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Mor Karbasi MOR KARBASI


La Tsadika Gibraltar Productions/ Alama Records ALAMA 003


When Elizabeth Kinder inter- viewed the emerging Mor for fRoots back in 2008, on the eve of the release of her debut CD, the artist said that she didn’t think she would always be singing Ladino or other traditional folk songs. “I’m young and foolish,” she


said, “I’ve got plenty of time to do other things. I don’t want to be categorised into one thing. I want to keep my options open.”


Well, if she’s going to take a side trip into her hip hop or country & western options, she ought to get a shift on because all – all! – she’s done on this, her third album in six years, is get even better at those musics she’s concentrated on from the outset. Which is quite an achievement if you’ve followed the story so far.


Once again co-produced by her guitarist


partner Joe Taylor, this album manages that really difficult trick of being sophisticated but maintaining an edge. Two-thirds of the mate- rial is traditional Sephardic from Morocco, the rest are originals, some co-written with her mother Shoshana Karbasi. Her wonder- fully elastic, soulful, fluttering vocals are beautifully placed in inventive arrangements, perfectly sequenced so that, for example, the classic big ballad La Blanca Paloma with evocative clarinet and touches of bouzouki is followed by the urgent, pulsing Aunque Le Dí La Mano with Taylor on electric guitar, and after that the reflective, string-laden Sol La Tsadika centred on skilled Spanish box. Else- where Viva Ordueña is entirely percussion driven, whilst Mi Niña Me Trajo La Mar with


Marit & Rona


its muted trumpet, piano and appropriately restrained vocal, hints at Mediterranean jazz. The a cappella Ay Si Te Fueres A Bañar Novia is a vocal tour-de-force of layered Karbasi and Taylor that manages to be Spanish, barber- shop, Balkan and monastic all at the same time: a small classic.


The lyrics are all translated into English in the booklet and are something else too: Yo Me Levantara Un Lunes (I Arose One Monday) would give any traditional English weirdlore ballad a run for its money!


When Mor first emerged, some begrudg- ingly put her down the pecking order from that other fine Ladino songstress Yasmin Levy. But with La Tsadika, I think the Karbasi/ Taylor team have completely established her as a distinctively different force who more than deserves to be considered as a major artist with equal stature. So all in all, I’m real- ly not hoping for that country & western diversion. This direction does just fine.


www.morkarbasi.com Ian Anderson


MARIT AND RONA TurasWatercolour Music, WCMCD051


The Scottish folk-roots scene is buzzing with cross-cultural collaborations. One element of this is a growing influence from Scandinavian music. The Nordic cultural connec- tion to Scotland goes back a long way, and not just in Shetland and Orkney.


Today’s Gaelic-speaking heartlands of the Outer Hebrides were ruled by the Vikings for over 400 years (even today, the islanders of Lewis speak Gaelic with a Scandinavian


accent). Scottish Highland and Nordic cul- tures retain some similarities: stoicism, laconic wit, and vivid, evocative poetry and music.


Marit Fält and Rona Wilkie won the


Danny Kyle Award at Glasgow’s Celtic Con- nections Festival. This, their debut album, blends tunes and songs from their different traditions to create a fresh, original sound. Marit comes from Norway, of Swedish par- ents: she plays låtmandola (Nordic mandola), cittern, percussion and she provides the ring- ing Scandinavian vocal. Rona, from Oban in Argyll, plays fiddle, viola, Hardanger fiddle and provides the sweet, soft Gaelic vocal. Guesting on several tracks are the Cantilena String Quartet and percussionist Allan Òg MacDonald.


Throughout this CD, Marit and Rona dis- play an exuberant, restless variety of instru- mental playing styles, switching from melody to accompaniment and back again, employ- ing an exhilarating range of percussive, chop- ping and pizzicato techniques. The duo plunge with purposeful gusto into Nar Som Flickorna/Bodach Innse Chro, a powerful pair- ing of Swedish and Gaelic tunes and songs, with loads of bite and muscular attack on the låtmandola, fiddle and Swedish vocal. The vigorous, rhythmic dance-song Tobar, Tobar, Siolaidh/A’Cur Nan Gobhar As A’Chreig has ferocious, driving låtmandola-playing from Marit (familiar to anyone who’s listened to her work with the trio Vamm) and richly-tex- tured, soaring fiddle from Rona.


The pair can also be reflective and lyrical.


In Psalm 107, the echoey, mystical-sounding låtmandola combines with a sonorous viola that sounds like a mournful horn, creating a fittingly profound accompaniment to the biblical Gaelic words. Tha Bo Dhubh Agam has a meditative depth and resonance, and an epic sweep, courtesy of the elegant, grace-


Photo: Judith Burrows


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