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SIAN JAMES Gosteg BOS RBOS030
Siân James’ tenth album is a collection of hymns and spiritual poems, some with tradi- tional melodies and some set to new tunes composed by Siân. This album emerged from a challenging period in Siân’s life. Although she never considered herself a particularly religious person, during this difficult time she found sub- stantial comfort from these beautiful hymns.
There’s a calm simplicity in Siân’s arrangement of these songs, which she sings in a soft, warmly expressive vocal, embel- lished by stripped-down accompaniment on piano, harp, guitar, keyboards, fiddle, cello and double bass.
Gwna Fi Fel Pren Planedig and Er Mai Cwbwl Groes I Natur are hymns by the 18th- century Welsh Methodist poet Ann Griffiths, sung to traditional tunes. You find yourself deeply engaged by the poise and nuance of these renditions for solo voice and sensitive instrumental accompaniment, so much so that you hear and experience these hymns very differently from versions sung by choirs. The hymns no longer sound confidently assertive; they now sound like songs of yearning affirmation.
In Gwna Fi Fel Pren Planedig the liquid notes of the harp and the clear, pure sound of Siân’s voice give this hymn a meditative quality. The hymn Dyma Frawd has a gor- geous traditional melody, sung slowly and expressively by Siân.
Emyn Gosber (Vespers Hymn) is a T. Gwynn Jones poem set to music by Siân. With her tran- quil vocal singing the soothing melody, accom- panied by guitar and piano, it reminds me of classic compositions such as John Williams’ Cavatina or Don McLean’s Vincent.
sianjames.co.uk Paul Matheson
YE VAGABONDS The Hare’s Lament River Lea RLR002CD
The second album from the Carlow-born but Dublin-based brothers Brían and Diarmuid Mac Gloinn, following up their self-penned debut which won them accolades and proved a left-field winner in the cream of the new Irish folk wave.
For The Hare’s Lament, Ye Vagabonds have re-examined their main sources of influ- ence both musically and vocally. Their roots are traditional Irish folk songs collected from the bealoideas (oral tradition), passed down through generations of singers married to myriad musical influences as befits an ethnic melting pot. Content-wise its mostly centred on songs collected by Róise Mhic Ghrianna (Róise na nAmhrán') a Donegal woman whose song harvest yielded a repertoire for the O’Domhnaills and other family outfits. They have also made headlong for the Northern Ulster song canon as collected by Sam Henry and beloved by Eddie Butcher and Geordie Hanna so they are clearlynailing their colours to the mast, ideologically and otherwise.
The treatments are very organic and sparse in nature but also earthily cerebral in context. The performances resonate with respectful homage to Planxty and Paul Brady & Andy Irvine in musical idealism, while vocal- ly recalling the rugged, vibrant vocalise of Micheal O’Domhnaill and Mick Hanly when as Monroe they cut the classic Celtic Folk- weave album in 1974. This influence is partic- ularly evident on Gaelic songs including Tuirse Mo Chroi, which borrows the air of Monroe’s setting of Eirigh’s Chuir ort do chuid Eidaigh, and Siun Ni Dhuibhir, which recalls the resigned downbeat beauty of Micheal O’Domhnaill and Daithi Sproule’s work with Scara Brae.
Initially Willie O’Winsbury begins with
Andy Irvine’s tune and vocal accent intact as on the first Sweeney’s Men album but soon shoots into sonic overdrive with brick-solid brotherly harmonies gene-tight in their emo- tional accuracy. On Yonder Hill’s unaccompa- nied vocal beauty is transported into more cerebral waters with a stern harmonium and Brìghde Chaimbeul’s border pipes adding a luscious backdrop. The title track is a gem of lyrical description from the hare’s viewpoint, with the stringed backing recalling Andy Irvine’s melodic nuances and the swing into the full-bodied Balkan Ocogowska Horo recalling the Planxty/Brady & Irvine heyday.
For the most part, though, the success of
The Hare’s Lament lies in the honesty of its presentation and the solidity of the source material. It’s a raw and complete statement of rugged determination and hearts-on- sleeve homage. It is short, sweet, and doesn’t outstay its welcome, but tantalises enough with its twin axes of charm and toughness. While revelling in a perfect simplicity, there is iron behind the velvet – and this is where The Hare’s Lament breathes and triumphs.
yevagabonds.com John O’Regan
ALAN STIVELL Human-KeltWorld Village WV479132
Alan Stivell's name is always the first to be given when the revival of Breton Culture is mentioned. He made his first recording as long ago as 1960. An internet discography details 91 releases under his own name but it is doubtful if any of them are quite as ambi- tious as Human-Kelt.
The multi-fold information sheet lists 22 studios where recording and mixing took place and they are in five different countries; the long list of musical contributors ranges from Bob Geldof to Yann Tiersen, from Donal Lunny to Fatoumata Diawara as well as L'Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne and there is also a good deal of electronic pro- gramming. He also uses all the CD space avail- able; the album times at over 74 minutes. The main language of the album is Breton but there are also passages in seven other lan- guages. The sounds of the Breton tradition remain its firm foundation, however.
If this all sounds like an unpalatable, indigestible soup then that is just what it is not. There is a wide range of listening here from huge full sounds to great simplicity. In his huge canon of work over six decades some
Ye Vagabonds
tracks that must be amongst the best includ- ing the haunting An Emglew and the long final item, Pourquoi Es-Tu Venu Si Tard? which echoes the opener before gently touching on a range of Celtic melodies in a very satisfactory way.
It would be interesting to know why he is asking this question at the end of the album. Is he wondering why he has not ven- tured something as logistically mind-bog- gling as this before? He revisits a lot of the musical areas that have marked his long career from harp soloist, ambient and fusion music, crossover partnerships with musicians from other cultural and musical backgrounds; a solid base in modern and traditional Breton music, though his years as a folk-rocker seem to have been passed over.
It would be very surprising if this remark- able album does not come to be regarded as one of his finest achievements.
pias.com/labels/world-village Vic Smith
CUNNING FOLK Constant Companion Dharma CD 31
Cunning Folk (aka George Nigel Hoyle) has been a working musician for over two decades and this is his unabashedly personal selection of songs gleaned from clubs, books and records. These hardy perennials (all tradi- tional aside from Ewan MacColl’s Dirty Old Town and two self-penned numbers) like Seeds of Love, Lovely Joan and Ratcliffe High- way, will not surprise many fellow folkies. Hoyle is upfront about his debt to revivalists like Fairport, the Watersons and Nic Jones, and their stamp remains on Matty Groves, Souling Song and The Wanton Seed respec- tively. Hoyle is clearly an adept guitar player – with audible debts to Jones and Carthy – but his playing can overpower vocals and obscure diction on faster songs like Dick Turpin and Ratcliffe Highway, while it is distractingly percussive on Bruton Town. Hoyle’s quirky and informal vocal delivery may not be to everyone’s taste either, particularly as he seems occasionally to struggle to reach the toppermost and bottommost notes. At nine- teen songs, I found the sonic journey became a little arduous. However, its value lies as a document of some of the most popular songs of the folk revival and an intimate collection of a folk musician’s favourites.
cunningfolkmusic.com Clare Button
Photo: Olga Kuzmenko
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