty


The traditions are still alive, if inevitably sighing now and elegiac. Klezmer music from there and then, pre forced assimilation and pre serious attempts at extermination, can- not but be seen now through the prism and heaviness of what we know. There has to be admiration for the spirit that has seen klezmer survive ostracism and modernity, to spite the murky ages.


Ternovka initially mixes martial rhythms into this heavy context, but lively clarinet and a swinging background, descending into unnecessarily muzak-keyboard noodles – a whispered threat of subtle psychedelia – feel like a retreat from tradition rather than an understanding of it. And this is unfortu- nate, because the playing is sweet, accom- plished and proud – even as it drifts uneasily between contemporary and traditional arrangements. The musicians are adept and confident when reflecting on the earthy and mystical epicentre of klezmer that was and always will be Odessa. The band also seek the sound of a Kiev both real and imaginary, one that appeals equally to “the traditionalists, the intelligentsia and the hipsters”. But perhaps a contemporary con- sideration should at least hint at the uproar and battle that once again scars these places today.


There is a pacey comedic urgency to


Hotsa Mama, inventive accordeon above a curiously hungover hollowness that feels wil- fully placed after the contemplative Trom- bone Taksim – where Oleksiy ‘Savid’ Sagitov’s plaintive trombone is an arresting meditation on apparent nothingness.


We can hear large record collections, in moments of jazz, hints of traditions from across Europe, and contemporary pop sensi- bilities. There’s heavy artifice in the studied subtlety, as shimmering percussion vies with evocative clarinet soloing by band supremo Mitya Gerasimov. But it’s a groove that dissi- pates, where it might have delineated trou- bled celebration. Which all makes for a fasci- natingly confusing bright night.


www.pushkinklezmerband.com John Pheby


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