The new menu for The Big Squeeze Reviews is now http://www.rootsworld.com/freereed/reviews.html
Please update your bookmarks and tell your friends and web masters?
If you like the accordion, you might also like bagpipes!
|
|
This 1988 compilation is still one of the best intros to this accordion driven music
The word "forro" is Brazilian pronunciation of "for all," and that's what this music is about: folk music in the rock 'n' roll tradition, played by anyone with an instrument, just for the joy of it. This is the rockabilly of Brazil; raw, rhythmic Saturday night party stuff. Other comparisons might be zydeco or TaxMax, but mostly this is its own thing, influenced by the popular sambas and played on European instruments in a region with heavy African roots and an indigenous culture. Unlike the samba or the bossa nova, it's ragged but right; you feel it before you hear it. And don't expect social commentary or subtle poetry-like zydeco, forro is about love and sex, sweaty nights after hard days. The ensembles are similar as well; accordions, drums, triangle and bass back up the vocals, usually soloists in an uptempo mode made for dancing. Pick hits would have to be "Linda Menhina" and "De Pernambuco Ao Maranhao," both real rock 'n' roll types, and the very rootsy "Entre E Sai," played on just accordion and drum. If there's a place like Mulates in the northeast of Brazil, this is what's on stage, playing to the local truckers and ranchers, the taxi drivers and the maids. And I'll bet they love it!
ROD STRADLING
While the rest of the folk world in the 70s was hopelessly enamoured with Irish fiddle tunes, Stradling and friends were reviving and reinventing the English country dances. From his folk work with Oak to his dub-reggae-set dance fusions with Tiger Moth, Rod took the accordion where Albion sun never rose, and made some damn interesting music. This release continues the new tradition in a set of old style tunes set to slide guitars, saxophones and electric rhythm section. The center of it all is the energetic push and pull of his melodeon, a veritable orchestra in a box with no samples, just a lot of air and a lot of music. Bits of Italian, French and American folk tunes insinuate themselves into the proceedings nicely, and the spirited backing of his band Feckless is far from the definition of the name, all players being musically adept and clever. Rhythms of The Wold (as in "Cotswold," etc...) is another title in the continuing bad pun catalog of Rogue Records, England...
JOHN KIRKPATRICK BAND Force of Habit
Box squeezer Kirkpatrick has been a ruling force in the revival of British roots music for a few decades. Whether as a member of bands like Steeleye Span or the Richard Thompson ensemble of the week, doing one off projects on historical traditions or electrified trad like Morris On!, he's always pushed buttons and limits when he could without ever losing the old sound of the concertina and button accordion that made his work stand out. Force of Habit is a live recording from a 1995 tour, merging all of these elements of his career into an exuberant, sometimes aberrant hour of energy and music. They cover folk chestnuts like "Princess Royal" and the Steeleye rocker "Seventeen Come Sunday" and give some of the best performances of Kirkpatrick's original songs like "Black Against The Snow" and "The Gas Almost Works." on record. "Blue Balloon," his sarcastic look at human evolution was an a capella song from the album of the same name, but here it's a rocker with a full band in full-venom mode. Excellent stuff from the madman of the free-reed.
KODÉ DI DONA offers us an alternative to the pop-morna sound of Cape Verde, an accordion festival of folk tunes on Cap-Vert (Ocora, via Harmonia Mundi). The funana of the small island of Santiago is a music made from traditional drum melodies of the island and the Portuguese choro brought there by European invaders and visitors along with the accordion at the turn of the century. Lumberjack, farmer, fisherman and now a ranger, his music is truly "folk" music made for the playing and not for the recording, and this is captured here in these fresh tracks.
DINO SALUZZI Cité de la Musique
Saluzzi has always been, in my opinion, the unsung genius of Argentine music. He has been taking the tango and other musical forms of Argentina and mixing them up with European classical and American jazz for most of his life, taking the bandoneon on a musical adventure that rivals Piazzolla's. Perhaps he's a bit too subtle to earn the applause given his audacious rival, but his is a creative, soulful exploration the is deserving of accolades.
Cité de la Musique is performed by a simple trio, with Marc Johnson on double bass and José Saluzzi (his son) on acoustic guitar. There is a darkness to this album that permeates even the most up-tempo sections, a subtlety and nuance that takes a lot of listening to fully appreciate, but that rewards the effort with grace, with beauty and with bittersweet romance.
The trio is commendable for its close interplay. This is not so much a bandoneon recording with accompaniment as it is a true collaboration between the three. Johnson's wiry, serpentine bass lines are a constant factor in the music, the younger Saluzzi's guitar insistent. The tango as played by this ensemble is an ever expanding heart, bearing both joy and pain in its every pulsation.
Sooner or later, Flaco Jimenez would have to reach critical mass, accumulating enough well known musical friends that he would finally explode into the mainstream. His accordion has wheezed through dozens of records by as many pop, folk, and rock musicians, and some of them return the favor by being one of his Partners on his new record. Stephen Stills manages to imbue some life into his pop chestnut "Change Partners," mostly due to the squeezebox of Jimenez and compadre Oscar Tellez on the bajo sexteto. They turn out some solid norteno music, and do a fine turn with Linda Ronstadt on "El Puente Roto." John Hiatt's contribution is one of the finer moments, on his tune (co-penned with Ry Cooder) "Across The Borderline." Cooder, one of the first to discover the joys of Flaco, is all over the album, singing and playing in that inimitable style of his. The high point of Partners for me is Dwight Yoakum's rendering of "Carmelita." Warren Zevon's best song, and one of the most durable ballads of the 70s, it absolutely resonates in this setting. There are a few straight-ahead conjunto tunes, some of the best things on the record, in spite of the lack of "star power." The hard core Tex-Mex fan may find this all a bit too slick. But this works well as a way to present folk music to a new audience, displaying the local genius joined by the stars instead of sublimated by the glow of notoriety.
As any of you who read this column know, I (and probably you!) am a particular
fan of this instrument, and a champion of its more challenging
players. Many argue that the century of the accordion has been
the ruination of all local music from Tokyo to Kinshasha to the
Straits Of Magellan, forcing all musical forms to conform to the
rhythm and scale of its Germanic inventors (also an arguable theory).
Planet Squeezebox covers the world, but unlike the uniformity
of the paint, it finds its defenders playing all manner of music
from classical to the most raw punk. There are some brilliant
performances here, from Finland's Maria Kalaniemi and Sweden's
Lars Hollmer to the Alpine punksters Attwenger. There is an abundance
of familiar folk material from Ireland, the Americas and Africa,
as well as a few surprises from Asia. But the choices for songs
from many contemporary artists on this album seem terribly stereotyped.
It's a cute approach, this "let's see what an accordion can
do in the wrong place at the wrong time" theory. Many of
the individual cuts are wonderful, and I can't fault the artists,
most of whom have done far deeper, far-reaching work than what
is heard here. The set is a mixed bag (box?). It has some great
material, but lacks focus, and takes an important instrument and
world culture and packages it a bit too neatly.
Bandoneon master Saluzzi is often rightfully obscured by the shadow
of Piazzolla. His playing is less ostentatious, his ideas more
firmly rooted in jazz than tango, and his musical personality
is more subdued. He uses a more subtle hand and ear to bring his
box to life, and that could account for the second position in
the ratings.
But Saluzzi is a master. And here, with mallet man David Friedman
and bassist Anthony Cox, he has found another path for his Argentine
roots. But this is not just a Saluzzi recording. Any name could
have headed the list. Friedman's compositions are perhaps my favorites
here, especially in their use of marimba and vibraphone. The interplay
between the three on his "Penta y Uno" is flawless,
low key and yet almost sexually provocative. The more uptempo
title track, co-written by the trio, has some of these same elements
as it snakes it's brief life across the speakers, alluring and
ultimately unfulfilling. Rios is easy to overlook on a
casual glance, but when you get to know it,you will be taken in.
EFISIO MELIS AND ANTONIO LARA
The launeddas is a sort of proto accordion, a reed instrument with a wheezy, breezy tone. The duets and solos on these 7 tracks look back on old music that sounds so damn fresh, and devoid of the cheesy pop aspects these songs usually get treated to. This one is visceral and solid. The instruments are alone, with no pop or new-folk trappings. Excellent. - CF
Available at cdRoots
Brazil Forro: Music For Maids And Taxi Drivers
Rounder-US; Globestyle-UK
Rhythms of The Wold
Xenophile-US; Rogue-UK
Omnium
ECM
Flaco Jimenez
Partners
Reprise
Planet Squeezebox
Ellipsis Arts
DINO SALUZZI, ANTHONY COX, DAVID FRIEDMAN
Rios
Intuition
Launeddas
(Robi Droli, Strada Roncaglia 16, 15040 San Germano, Italy / e-mail: [email protected]).
LA CIAPA RUSA Antologia (Robi Droli) - I am not an ardent fan of "revival" groups, being more inclined towards experimenting within a tradition. But there are a few bands who make a real impression on me with their ability to breathe life into the old songs while staying "in the tradition." La Ciapa Rusa is one of them. They are archivists, and proud of it in a country that doesn't always encourage such research. This chronological set follows their own development from a strict interpretation to their current looser approach, including, as they phrase it in the notes, "a polite use of electronics." But the heart of this music is the acoustic instruments; bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy, piffero (a double reed wind instrument), accordion, many kinds of strings and percussion. Through every phase of their career, they have had great solo and group vocals, marvelously direct and earthy. Lively dance tunes and dark dirges; thundering choruses and sunny solos; herein are twenty examples of Italy's rich tradition, played with vitality by a changing group of virtuoso musicians who obviously love the music too much to mummify it.
Available at cdRoots
¡SABA SABA!
On Globestyle's 1989 trip to Mozambique, they captured the
work of two bands, MIL-QUINHENTO '1500' & CONJUNTO POPOMBO
DE NAMPULA and CONJUNTO NIMALA DE LALAUAH and put them on ¡Saba
Saba! (GlobeStyle). They were recorded live in a local cinema and while
different in instrumentation, they share a stripped down scratch
band sound. Mil-Quinhento '1500' furiously strums a zither called
a pankwe, a flat board with a tin can and a gourd for
resonators. The band adds shakers, a bell-toned brake shoe, voices
and nlapa, a tea chest with a gut string much like a wash
tub bass. What makes Conjunto Popombo distinctive is the vocal
work. A rapid fire call and response between the singers overlaps
the syllables until they seem to be a single, unsingable torrent
notes. It is style that the band's leader claims as his own innovation,
and it drives this music to a percussive frenzy. Conjunto Nimala
replaces the zither with the accordion of Nimala Carlos. His family
supplies voices, shakers, another brake shoe bell and nlapa (actually,
a bass drum with the same name as the tea chest bass). Again,
the music is a percussive sound, played over a single chord and
even the accordion provides a mostly rhythmic backing to the boisterous
singing and whistling of the band. There is a flavor of Europe
and the Caribbean, and even a hint of Indonesia in these songs
about life in town, friends, parties and girls, girls, girls.
This music is as healthy as it gets. ¡Low fat, no additives,
lean and tasty!
More African Music Reviews?
You can never get enough squeeze, right? So how about three button accordions, a full blown chromatic and a bagpipe just to give it all a little color. Stir it all together and you get the quartet COCKTAIL DIATONIQUE (Keltia Musique, France). They present a varied program of traditioanal and original pieces, solo to full band, overlaying so many dromnes and appegios as to be dizzying at times. There are some virtuoso performances here, particularly their marvelous interpretation of "Acquarelli Cubani," composed by Luciano Fancelli, who the band refers to as "the Charlie Parker of the accordion." It's got great rhythmic attack and a fine swing. The other premier piece of the set is a soulful "Ma Commere, Ma Mie" arranged for bagpipes and chromatic box; lush and absolutely gorgeous. Then some Breton ballads, tunes, gavottes and drinking songs bring the album to its dénouement, a little accordion fired ragtime.
|
|
It doesn't get any more rootsy, downhome funky than this! John Storm Robert's 1971 trip to Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Jamaica, recorder in hand in 1971 is augmented by another excursion to Grand Cayman in 1982, and the resulting 25 tracks compiled here are a feast of roots and rhythm. Accordions blaze, percussions swooshes over group voices with no pretensions of fame, only the energy and excitement of making real, local music for themselves and their friends. If I have a favorite group in this set, it would have to be Orchestre Jazz Coronado from Port Au Prince, with their strong Cuban influence, bass thumb piano and raucous percussion section. But then, I might also have to go with an old favorite, Caymanian fiddler Radley Gourzong, whose appearance on Original's Under The Coconut a decade back hooked me on the scratch band sound of the Caribbean. We get a healthy 7 tracks from him this time around!
Squashbox is an easy one for me to fall all over. Accordions, melodeons, concertinas: they are the very building blocks of my musical life, and this collection is teeming with those little squeezy reeds in a look at the concertina music of the Zulu, Xhosa and Sotho people of southern Africa from 1930 to 1965. How this little instrument that only arrived on the continent in the mid-1800s became one of the cornerstones of popular music here is anyone's guess. But it is an amazing sound, and as adapted to the local music, so unusual as to seem like it grew up there as part of the local culture. Here is a taste of a street music that eventually grew into the thundering township jive of the '80s. These are not only valuable historical documents, they are a roaring good set of songs and dances from any period.
OK, ok... so I do have a few artists that I go on and on about. I can't help it. There is an exciting burst of creative genius going on in the European folk music scene, and it can't be over played. Maria Kalaniemi is one of those rare musical gems. She is an intense artist who knows what she wants out of her music and has not only the skill (formidable, in her case) but the creative energy to get it to happen. And she does it on an instrument much maligned and grossly underated, the full concert chromatic accordion. Her mastery is magical; she pumps, squeezes, caresses and coaxes every note, taking the grand "oom-pah" of the bellows and turning it into a breath of fire or a breeze of beauty. Starting from a Finnish folk musical base, she adds modern classical ideas, tango and pop without ever losing the root. Her ensemble is a powerhouse. Famed Finnish fiddlers Arto Jarvälä and Sven Ahlbäck carry some the melodic weight and pianist/arranger Timo Alakotila clearly has his influence. But ultimately this is the work of a solitary spirit, one dedicated to exploration of both instrument and theme. The real brilliance of this recording is that even though I have had the Finnish release of this album for almost 2 years, every time I play it it seems fresh and exhilarating. The US release will bring that feeling to a whole new crowd.
GIOVANNI IMPARATO is an Italian percussionist with a wide ranging view of the rhythm of the world. While his newest album Yoruba has a clear influence from the drums off western Africa, he makes a pop driven acoutic and electronic blend that is international in scope but local in its vision. Keyboards form an interesting and creative background to acoustic guitar, accordion, violin and bass, all pushed along by Imparto's unique drumming. The vocalist he works with an an equally broad group, with intonations of Spain, Italy, Africa and pop coming through each song invoked by Nel Brano. Some of it is a little sweet, but most of Yoruba is rich, lustrous music with plenty of depth.
Mixórdia
Fivemonk
This is the first I have heard of this Philly string band, but I
will be
sure to catch up. Good playing is reinforced by some clever
arrangements
and a global, if sometimes silly, perspective. Tossing off
Russian, Cajun,
forró, polkas and reels as if they were so many fish on
the boat,
they sometimes hit the dock, and sometimes you want to watch them
sink back
into the sea. Fortunately, by the end of the trip they manage to
have a
full net of good tunes. Banjo, accordion, bass, guitar and
mandolin make
some miles on "Patagonian Sundance," "Extraterrestrial Polka" and
the
inimitable "Warren The Worm." And who could resist a tune that
claims to be
"a musical interpretation of the North American Free Trade
Agreement?"
(Cliff Furnald)
It's what I am always searching for when someone says "world
music," a
blending of cultures and ideas that is unconcerned with genre,
and totally
concerned with music. Den Fule are a new Swedish band that
includes members
of two of Scandinavia's most important bands,
Filarfolket (alsa, no more!) and Groupa (who have a new album out in 1996 after a long time without). Building on the adventurous folk fusion of these two
groups, they
are forging a new, more electric path through the north woods.
Most of the
songs are traditional; the delivery is anything but. The
signature horns
and fiddles are still there, but they have added a harder edge of
electric
guitars and kit drums, heavy bass licks and an overall jazz ethic
to the
mix. The end result is a deceptive, snaking music, that slithers
up on an
old hardangfiddle tune, and then hisses an electric drone, a funk
groove or
a searing blast of distortion. This is folk music with
contemporary bite,
international in sound and yet local in intention. This is a
truly Swedish
band, but unfettered by the map, unchained by the traduitions
they love...
Xource and it's sister label Resource are a new enterprise that
brings
together great music from many labels in Sweden, and includes
releases and
reissue from folk, pregressive rock and experimental bands like
FILARFOKET, LARS HOLMER, HEDNINGARNA,
SAMLA MAMMAS
MANNA and JOHAN ZACHRISSON. Bringing all of these
great
recordings together under one roof will make them more acessible
to an
international market.
Low tech, lo-fi recordings have always been one of my soft spots.
When the
latest release from Fire Ant Records (2009 Ashland Avenue,
Charlotte, NC
280205) came, I naturally lept for it. MR. PETERS' BOOM AND
CHIME
play blistering scratch band music from Belize. Accordionist
Peters and his
band of banjo, electric guitar, drums (the boom and chime) congas
and brake
drum rattle and roll in a free-wheeling, unconcerned style that
is just
pure music and no (NO!) pretensions. Recorded live to DAT in
Belize by Lew
Herman, this is as rootsy and raw as it gets, with a good times
groove that
is irresistable.
There is a second edition to all this, as well. In 1994, FireAnt released Haul Up Your Foot, You Fool, a CD (!) of more of the boom and chime of Mr. Peter's accordion.
Songs The Swahili Sing
Original Music
While the music of Zanzibar and Tanzania known as tarabu
has been
recently available on CD collections, no set comes close to this,
the 1983
release by Original Music. Here are some of the really perfect
pieces,
music that has roots in Arabic classical, Indian movie music, and
if you
listen closely, some African sounds as well. Piano accordions,
fiddles,
percussion, electric guitars, some amplified into distorted
oblivion are
merge into a sublime sound. But the singers are thing, and their
Swahili
poetry will make any wedding goer swoon. Male and female vocals
are all
swoon and swish, and they are unique and superb.
This is a CD that proves the wonder and worth of the new era
brought on by
CDs and digital media. Here is a recording released originally in
1983, but
because of advances in the medium, this is virtually a new
release. While
they have deleted a few of the tracks form the LP version (tracks
that have
since appeared on some Globestyle CDs), they have added some
wonderful
early tarab tracks and some non-professional social songs.
This
album defined Original Music's dedication to local music,
and this
reissue confirms it.
THE TEREM QUARTET
Classical
Realworld/Caroline, 114 West 26th St., New York, NY 10001
212.989.2929
Three strings and an accordionhardly seems like the ensemble of
choice
formusic by Schubert or Mozart, but Terem makes it seem natural,
if a touch
zany. Unlike their previous album, the material here is all from
the
classics of European and Russian musical literature, and they
stick pretty
close to the originals. But when you are doing these orchestral
pieces on a
bass balalika, two domra (three-stringed lute type
instrument) and a
squeeze-box, there are bound to be anomalies, inventions and
surprises.
This is an inspired quartet, and although I prefer their
excursions into
more adventurous turf, Classical is still always
energetic,
sometimes funny and certainly idiosyncratic.
ÅLE MöLLER/ LENA WILLEMARK
This duo has done it all, as diving forces to the 70s folk
revival in
Europe, as experimenters in folk fusion and jazz, as solo artists
and as
members of important bands in Sweden like the now defunct
Filarfolket and
their current trio Frifot with fiddler/bagpiper Per Gudmundson.
Nordan is a fullfilment of the promise in making folk
music into
new, contemporary art. Jazz and new-world musicians like saxist
Jonas
Knutsson and percussionist Tina Johansson and folk luminaries
like
Gudmundsson on fiddle and Mats Edén on hardangfiddle and
kantele,
join vocalist and violinist Willemark and multi-talented
instrumentalist
Möller (bagpipes, mandola, cow's horn, cimbalom, flutes and
accordion!) to explore the possibilities. They are many and they
are
wonderful. Uninhibited by tradition and unfettered by
electronics, this
ensemble makes music that is as at home in pop music circles as
around a
campfire. The sound is so ancient it's new again, and the
musicianship is
as good as ir gets. Palle Danielsson's upright bass finds swing
in the
ancient melodies, Willemark's vocals absolutely soar, and
Möller's
infamous trad/arr abilities and his original tunes reach deep
into the
soul. Every cut is essential, but for you track surfers, try the
dramatic
"Knut Hauling," the a capella "Trilo" or the original suite of
faux-shepards tunes, "Vallsvit."
Ravn
Xource, PO 271, S-185 23 Vaxholm, Sweden/ fax:46-85-413-0060)
This Swedish band has been making cutting-edge new acoustic music
for many
years in Sweden, and here is their latest and most coherent
outing to date.
Taking the disparate roots of their own home, adding the Arabic
countries,
a little from eastern Europe and a certain bad-attitude charm,
they have
pulled together ten near-jazz instrumentals in an adventurous
variety of
tones. Accordions, reeds and fiddles take the melodic lead, but
it is the
percussion and electric bass that really make this recording
stand out,
lending it a tension and barrel-ahead energy. Judicious and
clever use of
samplers and keyboards also lend a touch of the surreal, but no
more than
the drones of the fiddles and squeeze boxes.
NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN
The Last Prophet
Realworld/Caroline
It would be completely fatuous to "review" this album. Nusrat
Fateh Ali
Khan is a modern master of the Pakistani art of qawwali music.
For decades
he has brought this music to the world, and absorbed the rest of
the
world's music, occasionally taking a shot at pop fusion, but
through it all
continuing to expand the ancient tradition of his mystical music.
The
Last Prophet is simply a continuation of that tradition,
unlocking some
of qawwal's mysteries and creating new ones. Unlike many recent
Real World
albums, there is no cross-over here, none of that homogenizing
meant to
make the music acessible. Voices, accordions, percussion, and the
passionate expression of Nusrat bring the arcane sounds of Sufism
to a
wider audience without bowing to the commercial possibilities.
Elämä On Sumfaraa (Poko Records/Finland)
Kanuunaralli (Poko Records/Finland)
They call themselves "the kings of polkka" but that's like
calling the
Pogues the kings of ceili. This is a ten member rock and roll
band with a
bad attitude, a sense of humor, and a love of the old music of
their
country that comes out as sometimes respectful, but more often as
sly
parody or outright badgering. Electric guitars, fiddles, bass,
drums and of
course, accordion seem standard enough. On Elämä On
Sumfaraa they add a bit more electronic keyboard that gives
some of
their best tunes, like the thumping, psuedo-reggae/polkka fusion
"Anna
Armoa" a pleasant, cheesy feeling. It also makes a spit-fire
minute and a
half send up of "My Sharona" come to life. Kanuunaralli
definately has the
edge for energy, with a slightly folkier feel that seems better
suited to
their particular brand of humor. The arrangements are a paste-up
of
changing rhythms and manaical turn-arounds. Nothing deep or
intense here,
Nypykät are high-octane folk pop fun.
(POKO Music, Box 483, 33101 Tampere, Finland/ fax:
931-133-732)
If you'd like to comment on these reviews, please drop
a note to me,[email protected]
The Bala Hounds
MR. PETERS' BOOM AND CHIME
Nordan
(ECM)
NORRLÅTAR
Nypykät
More Free Reed information and links
RootsWorld copyright 1996,1997, 1998 Cliff Furnald