53 f SAZ’ISO
At Least Wave Your Handkerchief At Me – The Joys And Sorrows Of Southern Albanian Song Glitterbeat GBCD 053
Generally, in most traditions of the world, when singers and instrumentalists slide, they slide upwards. But in the historical region of Epirus, which straddles what is now the Albanian-Greek border, they slide down- wards. A remarkable emo-
tive, keening, mourning sound, it’s character- istic of south Albanian iso (drone) polyphonic singing (two interacting melodic lines over a drone), of the mountainous region’s playing of clarinet and violin, and of saze, the urban folk music of southern Albania (northern Epirus) which is what this CD brings us.
Under Albania’s previous isolated regime this very striking, immensely attractive music only occasionally reached the outside world, usually just as recordings shared among musi- cal explorers. Recently, though, its unusual beauty has started to be more widely discov- ered and championed, including in 2011 by Lucy Durán and Edit Pula for a BBC Radio 3 World Routes series.
This group of saze singers and musicians, some still living in Albania, some in the dias- pora, and including several from those Radio 3 recordings, were brought together in Tirana in October 2016 by Joe Boyd, Edit Pula and Andrea Goertler, to be recorded by Jerry Boys.
The singers, all of the Përmet tradition, are the edgy-voiced Donika Pecallari, the equally passionate but slightly warmer tones of Adrianna Thanou and the masculine raw- ness of Robert Tralo. Though the album’s sub- title refers to song, the instrumental playing, in song accompaniment or instrumental dance music, is a glorious, emotive, grainy, winding thing, more than matching the stature of the singing: Telando Feto’s sobbing clarinet, Aurel Qirjo’s slithering violin and Pël- lumb Meta’s wind instruments over the tense drones and rhythms of Agron Murat’s llautë, with percussion from Agron Nasi’s frame drum.
International releases such as this, of well-matched musicians making marvellous, unique, skilful, organic music with deep roots and meaning, can really help bring new appreciation, recognition and activity for it at home, and perhaps avert a slide to extinction below the global mainstream.
And – good news – the group will be touring in England and Wales in November. See
www.makingtrackslive.org.uk
www.glitterbeat.com Andrew Cronshaw
Saz’Iso
TOPETTE C’est Le Pompon… Topette TPT002
Pity the poor CD reviewer. How is a body supposed to process their words when the artefact in question con- stantly compels them to dance round the room like a tongue-lolling idiot?
That, of course, is Topette’s raison d’être. The
Anglo-French five-piece combines an admirable adherence to the immortal philos- ophy of Spinal Tap’s Vince Prince – “have a good time all the time”, with sublime musi- cianship and a thumping set of tunes.
The material is an all-instrumental mix of traditional dance melodies and new composi- tions by band members and friends. The opening Venture – a typically idiosyncratic Andy Cutting tune, affirms the group’s accordeonist as a musician whose cleverness, whilst always self-evident, is never too much by half. His Ricer is a quintessential Topette arrangement which establishes the tune on accordeon, pipes and fiddle before the bass and bodhran kick in and induce the tongue- lolling. That template is reversed on La Belle Sur La Navire /Bourée Des Cochettes, which opens with a gnarly riff from Barnaby Stradling (whose unique bass style is as central and paramount to the sound of Topette as Bernard Edwards’ to Chic, Aston Barrett’s to the Wail- ers or Geezer Butler’s to Black Sabbath). His rhythm partner Tania Buisse isn’t the kind of bodhran player who plays ten-minute solos, but her crisp, elegant playing propels and enhances everything the ensemble does.
Bagpiper and banjo player Julien Car-
tonnet’s La Pause is a sinuous waltz which provides contrast to the breakneck likes of Polkas De Glux & De Chevroux. Rhona Dalling’s Balfour Road is one of those simple but irresistible major-key melodies that this bunch could play for an hour and you’d never tire of it. Paired with the glorious Cotswold morris tune Old Molly Oxford it’s an open invitation to (fiddle player) James Delarre’s happy place. Gregory Jolivet’s Sun- shine is a tune so appositely-titled, one sus- pects that Soviet forces may have secretly deployed it to disperse gathering clouds over Red Square May day parades.
Bourrée Morvandelle/La Lustrée, Meat- balls Whiskey and Beer, Spot’s Tail, Hamouda/ Droneless all previously appeared on the 2015 Chez Michel EP, but few would begrudge their inclusion here as this a CD that’s impos- sible to listen to without grinning.
topette.co.uk Steve Hunt
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