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the great Miriam Makeba but from the sonorous cello introduction through the har- mony singing and gentle double bass, it all makes a very worthwhile and different approach to it
kabantu.com Vic Smith
OF THE CLAY Of The Clay Of The Clay
This, by all rights and fRoots protocols, should have been consigned to the And The Rest… section. It is, after all, an unassumingly DIY, CD- R EP, comprising just six songs that other peo- ple have done loads of times before. And yet… of all the CDs currently living in my ‘reviews box’ (I swear the shiny little critters are breed- ing in there) this is one of the few that I’ve been listening to repeatedly out of choice.
Kabantu JEZ LOWE
The Dillen Doll (book & CD) Badapple Books ISBN 978-1-999888-0-0/Tantobie TTRCD117
As one of the principal contributors to the BBC Radio Ballads series, Jez is a master of the art of storytelling, so it’s only logical that his latest project is a fully-fledged novel. It takes its cue from the immortal Dol Li A, a song of unknown provenance and hypnotic melody (“part children’s rhyme, part lament, part mil- itary march”), pithy in content and obscure in reference, which has received countless per- formances over the ages.
The Dillen Doll is a stirring tale of romance and social change that imagines the adventures of its eponymous and enigmatic heroine Dolly Coxon, a simple and impecu- nious quayside serving-girl-cum-doxy, against a picaresque backdrop of bustling Tyneside locations and a veritable gallery of real-life historical characters from the region. It’s a great read, not least due to Jez’s acute appre- ciation of, and immersion in, his native dialect, heritage and history. The almost con- versational poetry of the streets and alleys is powerfully conveyed through the eyes and ears of Dolly the protagonist, and the reader is completely drawn along with her (even though the narrative is told in the third per- son). The novel is a striking achievement: entertaining, cannily written and in the best tradition of the historical novel but with fre- quent extra frissons of insight occasioned by the depth of Jez’s knowledge and his knack of incorporating within the narrative fasci- nating incidental commentaries on tradition- al songs and folklore.
Which leads us to the accompanying complementary CD. This presents an inge- niously-linked suite that loosely follows the path of the narrative and contains many of the songs recalled in the course of the novel. This is no hastily-cobbled-together run- through of a few old Geordie chestnuts, but a really thoughtful sequence comprising Jez’s fresh personal interpretations and adapta- tions of the songs that have inspired and informed the story. The fifteen songs play as a continuous programme, managed through creative transitions involving carefully config- ured yet natural-sounding shifts in tempo or metre and chord progressions. Jez plays and sings most of the music himself, with contri- butions from Bad Pennies Kate Bramley, David De La Haye and Andy May and vocal
support from Benny Graham, Rachel Hamer and Kari MacLeod (who designed the art- work). For all that Jez is justly renowned for his massive corpus of original songs, The Dillen Doll suite may be considered quintessential Jez Lowe, for it precisely and unerringly encapsulates the nature and importance of his contribution to the folk tra- dition of the north-east.
jezlowe.com David Kidman
KABANTU Of The People Humanati 0 761856 983182
Here’s a young multicultural quintet – “from the historic streets of Edinburgh to the dusty townships of South Africa” says their blurb – who are really onto something. After a few lis- tenings, the reviewer has to stop playing ‘Spot The Influence’ because there are too many to mention in a review of this length; the strongest seem to be West African percussion, jazzy scat singing, whistling, some fine fiddle and cello playing from people who know their Scottish and Irish dance music, touches of Latin rhythms and a fairly large dollop of the Town- ship end of South African music.
If all this (and a fair few others) sound like the ingredients for an indigestible stew, well, the interesting fact is that it doesn’t work out that way at all. The way their all- embracing arrangements have been arrived at makes for fine and fascinating listening. We do not learn anything about their musical education from the press release but the pre- cision and accuracy of the playing of all would lead to venturing a guess that there is conservatoire training in their backgrounds. They are all first-rate musicians and when all five are playing full tilt it is really exhilarat- ing, but there deserves to be a special men- tion for the cello playing of Abel Selaocoe and the percussion of Delia Stevens.
At 30 minutes and eight tracks, the album is on the short side, but there is much in the way they change moods, timbre and instrumental blends to delight the ear. Each track is sourced to a different country and musical culture. Perhaps it’s because they are the most widely known that Black Mountain Rag and Malaika stand out.
In the former the fiddle and guitar stand out in what amounts to a reconstruction of the piece. They are brave to tackle the Swahili song that is so closely associated with
Of The Clay, who come from Norwich, are Norfolk native Joe Potter and Dubliner Niamh Bury. Their online biographical blurb consists of little more than: “We do folk songs.” And there’s the truth of it. There’s no artifice about Of The Clay, nor any obvious agenda, beyond that simple statement. The CD perfectly showcases Bury and Potter’s exceptional affinity with traditional songs and their deft instrumental, vocal and arrangement skills. Club and festival bookers are hereby encouraged to check out their utterly beguiling Three Gypsies, and to remember the name. Of The Clay. File under: ‘proper-job folk duo’, alongside Cath & Phil Tyler and Laura Smyth & Ted Kemp.
oftheclay.bandcamp.com Steve Hunt
MALAGASY GUITAR MASTERS Volo Hazo Buda BUDA 860323
Three very talented guitarists of different generations from an island noted for the high quality of playing of traditional and modern string instruments combine their skills and great technical abilities to provide an enjoyable album that shows a wide range of influences.
The three are Teta Jean Claude, Chryzan- to and Joël Rabesolo. The repertoire here is very varied, sometimes looking back at those who have preceded them in the music of Madagascar , particularly the great valiha master Rakotozaky. Most of the tracks are presented as recognisably in their local rhythms but this is overlaid with a wide vari- ety of outside influences, particularly jazz. In the most curious track, we hear the Duke Ellington classic, Caravan, played in a style and rhythm from the south of the island. It takes quite a number of listenings to realise the complexity of what they have achieved. Elsewhere it seems that they have been listen- ing to a range of jazz guitarists from Charlie Christian to Barney Kessel.
It is difficult to know which guitarist makes which contribution but in the photo it is only the youngest one, Joël, who is holding an electric guitar so we must assume that he brings all the effects such as a sustain unit and wah-wah pedal to the mix although he quotes the pianist Keith Jarrett as a major influence.
Mainly an instrumental album, there are a few tracks that include vocals which serve as a reminder that we are firmly in Madagas- car. Recorded on the island at Toiler but mixed and mastered in France, those involved in the technical side of the album deserve praise for the high quality of the way they have presented these excellent musicians.
budamusique.com Vic Smith
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