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What follows is Granmaw’s spoken nar- rative spliced, in parts, into her granddaugh- ter’s music. Two Sisters (also known as Oh, The Wind And Rain) is the old, old ballad set to Hedy West’s rolling banjo with Tracey Schwarz on fiddle, and is phenomenal. To give an inkling of the project’s fabric, the com- mentary says, “This song had a special interest to her, because it reminded her of her own sister Molly’s tragic death, which deeply shocked the sixteen-year-old Lillie.”) Other mesmerising performances include Blackad- der Mama, to a tune Hedy West wrote in 1977, and Jack And Joe (Give My Love To Nell). The latter is a music hall escapee that revels in, rather than rejects sentimentality. It distils West’s extraordinary craft. She sings the sections that so clearly would have been spoken or declaimed on stage. From Gran- maw And Me closes beautifully with The Uncloudy Sky, sung by West and Eloise Schwarz and accompanied by Tracy Schwarz’ guitar and her banjo. There never was a folksinger like Hedy West. She was the real thing. She remains the real thing.
fledglingrecords.co.uk Ken Hunt KARINE POLWART with
PIPPA MURPHY A Pocket Of Wind Resistance Hudson HUD005PR
It’s already up there in the frame for a 2018 BBC Folk Award and deservedly so. Polwart’s imaginative songwriting, firm ideals and will- ingness to explore new ideas – not to men- tion one of the finest voices in the kingdom – has long established her as among our music’s mightiest figures. Everything she tries is wor- thy of respect and while, on the face of it, this project must have seemed like something of a gamble – entirely different to anything else she’s ever done – she clearly has all the ammunition to make it work.
A tender song cycle in the guise of a
bird’s flight, incorporating childbirth, survival, love, death, Augustinian monks and pink- footed geese, it was conceived with sound designer Pippa Murphy as a stage show which had its debut at Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre in 2016 and subsequently performed, amongst other places, with great success and critical acclaim at last year’s Celtic Connections in Glasgow. “A little bit of music, a little bit of politics, a little bit of moss” is how Karine her- self wryly described it and, while recordings from shows invariably lose something integral in translation, the heart of this little beauty largely remains intact.
It covers a lot of ground. A likeably jaun-
ty treatment of Lark In The Clear Air, emo- tional spoken extracts, Gaelic choruses, a bit of Robbie Burns, mediæval ballads, a lovely Now Westlin Winds, pared-down smatterings of her own songs, allusions to the world’s wider musical reaches, personal musings, dra- matic snatches of percussion and quietly atmospheric settings…all presented in effec- tively minimalist fashion.
Ultimately, her sincerity – laced with charm, beauty and the great art of the story- teller – carries you with it and what she describes as “an intimate poetic essay spun out of song and story, memory and myth, bird lore and deep ecology” conspires to be heart- felt, affecting and, in the case of the spectac- ular construction of Sphagnum Mass For A Dead Queen (which incorporates The Death Of Queen Jane), hugely powerful.
Her sleevenotes also carry an important message – “Long Live The NHS!” And so say all of us.
karinepolwart.com Colin Irwin Djénéba & Fousco
DJÉNÉBA & FOUSCO Kayeba Khasso Lusafrica 762602
Djénéba Kouyaté and Fousseyni Sissoko are both from high-ranking Manding jali families in Mali who share their musical skills with parents and extended family members. The way they came to wider notice was not in the usual ways for jalis
but through both winning national television talent contests in successive years.
This young couple bring other global musical genres alongside their rich family her- itages but this background always dominates and this is particularly notable in the way they approach gems from the Manding tradition such as Miniamba and Djeliyaba here, not that their own compositions don’t also indi- cate where they have come from musically.
Fousco brings his remarkable guitar play- ing to the very pleasing listening that this album offers, particularly so where what he plays on electric guitar is matched with the same phrases on the acoustic. His influences on his instrument seem to range from Djali- mady Tounkara to Jimi Hendrix. His singing voice is another bonus but most of what needs to be said about singing on this album is about Djénéba.
She seems to be able to combine all the elements expected of a Malian female vocal- ist. When required, her power matches any other Bamako divas; when a more introspec- tive approach is demanded such as when they are singing together on Miniamba, for exam- ple, she also provides what is needed,
The album includes Latin and reggae tracks as well as nods towards Ali Farka Touré and the north of their vast country but on those, and even where the accordeon and cello are heard, it is clear that this album is built on solid Manding foundations. The pres- ence of the great Ballaké Sissoko as guide, friend and guest musician has clearly helped. Let’s hope these two do very well; on this evi- dence they deserve it. Hear a track on this issue’s fRoots 68 compilstion.
www.lusaafrica.com Vic Smith
DUO EMILIA LAJUNEN & SUVI OSKALA Piilokisa Nordic Notes NN106
A five-string fiddle with its extra low string digs into deeper, grainy viola territory, and here are two of them, in the hands of two fine players, members of multiple Finnish bands.
In Lajunen and Oskala’s musical duo- logues, full of life, lift and inventiveness, there are trad melodies, which they explore, develop and extend, from the repertoires of fiddlers Kustaa Järvinen, Ville Paananen, Oskari Laukkarinen and Jalmari Siiriäinen or jouhikko players Pekka Lamberg and Juho Vaittinen, most of whom are unusual sources.
There are also three specially commis- sioned pieces. The first of these, Juhlallisu- udet from accordeonist Johanna Juhola, is in two parts, the first dark and churning, the second, to paraphrase their sleeve-note, a twirling festive flurry. Fiddler Piia Kleemola’s composition is in three parts, based on dances from the fiddling-land of Ostro bothnia in western Finland, that move from tense slow surge and suspense to driving polska and exu- berant, slithering polka. Väsen viola-ist Mikael Marin’s contribution Klinga is two intricate, vari-tempoed polskas, one titled for each of the duo.
Just two fiddles but, with those low strings and much double-stopping, drones and tight bow-work, they create an orches- tral richness of sound, with the rhythmic agili- ty, tonal sensitivity and on-the-spot creative ability with harmony and counterpoint that’s born of long experience playing folk music. It’s a prime example of the work of musicians who’ve taken largely folk rather than classical routes to make music that the classical, as well as the folk and traditional, scene should be taking notice of. Others in that obvious gulf-bridging territory include, for example, much by today’s nyckelharpa masters in Swe- den, and in Britain the likes of Methera and others. Not from the classical stable but of classic stature.
nordic-notes.de Andrew Cronshaw
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