61 f MAHSA VAHDAT


A Cappella – The Sun Will Rise Kirkelig Kulturverksted FXCD 422


To state the bleeding obvious, in the after- math of the Iranian Revolution that toppled the Pahlavi stooge-state dynasty in 1979, life changed dramatically in the newly-founded Islamic Republic of Iran. That also pertained to the arts in a region and culture in which poetry and music have been inseparable since time immemorial. For example, female musi- cians were prohibited from performing in public in front of men. One inspiration that endured in private was tapping the well- springs from antiquity of such great poets as Hafez, Rumi and Khayyam. All three are rep- resented on A Cappella.


For A Cappella Kirkelig Kulturverksted’s Eric Hillestad captured Mahsa Vahdat singing unaccompanied in eight public spaces between October 2014 and November 2015. The first piece is poet Forough Farrokhzad’s The Sun Rises (“See how sorrow melts drop by drop/In my eyes…”), recorded in Oslo’s Emanuel Vigeland Museum. Aref Ghazvini’s Plea (“Woe is me in separation from you…”) comes from the Église Saint Claude in Sigonce in Provence. Recorded at the Armenian Crimea Memorial Church in Istanbul, The Leila Lullaby (“Your lips smile pomegranate seed by seed…” runs its mysterious opening) is a piece of ‘oral literature’ inspired by an Armenian lullaby. None of the 21 tracks reaches even four minutes in length but that is hard to believe, such is the transporting power of her unaccompanied voice.


What she also captures is a malleable tra- dition. For example, Elegy For A Beloved One is a very free setting of the 18th Century Swedish poem Märk Hur Vår Skugga (Behold Our Shadow) by Atabak Elyasi. In the distill- ing she bottles something else. Vahdat’s voice is exquisite, melismatic and ‘church’ in the old blues sense. Just listening before reading the exemplary notes, the word ‘church’ sang out. Hillestad recorded this masterpiece in church- es in Norway, France, Spain, Turkey and Poland. He has succeeded in capturing Mahsa Vahdat and her voice with a nigh-palpable sense of space and silence.


kkv.no – UK distribution via Discovery


Records. Ken Hunt


VARIOUS ARTISTS


When Cecil Left The Mountains: Historic Recordings of Appalachian Singers And Musicians 1927-1955 Musical Traditions MTCD 514-5 (Double Album)


The arresting photos that Cecil Sharp took of his informants in the Appalachians during the First World War, the lovely song transcriptions of the songs collected then that appear in 80 English Folk Songs edited by Maud Karpeles who worked with Sharp on the trips through the mountains – both bring a strong wish to hear the actual voices that Sharp and Karpe- les notated on those field trips. Percy Grainger had demonstrated the value of recording in his famed Brigg recordings a decade earlier yet Sharp always eschewed recording his informants. The nearest that we are ever likely to get to those voices is the tremen- dous 85 tracks packed on this double CD compiled by Mike Yates.


Mike has obtained these from a multi- plicity of sources dating from 1927 to 1955. They include some from Sharp/Karpeles’ actual informants and others from family members and descendants. Mike notes Cecil’s fears that radio, records and improved roads and infrastructure would end the strong base of home singing that existed in isolated com- munities, but that he didn’t allow for the fact


that within a few years record companies would be following his path and recording the better singers and musicians for release on 78s, which in itself would give a status to mountain music and help to spread interest in it. Other collectors including Alan Lomax also followed Sharp in the interwar years and their recordings as well as those by Karpeles returning in the 1950s are sources.


The albums probably reflect a broader, more comprehensive view of early 20th Cen- tury Appalachia; there are lot more fiddle, banjo and band tunes and songs of American origin here.


Some singers speak louder to some lis- teners than others. For this listener the out- standing voice here is that of Emma Shelton. Her singing of the likes of Gypsum Davy, Locks & Bolts and Fair Margaret & Sweet William are up there with the very best. For- tunately there are eight of her songs here and the short 1955 interview where she describes singing for Sharp as a thirteen-year old is priceless.


www.mtrecords.co.uk Vic Smith CAROLANNE PEGG


Carolanne Pegg: Remastered Edition Esoteric Records ECLEC2596


Kate Bush, she got it all here – well, some of it at least. Long before Wuthering Heights, there was Carol Pegg… or is it Carolanne? You know what, I don’t really care because it’s great to have this blend of gothic brooding, hints of witchery, dark places, ye olde ballads and fascinating strangeness available once again. The original, released in yesteryear, is now rare and, in decent nick, worth a cool sixty sovs. This reissue contains all eleven tracks and a great history of the record, as well as a chat with the lady herself, these days a respected Cambridge ethnomusicologist.


Back in 1973, she’d just exited her mar- riage and raucous, tenacious Yorkshire folk rockers Mr Fox and you can pick up her subse- quent threads here. Fair Fortune’s Star com- bines the ballad Lucy Wan with a rockist, wild, bleak tale of venturing into the unknown, echoing the structure of so much Mr Fox material. Elsewhere it’s Carolanne’s own com- positions which impress: A Witches Guide To The Underground is less mysticism and more romantic, referencing folk song structure in its lyric; Winter People should have had a dozen or so covers by now. Again nodding to the traditional, it’s a reflective glance back over the shoulder at what might have been.


All are delivered in that ‘couldn’t be any- one else’ voice, a haunting, raw vocal, which she claims was mixed well back to blend in with everything else that was happening around. Count among the musical support, Mr Fox drummer Alun Eden, Dave Peacock (of Chas & … ), later Hot Band picker Albert Lee and a keening electric banjog, all wrapped up in five brisk days at legendary Rockfield stu- dio in Monmouth with Horslips producer Fritz Fryer overseeing. Atmospheric pieces like Wycoller; Lee getting to grips with a volumi- nous, splintery electric solo, The Lady & The Well, whilst Clancy’s Song is a breeze of free- wheeling country rock.


With such an eclectic collection it’s a shame the material was never played live beyond a couple of poorly promoted gigs. It’s obvious from the interview which fills out the CD booklet that Carolanne Pegg retains a deal of warmth for her debut. And Kate Bush? Well, I surmise she listened to this in secret for years before delivering a cousin in Wuthering Heights. Outlandish allure and eccentricity endures.


www.esotericrecordings.com Simon Jones Carolanne Pegg VARIOUS ARTISTS


Too Sad For The Public – Vol 1 – Oysters Ice Cream Lemonade Storysound Records 161-020


One of this millennium’s ten or so mind-alter- ing folk ensembles was Sonya Cohen and Dick Connette’s Last Forever. Seeing “Written and arranged by Dick Connette” on this album’s cover indicates this is another link in the multi-valenced, post-Last Forever chain. If Connette’s name sounds unfamiliar, Martin Simpson put his Batchelor’s Hall on his Prodi- gal Son while Connette also produced (and played on) Loudon Wainwright III’s High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project. Running down the spine of the handsomely packaged Too Sad For The Public, much like a name on a stick of British seaside rock, is the dangled subtitle bait Vol 1 – Oysters Ice Cream Lemonade.


Don’t get hung up on that motto (stolen from a store hoarding in the cover photo from the Wisconsin Historical Society). Connette’s featured singers realising his nicely peculiar vision are Ana Egge, Rachelle Garniez, Gabriel Kahane and Suzzy Roche. He himself sings on Orphée In Opelousas, his astonishing Orpheus- transplanted-to-Louisiana retelling. Among the accompanists are Erik Friedlander (Liberty City features his “soulfully psychedelic cello”), Rayna Gellert (whose old-timey fiddle on Black River Falls is taste personified) and Chaim Tannenbaum (on harmonica). Running through and resurfacing three times is Jaco Pastorius’ Liberty City.


Let’s home in on some vocal tracks. One of the two non-originals on this album is the Van Morrison composite titled Young Loves To Love, a blur between Brown Eyed Girl and Sweet Thing. Sung by Egge, it features Astral Weeks’ Jay Berliner on guitar and Johnny Otis Show veteran Steve Elson on flute. The other is Goffin-King’s He’s A Bad Boy, sung by Roche (which John Cohen of the New Lost City Ramblers and Sonya Cohen’s father iden- tified as “a take on Stagger Lee”).


Too Sad For The Public seeds more ideas than most any project this year. Love its origi- nality. Love its weirdness and weird ways. Love it to pieces.


www.proper-records.co.uk Ken Hunt


Photo: John Bryan


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