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fRoots 68 : free album!
Our pick of the very best new stuff. Download it to play on your device or burn it to CD. Go get it!
H
ere’s the latest in our long series of carefully crafted and sought-after compilations that are designed to let you hear the best music –mostly on
small independent labels – that our writers get enthusiastic about in the pages of fRoots. Listen, then buy the original CDs!
Those Rheingans Sisters just get bet- ter and better: quite why they don’t have statutory Folk Awards nominations as the duo or as individual musicians is impossible to fathom (cloth ears, we suspect). From their latest and bestest album: try to catch them live on their imminent tour as well.
Three French musicians swan off to the Mississippi hill country and collaborate with the current generations of some local musi- cal royalty. The result is the Muddy Gurdy project: on this track it’s Gilles Chabenat’s hurdy-gurdy and Sharde Thomas’ fife and vocals to the fore.
You Are Wolf is the nom-du-disque for the
alt.folk works of composer, singer, writ- er and now author Kerry Andrew, teamed with multi-instrumentalist Sam Hall and percussionist Peter Ashwell. From her latest album of traditional and original songs themed around freshwater folklore.
If you’re familiar with the percussion- rooted maloya songs of La Reunion in the Indian Ocean, you’ll remember a fRoots cover feature on the master, Danyel Waro. Zanmari Baré comes from the same tradi- tion, but in a more gentle, understated way, full of soulful yearning and passion.
London-based Effra – Tom Newell (vio- lin), Alex Bishop (guitar) and Aidan Shep- herd (accordeon) – are more exponents of the burgeoning new wave of English instru-
mental music epitomised by bands like Spiro, where traditional music is a key influ- ence along with classical, jazz and post-rock.
Let’s face it, it was always highly unlike- ly that any music made by the stellar acous- tic trio of Spanish multi-instrumentalist Efrén López, Cretan lyra and laouto player Stelios Petrakis and Iranian percussionist Bijan Chemirani was going to be less than mesmerising. And so it came to pass!
Chris Eckman, a.k.a. Mr Glitterbeat, and his musical partner in Dirtmusic, Hugo Race, beat it out of their residency in Mali and headed to Istanbul for their latest pro- ject, where they teamed up with Baba Zula mainman Murat Ertel and guests including, on this track, singer Gaye Su Akyol.
And talking of Mali, let us introduce
you to Djénéba & Fousco, a new young duo applying a subtle modernity to the ancient griot tradition. She was a hands- down winner of one of Malian TV’s main talent shows; he is a fine guitarist from the city of Kayes. On kora, Ballaké Sissoko.
Which leads us to the now celebrated
duo of Welsh harpist Catrin Finch and long UK-resident Senegalese kora player Seckou Keita. They hadn’t even made a record when we put them on our cover in 2013; now they pack concert halls everywhere and are releasing a much-anticipated second CD.
Let’s face it, the notion of somebody singing English traditional songs while accompanying himself on acoustic bass gui- tar seems a trifle odd – until you hear the reality of what Thom Ashworth does. At which point you’ll be off the Bandcamp to acquire both his wonderful EPs.
If you like proper-job hardcore inter- pretations of traditional songs from both
sides of the Atlantic, then Newcastle-based Anglo-American duo Cath & Phil Tyler are definitely something to check out. Sparse vocals, guitar, banjo and fiddle and not a lot of prisoners taken!
Drone-centric Europhile dance band
Blowzabella are celebrating the 40th anniversary of their famed ‘wall of sound’ this year, which makes them even older – by a year – than fRoots! This track from their latest album was written by their French hurdy-gurdist Gregory Jolivet.
Political and social activists Monsieur
Doumani from Cyprus have an unusual but excitingly effective instrumental line-up of tzouras (like a small-bodied bouzouki), trom- bone and guitar. A smash at Womad, they ought to be seen in the UK more often, as this track from their new, third, CD proves.
Kantele player Minna Raskinen makes a welcome return, having previously been on fRoots 6 way back in 1996! Here she’s joined by fellow Finnish virtuosi Tapani Rinne on bass clarinet and percussionist Markus Ketola in some evocative improvisa- tions on Russian orthodox church bell peals.
The latest revival of Peter Bellamy’s cel- ebrated ‘folk opera’ The Transports fea- tured the Young’uns, Nancy Kerr, Benji Kirk- patrick, Rachael McShane, Saul Rose and Greg Russell. Couldn’t go wrong, really, could it? Here, arguably the best song in the show is sung by Sean Cooney as Henry.
You’d be forgiven when clocking the cover for thinking that prog rockists Yes had reformed and made a new album called Banter. But you’d be getting it arse back- wards: Banter are an entertainingly original and stomp-inspiring dance band trio who you can read about elsewhere this issue.
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