Najma
Pukar (Calling You)
Mondo Melodia 61868 50000
(1997, reissue)
Though she's been around since the late 80s, singer Najma earned instant fame for her role in the Jimmy Page/Robert Plant "Unplugged" MTV special in 1994. While you will not find another version of Led Zeppelin's "Battle of Evermore," you will find some exquisite Middle East-influenced music. Oddly enough, having heard her work with the former Zeps as well as Jah Wobble and former Police guitarist Andy Summers, Fuji Bank in Japan asked her to sing on a television commercial for them. The result is the album's title track, which speaks as much to Najma's ability to transcend the media it was intended for as it does the quality of music used on Japanese commercial TV. Seemingly inspired by these new influences, Najma adds fresh musical input by her use of shenai (an Indian horn instrument), Arabic oud and African marimba. Above all, there is Najma's incredible voice, which compares well with Sheila Chandra, but with a more earthy resonance. This and her tasteful mix of synths, fretless bass and tablas make for a wonderful cross-cultural experience. - Lahri Bond (Amherst, MA)
Fairport Convention
Who Knows Where
the Time Goes?
Green Linnet CD 3122 (1998)
In their 30th year, Fairport Convention soldiers on with spirit and style. Who Knows Where the Time Goes? is their first studio album in several years, and marks the recording debut of multi-instrumentalist Chris Leslie, who replaced Maartin Allcock last year. Indeed, it is Leslie in command on the lead track, singing a blistering version of his "John Gaudie"that also incorporates a set of tunes that Leslie and Ric Sanders play in one of several impressive fiddle duets on the album.
Vocally, Leslie sounds like a younger version of former Whippersnapper bandmate Dave Swarbrick, and his presence once again lights a fire under his bandmates, delivering what may be their strongest effort since Gladys’ Leap of 1985. The band rocks harder here than on recent, primarily "unplugged" efforts. Leslie and Allcock’s "Spanish Main" is a visceral period-piece rocker, and, in a more contemporary vein, Nicol spits out Kristina Olsen’s "Dangerous" with a venomous glee. Another high point is Sanders’ "The Bowman’s Retreat," a loose-limbed, heavily electric set of instrumentals that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on the classic album, Full House. Nicol’s balladeer side is not neglected, with a diverse set of songs including Steve Tilston’s "Tom Paine," Alan Franks’ touching "Wishfulness Waltz," and Sandy Denny’s title tune, reprised after 30 years in a sensitive live version. Pegg sings the band’s first cover of one of Ian Anderson’s songs - a splendid new arrangement of "Life’s a Long Song." One odd addition is a raunchy live Cropredy Festival version of "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" on which the current Fairport is virtually inaudible between the lead vocals of Richard Thompson and the horns and vocal choruses of Roy Wood’s Big Band. This is an album that should warm the hearts of Fairport fans as the group enters its fourth decade. - Michael Parrish (Downers Grove, IL)
Couteau
Highly Seasoned Cajun Music
Rounder CD 6078 (1997)
In the mid-1970s the group Couteau was successfully fusing Cajun musical traditions with a rock band format, and playing to packed houses in south Louisiana dance halls. The lineup contained two electric guitars, bass, drums, accordion and fiddle. Some of the members hailed from the Lafayette, Louisiana, area and brought the soul of the Cajun people (and music) to the group; included in this contingent were accordionist/fiddler Bessyl Duhon, bassist Gary Newman, and fiddler (and future Beausoleil leader) Michael Doucet. Other bandsmen - guitarist Bruce MacDonald, drummer Kenneth Blevins, and percussionist Danny Kimball, none of Cajun extraction - came from the industrialized, Americanized oilfield city of Lake Charles, and they added Southern rock, à la Allman Brothers, to the mix. Although Couteau existed as an active aggregation for only a few years and broke up in 1977, the group influenced a new generation of Cajun musicians. Couteau reunited only once, during the 1981 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Until now.
All of Couteau’s members are present for this brand new recording except guitarist Dana Breaux, who died in 1981. His part was played by ex-Beausoleil Tommy Comeaux (who, ironically, died in a bicycle accident in November 1997). The extensive liner notes from Nick Spitzer say that when the band was originally formed, Doucet insisted that French vocals and the accordion/fiddle or twin fiddle sound predominate in Couteau’s brand of Cajun music. That’s still the case in 1997, but make no mistake: There’s plenty of rock guitar here, which makes this a rock album and a Cajun album, and a dynamic and powerful disc it is. Twin fiddles and twin guitars drive the rousing traditional "Acadian Two-Step," which opens the festivities, and "Bosco/Mosco Stomp" has some molten hot guitar runs. A cover of Will Balfa’s "Balfa et Grand Bois" begins with some moody, eerie electric guitar and fiddle, reminiscent of both the Richard Thompson/Dave Swarbrick era of Fairport Convention and early Steeleye Span. There are a couple of waltzes, too, one from Doucet and one traditional. "Cold-Hearted You," penned by guitarist MacDonald, carries a 70s pop/rock feel, and the guitar work on "Sugarfoot Rag" is as Southern rock as it gets. It sounds like the boys had a great time recording Highly Seasoned Cajun Music, and the result is a vibrant, exciting set that extends the boundaries of Cajun music. - Al Riess (Buffalo, NY)
Forward Kwenda
Svikiro: Meditations from an Mbira Master
Shanachie 64095 (1997)
Twenty-nine-year-old Forward Kwenda of Zimbabwe taught himself to play the mbira (thumb piano) when he was 14 years old, and over the past 15 years he has become one of the most respected mbira performers in his country. Svikiro includes eight traditional selections and three original Kwenda compositions. His only accompanist is another mbira player, Erica Azim of California, who joins him on six tracks. She also sings, but Kwenda is usually the primary vocalist.
Impressive liner notes pack a lot into 12 pages, including the lyrics and English translations/synopses of the songs, and brief but informative essays on the instrument itself, its repertoire and tunings, the performers, and the substantial role the mbira plays in the culture of the Shona people. This instrument is used at weddings, installations of chiefs and government officials, all-night ceremonies at which the spirits of deceased ancestors are contacted, and other social occasions. Kwenda’s newly written material fits into the social and traditional contexts: One cut is played at a rainmaking ceremony, another is for calling the spirits of hunter-ancestors, and the third accompanies a traditional children’s game. This album is warm, soothing, and mesmerizing, yet the sounds are always vibrant and well bodied. The complex, intertwining rhythms take hold and won’t let me go. Especially compelling are the richly textured pieces featuring two mbiras, which remind one of quiet, mellow Indonesian gamelan music. Svikiro is a complete triumph and highly recommended to enthusiasts of acoustic music. - Al Riess (Buffalo, NY)
Rinde Eckert
Story In, Story Out
Intuition
Eckert’s usual high-energy, quasi-operatic style is subdued a bit on this album, two long song cycles with two different groups. The first, "Three Days in the Sun," is performed by Eckert on guitars, harmonica, organ and voice and a minimalist ensemble, Gerry Granelli’s UFB adding electric guitars, bass and drums. It’s a slow, sultry exploration of blues and the American West, tinged with an Eastern ethic that never comes too close to the surface and a beat "on the road" theme that’s not so beat, not so self-conscious.
"Four Songs Lost in a Wall" is an altogether stranger thing, the story of Carlo (who lives in a hotel and dreams he is an Italian castrato, Jesus, the king of Spain) and his mechanical bird that keeps the world spinning. It’s sung by Eckert with appropriate, high-strung drama, against electric guitar whines and an occasional horn or organ. It is as dark and strange a piece as Eckert has ever done. - Cliff Furnald (New Haven, CT)
John Doherty
The Celebrated Recordings
Shanachie 34020 (1997)
Joe Heaney
The Best of Joe Heaney
Shanachie 34019 (1997)
Joe & Antoinette McKenna
The Best of Joe and Antoinette McKenna
Shanachie 78012 (1997)
These three "best of" additions to the Shanachie catalog prove that the label is still a major force in the world of traditional Irish music and signal a renaissance of sorts in the Shanachie Irish roster.
John Doherty’s disc is a wonderful collection of tunes from the great Donegal traveling man and fiddler, who passed away in 1980. The Celebrated Recordings, which is made up of tracks recorded by David Hammond at an informal meeting in Glencolmcille in 1974, is also a terrific complement to Claddagh’s 1996 release The Floating Bow, which contained similarly informal recordings made between 1968 and 1974. These later recordings feature 67 minutes of music from Doherty’s vast repertoire, with only one tune appearing in both sets. If a few of the tunes, like "The Japanese Hornpipe," sound a little strange, it’s only because Doherty wanted them to. The rest of the material includes some tunes and tune types that are unusual and characteristic of a northern fiddler, including highlands, lancers, strathspeys and schottisches. The playing is characterized by Doherty’s trademarks: a sparing but expert use of such ornaments as rolls, triplets and double-stops, a strong sweet tone, and perfect control of the bow. Because of the circumstances in which it was made, the recording does have unevenness in sound, as well as the inevitable irregularities characteristic of one-take recording, but Doherty and Hammond did a great job of getting the music down on tape with the minimum of noise and bother. As a nice surprise, a few tracks feature Doherty’s voice, speaking in Irish about his family, about the tunes, and even singing a beautiful Ulster version of "Old Man Rocking the Cradle." Anyone with an interest in classic fiddle music or Irish tunes from the North should have this disc.
Joe Heaney’s album probably has the least widespread appeal of these CDs, but will be the most attractive for hard-core traditionalists and Gaelic enthusiasts. Heaney was one of the greatest sean-nos singers of his generation. He lived in Galway, in England, in New York and in Seattle, and everywhere he went his reputation was as the greatest singer of old-style Irish songs around. This CD collects 13 of Heaney’s greatest performances, on which his wine-dark voice treats some of the "big" songs of the Irish tradition, such as "Dónall Óg," "Róisín Dubh" and "Amhrán Rinn Mhaoile." It also includes more lighthearted material, such as "Peigín is Peadar" (which is related to "Seven Drunken Nights") and "Deondí."
Characteristically, Heaney treats these lighthearted songs with the same straightforward power he brings to the more serious material. This collection, at 49 minutes, could have been augmented by a few more songs; Heaney sang in English as well as Irish, and a few songs from that tradition might have helped this disc’s sales. Still, it is a fine compilation of beautiful, mellow Irish singing.
The most accessible of these discs is undoubtedly Joe and Antoinette McKenna’s. Joe, a well-known uillean piper from Dublin, learned at the knee of Leo Rowsome, while Antoinette made forays to Galway to learn traditional songs and studied the harp at home in Dublin. Together, they make fine, breezy Irish music on pipes and whistle or voice backed by the gentle strains of the harp. The most salient feature of this collection is Joe’s piping, which as always is flowing and open in style; Rather than accent the notes with tight staccato playing, he opts for bursts of the regulators to make his points for him. In addition, his lively tin whistle playing takes the fore several times, and he leads one tune on the accordion. For her part, Antoinette plays several arresting harp solos and sings three lovely songs. High points are many, including Joe’s rendition of "The Snowy-Breasted Pearl" and Antoinette’s version of the song "Willie Archer." If there’s a criticism to be made, it’s the same as for Heaney’s album: With four LPs of original Joe and Antoinette McKenna material to choose from, Shanachie could certainly have found more than 48 minutes of music; in particular, I would have liked to hear more songs sprinkled among the tunes. Still, what is here is excellent. - Steve Winick (Philadelphia, PA)