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singing, a distinctive style of hand-clapping rhythm that is given only tokenistic value by the rock groups, and their showcasing of tradi- tional instruments like the imzad (a one-string fiddle) and tinde (a small drum) make them unique in the current situation.
The singers are also accompanied on
lutes (teherdent and ngoni), guitars and a flute by male members of the group. Many of the group are related and the recording feels like a joyful family affair. The music is natural- ly very laid back, but is also under-produced, which doesn’t help. The overall message is of peace and social cohesion. Tiliaden N’Asahara (The Girls of the Sahara) is about the women’s struggle in their physical environ- ment. Tamat tells how the woman is the pillar of the tent and Tarhanin is hypnotically dif- ferent, with an extended guitar riff. The songs may initially sound a little samey, but one gets caught up in their enduring Saharan flavour and the final song by a male elder makes a riveting coda.
worldmusic.net
If the link between Tartit and Tinariwen is fairly obvious, the leap from Tinariwen to groups like Kel Assouf requires more imagina- tion. Kel Assouf are a rock power trio. Guitarist and singer Anana Ag Haroun is originally from Niger, but his trio includes Sofyann Ben Youssef (keyboards and production) from the Maghrebian project Ammar 808, and the pow- erful Belgian drummer Oliver Penu. Their style is heavily influenced by rock classicism – more so than most. On Black Tenere (black desert), Ben Youssef’s productions come very much to the fore with ambient effects, distortion and electronica. Anana’s lyrics are often about the erosion of Tuareg (Kel Tamashek) identity and Saharan geopolitics. The concept of Desert Blues, or Ishumar as they prefer to call it, is central – and provides the best tracks – but one can see they’re intent on pushing further.
glitterbeat.com Phil Wilson THE YOUNG ’UNS
The Ballad Of Johnny Longstaff Young ‘Uns YNGS19
I’ve heard tell there are some strange people – weirdos obviously – who don’t rate the Young‘uns. Some are even said to consider them no more than adequate folk club floor singers. There aren’t too many floor singers who’d come up with a project as ambitious, imaginative, emotive and powerful as this grand concept work – album, theatre show, book and assorted paraphernalia – inspired by the story of a principled Stockton man who threw himself into the fight against fas- cism and whose life was littered with drama.
Johnny Longstaff first made an appear-
ance on the Young’uns’ last album Strangers as one of those who fought Moseley’s gang in the battle of Cable Street (the tracks Cable St and Bob Cooney’s Miracle both featured on Strangers) and as they learned more about his extraordinary life they were already con- structing an entire suite based on his adven- tures. With all-original material by Sean Cooney, the Young‘uns tell the story in char- acteristically full-blooded fashion – variously uplifting, inspirational, sad and enraging – interspersed by the voice of Longstaff himself engagingly filling in the details of his journey from begging on the streets of Stockton to fighting in the Spanish Civil War before doing his bit for king and country in North Africa and Italy in the Second World War.
Which may make it sound overwhelm-
ingly worthy, but the trusty Young‘uns inject plenty of humour and lively choruses to pro- vide light and shade with all the working- class hero stuff. There’s a lovely little ditty, for example, about paella and oranges, related
to his time in Spain; and Trench Tales almost sounds like an authentic WW2 satire. Longstaff himself sounds like – and is gener- ally portrayed by the music here as – such a jaunty character that the gravity of the events in which he found himself might even seem underplayed. But at root it’s a glorious avalanche of real-life tales providing real insight into the life of a man of enormous courage and character – and those around him – driven by a hatred of fascism, alongside a swift glance through recent political and military history.
The impressive package is also festooned with colourful literature about Longstaff and the songs… although it is a bit unwieldy; you don’t quite know how to rack it and the CD keeps disappearing from its allotted slot. For all that, it’s valuable, nay important, work.
theyounguns.co.uk Colin Irwin VARIOUS ARTISTS
Òran Bagraidh Knockengorroch Off Site Productions
This album came from a Gal- loway residency for diverse musicians from Scotland, Ire- land and Wales to create new work inspired by Òran Bagraidh, a medieval poem that’s the only surviving example of Galloway Gaelic, an extinct dialect once spo-
ken in South-West Scotland where in medieval times Welsh was spoken alongside Gaelic. The line-up comprises Lorcán Mac Mathúna (voice, whistle), Gwyneth Glyn (voice, guitar), Doimnic Mac Giolla Bhríde (voice, accordeon, harmonium), Josie Duncan (voice, harp), Bragod (lyre, voice), MacGillivray (voice, electric auto-harp), Conor Caldwell (fiddle, electronics), Barnaby Brown (pipes, triple-pipe, whistle) and Bean Seal (percussion, synthesiser). Their arrangement of Òran Bagraidh (‘Song Of Defiance’) is set convincingly to the traditional tune When the Kye Comes Hame, and sung heroically by the pan-Celtic assembly.
This album also contains original compo- sitions inspired by Òran Bagraidh, in which these musicians celebrate Galloway’s medieval multicultural diversity with a mix- ture of traditional and experimental material that reimagines the archaic world of Cum- bria/Strathclyde that’s still called ‘The Old North’ by Welsh people today.
The Oran Bagraidh gang
Some of these musical reimaginings sound traditional. Doimnic Mac Giolla Bhríde gives a sweet, lilting melody to the 16th-cen- tury Irish poem Beannacht Uaim Siar. Gwyneth Glyn puts graceful music to the 7th- century Welsh lullaby Pais Dinogad, and there’s a medieval plainchant quality to Lor- cán Mac Mathúna’s meditative music for the modern Irish poem Laoi Na Seilge.
Other pieces sound more contemporary.
MacGillivray’s love song Morning Of Blood sounds like Loreena McKennitt. Bragod puts avant-garde music to the 9th-century Welsh poem Uryen Erechwydd, performing it with lurid, ululatory vocals that sound like Peter Maxwell Davies’ Eight Songs For A Mad King.
This is an engaging album that mixes tra- dition and innovation in a dramatic way. Hear a track on this issue’s fRoots 72.
oranbagraidh.com Paul Matheson
SNOWFLAKE TRIO Sun Dogs Talik TA177
Snowflake trio are Nuala Kennedy from Ire- land on flute and vocals, Vegar Vårdal on vio- lin and hardanger fiddle and Frode Haltli on accordeon, both from Norway. They have been collaborating for ten years but this is their first release as Snowflake Trio and it’s a live recording.
The playing feels so immediate that you experience their obvious enjoyment in creat- ing this music together. They play with the music, you could say improvise, but it’s the playfulness that comes through for me. Sometimes it’s soft and intimate and at other times you can feel them building excitement as they push the melodies forward. For exam- ple, they take a classic, much-played, Irish tune The Butterfly that they still make inter- esting, and then they move into Gudmund- dansen. As they do that they get louder, totally naturally as you would do live, with a palpable surge in the playing. I felt, happily, as if they were in my front room.
I enjoyed all of it and one of the songs I particularly loved is Amerika-Vise, a poem set to a beautiful Norwegian tune, about leaving Norway for America. An example of the com- mon stories that bind us across Europe.
The CD packaging is beautiful too, so I only hope that, unlike many snowflakes, they manage to hang around for a long time.
talik.no Jo Freya
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