65 f The album starts with Ae Fond Kiss (And
Then We Sever), Ramsay’s high, breathy voice delicately accompanied by mandolin, cello and wailing cries on whistle and synth. There follows a heartbreakingly sweet Gaelic love- song Bothan Airigh Am Braighe Raithneach from a woman to her “man of the golden hair and kisses that taste of honey”. We hear cello, horn and whistle grieving in the background. The album then goes to some emotionally dark places. Braighe Loch Iall is a Gaelic song that joyously celebrates life, but here it is given a strange, slow, ghostly arrangement on tentative strings, lonely horn and plaintive whistle – as if evoking the remembrance of good times during misfortune. Bidh Clann Ulaidh is an ancient Gaelic song celebrating a forthcoming wedding: the betrothed is told that the clans will gather, drink and dance at the wedding. Again, the song is given an entirely counter-intuitive treatment: a fili- greed, spectral, unsettling arrangement of pipes, whistles and strings, with Ramsay’s careful, measured vocal sounding drained of emotion, like someone in a state of shock recalling happiness from the pit of grief.
As the album draws to a close, the tone
lightens. Now Westlin Winds has warm cello and cradling guitar arpeggios. MacPherson’s Rant (a song about coming to terms with death) is given a gently hypnotic arrange- ment of sonorous cello and wistfully heroic French horn. The album finds peace in its con- cluding song Auld Lang Syne, with its com- forting guitar accompaniment and soothing, contemplative arrangement, balancing the burden of grief with the memory of love.
“We twa hae run about the braes/And pou’d the gowans fine/But the seas between us braid hae roar’d/For auld lang syne.
www.sophieramsay.com Paul Matheson
IALMA Camiño Home Records 4446155
The thing about Galician songs is that, being largely sung by groups of people socially, they’re catchy. As well as general singalong situations, a strong part of the tradition is the voices and percussion of women’s pandeire - tera groups, a tradition that’s now moving from the older women to younger groups, and several of these are well-known as per- formance groups, the most prominent since the 1990s being Leilía. The Galician diaspora is worldwide, though, and Brussels-based Galician quartet Ialma – Veronica Codesal, Magali Menendez, Natalia Codesal and Marisol Palomo – have, in their career and albums since 2000, shown that the same spirit can flourish elsewhere.
For this latest release they’ve almost entirely ditched the pandeiretas, going for the vocals, both group and solo, with accom- paniments by a large (mostly Iberian and Bel- gian) cast on guitars, diatonic accordeons, bagpipes, violin, txalaparta, Hammond, dou- ble bass, drums and more. This being their fifth album, they have to progress, of course, and one wouldn’t expect the same percussion on every track, but the pandeireta, an exu- berant projection of the music’s alegría, is such an icon, and it’s the instrument of the moment in Galicia.
That said, it’s a lovely album. Lots of light and shade, tight harmonies, distinctive solo voices, elegant arrangements, beautifully produced in attractive, mostly traditional melodies, very Galician (with, in Na Tua Lem- branza with guest singer Esteban Murillo, outreach to passionate flamenco cante jondo). And, in the title track, and indeed in Ialma’s existence, it’s a tribute to freedom of move- ment of people and musics across borders.
homerecords.be Andrew Cronshaw
Ialma
ERIK ALIANA & PICKET Just My Soul Buda CD BUDA 5700260
First of all, let’s state that ‘Picket’ is not a backing group but a nickname for Francis Dischoutezo.
Erik says that he drew inspiration for the amazing-looking style and music of Les Têtes Brulées and other Bikutsi pop bands in the 1980s. Well, he may have been inspired by them to seek success beyond the borders of Cameroon by widespread recognition but musically the subtle, straightforward, simple but effective music that we hear on this release is far from the storming pop of that band.
Apart from one written jointly, all the songs are written by Erik and the theme of environmental, ecological and community concerns runs through them. Perhaps the most effective of them is Roule Camion, sung in French and local languages where he decries corrupt government, illegal loggers, and their arrogant lorry drivers for the fre- quent fatal accidents with village children and the massive damage that this industry brings about.
Elsewhere he turns his attention to the decline in numbers of the Baka pygmy people as this hunter/gatherer people have their way of life undermined. Yet this is not an angry sounding voice that is making these state- ments. The singing is melodic and attractive with frequent vocal devices derived from their traditional music; anyone who has lis- tened to the field recordings of the Baka peo- ple will recognise the wide leaps in pitch that could at time be almost African yodelling. The quality of the singing is the album’s strongest quality; just as well as much of it is unaccompanied. Elsewhere there is acoustic guitar and Picket’s attractive bass guitar lines.
The album’s other outstanding track is
Nar r sung to effective thumb piano and per- cussion patterns. It is an appeal to young Africans not to take their current disadvan- taged and exploited situation lying down.
This is an album that has much to recom- mend it including the attractive booklet with translations of the lyrics into French and English.
www.budamusique.com Vic Smith
LISA O’NEILL Pothole In The Sky Plateau Records 27CD
The third album from this Irish musician, poet and free spirit is a collection of ten strikingly original songs suffused with the accent and vernacular of her native Cavan.
Those old, familiar singer-songwriter tropes death, despair and “the Divil”, are all present and correct, but O’Neill narrates her first-person encounters with refreshing can- dour and a sometimes startling absence of self-pity. These are songs are crafted with real precision. Sparse, emotive lyrics – “He’s a nasty man. He’s drunk, and he swears he’s not…” “If I am just pickings then leave me alone,” are enhanced by arrangements fea- turing O’Neill’s own lightly-touched acoustic guitar, banjo and piano with well-arranged bass, drums, bouzouki, violin, etc from Mossy Nolan, Emma Smith, Joseph Doyle, Seamus Fogarty and Glen Hansard – who adds his banjo to The Hunt.
There’s more than a suggestion of tradi- tional sean-nós in O’Neill’s singing style, which suits her material well – especially Gormlaith’s Grieving and The Banjo Spell, songs which chronicle two of Ireland’s mythi- cal heroes (Brian Boru and Barney McKenna, respectively). An utterly unique voice that simply can’t be ignored and deserves to be widely heard.
lisaoneill.ie Steve Hunt
THE RUMJACKS Sleepin’ Rough Four Four/ABC 5704243
Barrelhouse and bluster from Sydney thrash folkpunks: think The Clash with whistles and the ability to Celtic rap! Beyond the low-slung guitar riffs which make an almighty rumble and the drums which shift like a cat off a hot tin roof, there is more to The Rumjacks than a cursory glance which might leave Flogging Molly or Dropkick Murphys comparisons.
Don’t be lazy, listen to their lyrics and their love of their home city and something else arises. Sleepin’ Rough actually comes from a standpoint of compassion and caring for a place which has seen gentrification at a cost. Sydney it appears is improving by
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