Strawbs - From The Witchwood (1971)

What more can be said about the Strawbs? On the net you can easily find thousands of pages about this band, one of the better (if not the best) folk-oriented progressive groups to emerge in England in the late 60s. From the Wichwood is one of the highest points in their long and glorious career. Here's a sample review from Progarchives:

«From the Witchwood marked the start of the Strawbs transition in earnest from a primarily acoustic folk based band to a prog rock orientated band with strong folk influences. The album represents Rick Wakeman’s last venture with the Strawbs, before he was headhunted by Yes. […] Wakeman does manage to add some wonderfully dramatic effects to From the Witchwood, particularly with the menacing organ on The hangman and the Papist. The song is an incredibly powerful story of a hangman finding his next victim is to be his brother, who is to be punished for his religious beliefs. You can almost touch the raw emotion as Dave Cousins sings «forgive me God we hang him in thy name». The opening track, A Glimpse of Heaven has a hymnal quality to it, with church like organ and choir like vocals on the choruses. The brief keyboard solo has some effective phasing. […] The band’s folk influences come to the fore on tracks such as Witchwood, and In Amongst the Roses, while Cannondale and The shepherd’s Song have a deeper, more haunting structure. Sheep is an out and out rocker, with a great if brief organ solo by Wakeman, leading into a reflective ending. […] The closing [bonus] track I’ll carry on beside you is a great sing-a-long. […] In all, superb album, which finds the band exploring new pastures and starting their migration to a major prog folk band.»

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Cynthia Dall - Untitled (1996)

L’album d’esordio di Cynthia Dall è un disco di una bellezza lunare, che seduce e conturba al tempo stesso. La voce (spesso appena un sussurro) e le canzoni di Cynthia brillano di una luce soffusa che si trasforma talvolta in un lucore sinistro, come nell’iniziale Christmas (California), ossessiva e minacciosa pur nella sua dolcezza («Che cosa pensi di regalarmi per Natale?/Meglio per te che sia bello»). Altrove, come in Berlin, 1945, su uno scarno accompagnamento di radi e solenni accordi di pianoforte – l’ottima Michelle Alexander –, Cynhia intona liriche intrise di un dolente intimismo («A volte quando mi spoglio/odio il mio corpo, e lo odi anche tu/perché nessun uomo può sopportare la vista/di una bella donna che ha ferite ancora aperte»). Anche i duetti con Bill Callahan (con cui Cynthia aveva già collaborato negli Smog) sono venati di spettrale malinconia. In cabina di regia, il talentuoso Jim O’Rourke (Gastr del Sol, Sonic Youth), presente anche nelle vesti di musicista (suo lo splendido piano di Lion Becomes Dragon) confeziona un sound nitido e glaciale, che esalta la vena crepuscolare della maggior parte delle composizioni dell’artista. Ammalianti come rose, pungenti come spine. Untitled è una gemma preziosa, da contemplare a lume di candela nelle notti di plenilunio. R.

Though the album cover bears no name or title, this collection of songs is actually the work of Cynthia Dall, best known for her collaboration with labelmate Smog. Smog's Bill Callahan appears on Untitled, contributing guitar and vocals; however, aside from similarly stripped-down production values, that's the only similarity between Smog's music and Dall's solo work. If possible, Untitled is even more implosive and desolately beautiful than her work with Smog on songs like Christmas (California) and Lion Becomes Dragon. She's able to turn a question like "What are you getting me for Christmas?" into a frosty, thinly veiled threat. The echoing pianos that make up Untitled's musical motif sound as if Dall were in a very faraway place that's both nightmarish and dreamy. That's not to say that Untitled is a completely bleak album; on tracks such as the Callahan/Dall duet Holland and the wistful ballad Bright Night, the album achieves a remote, luminous beauty, and on Aaron Matthew, it grows downright warm and genuine. Brittle, disturbing, and magnetic, Untitled shows that Dall has plenty to say on her own terms. A frighteningly lovely album. (AMG)

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Postcards from Italy (6) - The Countryside, Piedmont

Gabriel et Marie Yacoub - Pierre de Grenoble (1973)

A first glance at the rich and highly valuable discography of Gabriel Yacoub and his band Malicorne (a personal favourite of mine), arguably the most important group in the French folk revival of the 1970s. Strongly rooted in French oral traditions, Malicorne also managed to create a unique, clearly identifiable, innovative sound, and (in my opinion) all their albums (not only the ones now recognized as “classics”) are worth a listen. But let’s start from the beginning.

“Gabriel Yacoub, for all that he has done as a solo artist, is still best known and remembered for his pioneering work with the group Malicorne, who played electric folk music from France. But before Malicorne, Yyacoub and his wife Marie had already set out the beginnings of French folk-rock on their debut recording, Pierre de Grenoble. They came to the point of making this album after several years as musicians with Alan Stivell’s band, which was performing similar experiments with Breton music. Partly because of Yacoub’s exotic-sounding surname, and largely because of his link with Stivell, the misconception persists to this day that he is Breton, and that his move to French music in the early 1970s constituted a betrayal of his own heritage. in fact, he is not Breton but Parisian, and his unusual surname is due to Lebanese, not Celtic, ancestry.

By 1973, he and Marie had begun to feel the need to express their own ideas in their own language and musical idiom, and a new world opened to them. They became not only the primary interpreters of French traditional music, but also spokespeople for cultural intervention and the revival of folk music. Pierre de Grenoble is the result of the Yacoubs’ first foray into French traditional songs and music. They gathered around themselves a small cadre of instrumentalists to support Gabriel’s acoustic guitar, bouzouki, banjo and psaltery and Marie’s dulcimer and guitar. Most notable among Pierre de Grenoble’s sidemen is Dan ar Braz, the brilliant electric guitarist from Brittany who had played with the Yacoubs in Stivell’s band. […] The songs and tunes the Yacoubs chose for this record come from the oral traditions of the francophone areas of France. The songs include fine old ballads of knights and ladies as well as pastoral peasant love songs. The instrumentals are mostly rural dance tunes and airs. in other words, this is «folk music» in the classic sense. The mostly acoustic sound that would characterize early Malicorne albums was already in evidence on this lp, particularly in the use of crumhorns, psaltery and other renaissance instruments alongside of contemporary folk and rock instrumentation. The drone and wail of bagpipes and hurdy-gurdy, along with Yacoub’s drone-rich guitar playing, make most of the tracks dense and complex in sound. At many points, it is possible to believe that you’re hearing a «lost» album of Malicorne, particularly since such songs as Pierre de Grenoble and Le Prince d’Orange were featured in Malicorne’s live shows. All the tracks are excellent, and the album bears repeated listening very well.” (Steve Winick – Dirty Linen, n. 68, February/March 1997; you can find the full review and much more on Malicorne and Gabriel Yacoub’s music on Yacoub’s official page, available in French and English version).

More Malicorne albums to come, stay tuned! Meanwhile, you can find the first two releases of this great French band on Time Has Told Me.

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Untitled (2)

Ivo Papasov - Balkanology (1991)

Il bulgaro Ivo Papasov, virtuoso del clarinetto, è noto come «il re della wedding music». Nato nel 1952 a Kurdzhali, un villaggio della Tracia vicino al confine con Grecia e Turchia, da famiglia turca di origini rom, Papasov iniziò a suonare il clarinetto all’età di 9 anni e nel 1974 fondò il gruppo Trakiya; successivamente, a Plovdiv, formò il Plovdiv Jazz Folk Ensemble, con cui continuò la sua carriera di musicista itinerante, suonando in centinaia di villaggi e cittadine del suo Paese, diventando il musicista più ricercato per le feste di matrimonio. In patria è chiamato «Aga», maestro, e la sua musica, oltre a tenere banco nei maggiori teatri, è la colonna sonora delle celebrazioni più importanti. In Occidente, la notorietà è giunta nel 1991 con questo Balkanology, prodotto da Joe Boyd, considerato da molti (me compreso) un capolavoro e il manifesto della poetica di Papasov: brani originali e rielaborazioni di temi tradizionali bulgari, macedoni, greci, turchi e rom (per lo più caratterizzati da tempi dispari, tipici della musica balcanica), interpretati da Ivo e la sua orchestra con l’energia di un gruppo rock e l’abilità di fraseggio e la verve improvvisativa di un consumato ensemble jazz.

A towering figure of the contemporary Bulgarian wedding music movement, clarinetist Ivo Papasov earned international success on the strength of his influential jazz-folk style. Born in 1952 of Turkish Rom (Gypsy) ancestry, in 1974 he founded the group Trakiya, quickly emerging as the unrivalled king of wedding music, the most popular Bulgarian style; Papasov’s distinctive sound – an improvisational, energetic aesthetic heavily influenced by diverse sources including traditional folk, film scores and cartoon music – found its most fervent following among younger listeners, the attraction undoubtedly the music’s similarities to the kinetic spirit of Western rock. In Bulgaria’s new democratic society of the 1990s, his music thrived, with long-awaited official recordings seeing the light of day not only at home, but also abroad. The superb and largely instrumental Balkanology draws not only on Bulgarian elements, but also the music of Greece, Turkey and Romania. Listening to this heartfelt music (much of it quite fast), one can hear the parallels between Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and East European forms. Papasov is quite the improviser, and in fact, American jazz has had a significant impact on his loose and very spontaneous modal playing. (AMG review, freely edited)

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Winter (3)

Ali Akbar Khan - Journey (1990)

The classical music of North India is an uplifting and extraordinary music, dating back thousands of years. Ali Akbar Khan is one of today’s most accomplished Indian classical musicians. Considered a «National Living Treasure» in India, he is admired by both Eastern and Western musicians for his brilliant compositions and his mastery of the sarod (a beautiful, 25-stringed Indian instrument). (For a full biography and a detailed summary of Ali Akbar Khan’s various activities consult his official web page)

At 67, Ali Akbar Khan successfully blends tradition and technology on Journey, a moving CD produced by his protege and student Jai Uttal. Journey, however, isn’t modern secular Indian pop, but rather is best described as traditional Indian spiritual and devotional music using high-tech elements. Under Uttal’s direction, Khan’s sarod and other acoustic Indian instruments like the sitar, the tabla and the dholak successfully interact with electronic synthesizers (none of which sound forced or mechanical). Uttal had learned a lot from Khan, and showed his appreciation by seeing to it that technology was used soulfully throughout this album. (AMG)

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Winter (2)

Bruce Palmer - The Cycle Is Complete (1971)

A true masterpiece of free-form American psychedelia, period. Also featuring members of Kaleidoscope (USA).

«At the end of the 1960s, the rock landscape was changing so radically, in manners so counter to the way things had been done just a few years previously, that many albums found their way to major label release that could have never been given the green light in any other era. One of the strangest of those is Bruce Palmer’s The Cycle Is Complete, the sole solo album by Buffalo Springfield’s original bass player. The record was nothing if not uncompromising, consisting of four largely instrumental, improvised-sounding psychedelic-jazz-world fusion pieces that bore little relation to conventional rock music, or even to conventional structured songs.» (From Richie Unterberger’s liner notes, for the full review click here)

Dedicated to the memory of Bruce Palmer.

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33.3 - Plays Music (2000)

This 33.3’s second release is one of my favourite tea-time albums: cool, warm, emotionally enthralling.

Since their 1999 debut the band has added two new musicians, William Noland on double bass and Joseph Grimm on trumpet and trombone (founder members are cellist/bassist Dominique Davison, guitarist Brian Alfred and drummer Steven Walls). This second album is a finely structured thing, an instrumental journey that jumps from low-key jazz-pop to more ornately decorated passages. Sure, Plays Music isn’t unique. Anyone who owns a Slint record could probably cite a few dozen sound-alikes, or at least sound-a-lot-likes. Yet there’s a special, vibrant joy between its notes. It’s easy to find if you look for it. Guitar and drums provide the stuff we’ve heard before – loose-knit, semi-improvised instrumental rock songs filtered through a precise, jazz-inflected tempo. Trumpet, trombone, cello and double bass fill in the «voices» and textures, and this is where Plays Music derives its individuality. Bob Weston’s production captures each instrument’s comings and goings, never giving the listener a sense of overload. Dominique Davison’s cello lends warmth to all it touches, its earthy chords giving humanity to the mathematical progression of «Power Failure at the U.N.», and sliding a gentle sentimentality into the background of «An Open Letter to Buckminster Fuller». Meanwhile, horn player Joseph Grimm provides the album with its emotional center, easing his instrument’s strident tones into the cocktail-flavored «The Odds», then alternating between melodic pathfinding and guitar-taunting repetition on «Oval Cast as Circle». There is very little rock in this indie rock and yet it’s not post anything, either. It’s just a more baroque approach to melody, with a deft ear tuned to tones, keys, and moods – colorful and so very far from self-indulgent (i.e., no cathartic tension-releasing moments). As the wind blows out of many a post-rock sail, 33.3 manages to create something beautiful and (most importantly) memorable. (Text based on reviews by Splendid e-zine, AMG and Fakejazz)

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Postcards from Italy (5) - Cisternino Murge, Apulia

Oregon - Violin (1977)

One of my favourite albums by Oregon's classic line-up, enhanced (if possible) by the violin mastery of Polish-born Zbigniew Seifert. Here’s a brief biography of the band for those of you who are unfamiliar with these amazing pioneers of ethnic jazz:

«One of the earliest and finest exponents of world jazz, Oregon began life in 1970 as an offshoot of the Paul Winter Consort, in which the group’s original members had played. From the beginning, the band eschewed most jazz conventions. Percussionist Collin Walcott played tabla, sitar, and dulcimer, among other instruments, but did not use a trap set; bassist Glen Moore doubled on clarinet, viola, and piano, and its front line was formed by a double-reedist (Paul McCandless) and an acoustic guitarist (Ralph Towner). The band’s music differed from much of what had heretofore been considered jazz. The concept of blues and swing was given a much-reduced prominence in favour of other, less literal forms of tonal and rhythmic organization. For example, Indian ragas would occasionally replace chord changes, and tablas would supplant swing time. The group’s dynamic approach was quieter than typical by jazz standards, and their overall aesthetic somewhat introspective. Improvisation was central to the band’s work, however, and in this sense their music is most firmly in the jazz tradition. Oregon’s music is characterized by a heightened method of ensemble interaction, a rapt attention to timbral contrast, and an openness to any and all cultural influences. After Walcott’s death in a car accident in 1984, the group disbanded for a time, before eventually replacing him with percussionist Trilok Gurtu.» (AllMusicGuide)

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La Cucina - Nabúmla (1996)

La Cucina was a roots style band of the 1990s, that went under the tag-line of «accordion-driven funky neapolitan rockers»(!). Although they were based in the South of England, their music was an amalgam of Southern Italian folk songs and disco and salsa beats. They were famed at the time for their wild concerts, and lack of wild living – on arrival in a new town, two members of the band would head for the local library. They brought out a series of cassettes, in which they explored Neapolitan music. Later, they produced 3 CDs in which the instrumentation and production is of a much more contemporary nature, with influences such as Tom Waits and Madness. They played throughout the United Kingdom, as well as France, Spain, Germany and Italy - Wikipedia

Likened to everyone from Les Negresses Vertes to Madness, La Cucina were a fun and fundamental plank in the development of UK roots music of the early 90s. They were formed in Southampton, England, in 1988, from the ashes of indie band Who’s In The Kitchen? Originally a trio of Owain Clarke (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Dylan Clarke (bass/vocals) and Eliseo D’Agostino (accordion), they concentrated on recreating Neopolitan-styled songs. However, after performing as a seven piece at a Southampton pub, with Scott Tobin (drums), Jock Tyldesley (fiddle) and a Sikh priest on tablas, they decided that the band needed to have a more eclectic musical foothold. Enthusiastic audience receptions confirmed that the more dance-orientated their sound was, the better. Tobin joined on a permanent basis, with Rob Greenstock (conga; ex-Steam Kings) completing the line-up in October 1991. They side-stepped musical categorisation by employing Cajun fiddle alongside the percussive force of rave music, Latin American piano and skewed, highly original songs roughly in the spirit of Neopolitan standards - Keep Media

Finally, a review of Nabúmla:

What have we got here? A Bulgarian gypsy band, a South American latin orchestra or a British pop group? The answer must be all and neither. The group in question is La Cucina from Great Britain and the music on their new album ‘Nabúmla’, released in the beginning of March, as the follow up to their debut album ‘Chuchería’, is a mixture of lively latin rhythms, melancholic gypsy tunes and pop-jazz fusions with a twist of roots and world music. The lyrics are performed in British English on all the tracks except on ‘Villa Laterno’ and ‘Naked in the Sunshine’ which are in both English and Spanish. The latter is a cheerful singalong, which could easily be a holiday hit in the coming summer. All the tracks, though, have catching lyrics and are originals from the whole band (five members). […]If you want to cheer yourself up one day, or you’re going to have a party, La Cucina’s music is definitely the kind to put on the CD player. It is almost impossible to keep your body still when their music comes pouring out of the loudspeakers - Djembe Magazine, no. 16, April 1996

So, are you still waiting? Download and have fun!

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The Woods Band - The Woods Band (1971)

An almost forgotten irish folk-rock gem!

The husband-wife duo of Terry Woods and Gay Woods is known mostly for their brief stint in the first line-up of Steeleye Span, which lasted for just one album and a few months before the couple left. While Steeleye Span – with Ashley Hutchings, Maddy Prior, Tim Hart, and new recruit Martin Carthy – went on to become established as one of Britain’s top folk-rock bands and go through several more line-up changes, the Woods sank into relative obscurity. They did, however, soon found a folk-rock band of their own, the Woods Band, with guitarist Ed Deane and drummer Pat Nash. […] The Woods Band released one self-titled album in 1971 that actually sounded rather similar to, and held its own with, Steeleye Span’s own early work. The record was a [more than] respectable mixture of traditional material and originals (largely from the pen of Terry Woods), with standard rock instruments embellished by mandola, concertina, autoharp, dulcimer, bodhran, and harpsichord. After the Woods Band split, Terry and Gay Woods recorded three albums as a duo in the last half of the 1970s. Splitting as both a couple and professional duo in 1980, Terry Woods joined the Pogues in 1985, while Gay Woods was in Auto Da Fe in the 1980s, rejoining Steeleye Span for six years starting in 1994. (AllMusicGuide)

The Woods Band in 1971

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Lili Boniche - Trésors De La Chanson Judéo-Arabe (2001)

A great introduction to the music of Lili Boniche, the star of «Francarbe».

Lili Boniche was born in 1921 to a Sephardic family of Andalusian origins, in the Kashbah of Algiers. He was only 10 years old when he left his family to be trained in the art of playing the oud, or Arabic lute. His teacher was a master of Haouzi, a regional style of Arabo-andalusian music. By the age of 15 he had made his musical début on Algerian radio. As he developed further he gradually moved away from classical Arabic music being strongly attracted by 40s nightclub styles (typical at that time in regions to the south and east of the Mediterranean coast): jazz, flamenco, mambo and rumba were all featured together with the «established» dances such as the tango, paso doble and brought together with the Algerian song tradition of the «Chaâbi» in a swinging and sensuous mixture that enjoyed great popularity. In bringing this rich mixture of cultural styles into a further synthesis with his own cultural origins Lili Boniche gradually developed a style of his own, which he called «Francarbe». This was an elegant and self-confident form of popular music, that could well been termed «world music», had this term then existed!
As a protagonist of Francarbe in the late 40s and 50s, Lili Boniche made a career for himself; first in Algeria and later in Paris where his first recordings were made. In the 90s, the term «world music» by now in place, he had a comeback with his album Alger, Alger, produced by Bill Laswell. Also in concerts, with the help of electric guitar and amplification, he attempted to rescue the charm and elegance of this music of a by-gone era from oblivion. (Oriente Musik)

Crooner de la casbah, sémillant jeune homme né en 1921, Lili Boniche est la star de la musique francarabe, ce style né de la communauté juive d’Afrique du Nord au temps où le même soleil brunissait juifs et musulmans dans les quartiers populaires des villes du Maghreb. (Mondomix)

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Robert Palmer - Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley (1974)

This debut album by Robert Palmer is a really good (and hot) mix of R&B, soul and funk. Here’s the AllMusicGuide review, with which I fully agree:

«Before becoming a slick, sharp-dressed pop star in the 1980s, Robert Palmer was a soul singer deeply rooted in R&B and funk. Those influences are on full display on his debut album Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley. With a backing band including members of Little Feat and the Meters, the music has a laid-back groove whether Palmer’s covering New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint (the title track) or singing originals («Hey Julia», «Get Outside»). While the music is tight and solid, it is Robert Palmer’s voice that is revelatory – he sounds supremely confident among these talented musicians, and they seem to feed off his vocal intensity. Fans of the Meters or people who want to discover the funky side of Robert Palmer should check this one out.»

Enjoy!

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Postcards from Italy (4) - L'Aquila, Abruzzo

The Oroonies - Of Hoof and Horn (1992)

Described in their own era as a pagan psychedelic folk-punk band (!), the half Irish-half British Oroonies produced a handful of tapes and a few vinyl releases, among which this 1992 lp recorded for Demi Monde is surely the most successful. A weird record indeed: Mediterranean melodies, tribal drums, woodland madness, eastern European flavoured waltzes, hypnotic rhythms, invocations to Pan, Ozric Tentacles-style trippy instrumental passages, the whole wisely merged and shaken for the listening pleasure of the most adventurous listeners.

The Oroonies presented themselves as follows:

The Oroonies are a group of friends and their instruments who amongst other things have been playing music together for well over ten years. There were never any Oroonie rules so in the past it’s been as diverse as manic punk thrash up a peaceful mountainside to nice little tunes in a London basement, and over this time all those pairs of ears have been listening carefully to the most obscure and peculiar music from all the corners of the globe, often to find the most ethnic of it to be the most demented… So whilst most other people were busy running around in ever decreasing circles, the Oroonies spent the 80’s sitting in odd little places, reading books, humming tunes, scrambling around in fairy forts, climbing snowy mountains in the dark, milking wild goats, lurking in the corner of warehouse parties in Kings Cross, watching Crystal Palace from the terraces or whatever all this and more turned into music… Always in search of an elemental feeling: surging walls of sound, force and fire, Pan’s pipes echoing, mad laughter bubbling up, in the Grove at dawn, feel the moon in the heavens, feel the storm inside your head… endure, enjoy, forget. […] All you need is to bring your psychedelic sense of humour with you. Perhaps we are not serious! We are: Joie who plays the synthesisers and supplies the samples. Tanya the drummer who also sings and plays the double bass. Geek who is mostly bassist but also bouzouki man and saxophonist. Russ the guitarist and vocalist who also plays bouzouki and percussion. Jane flautist and conch blower. Jo the string section. Merv: percussionist at gigs and keyboard person in the studio. Between us all we write, arrange and mutilate our material! Joie and Merv also play in the Ozric Tentacles and Wooden Baby. Joie also plays with the Ullulators too. (DemiMonde)

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Dissói Lógoi - Da Occidente a Oriente (1993)

Dissói Lógoi is an open ensemble from Milan, Italy centered around multi instrumentalists Alberto Morelli and Franco Parravicini. The multiple stylistic influences of the band are revealed from its name itself, which in ancient Greek means «clashing talks». In this 1993 debut cd, Dissói Lógoi make use of both traditional and modern instruments, merging successfully the ethnic traditions of the Mediterranean basin with «urban» influences and styles (60-70s jazz, psychedelia, electronic music and minimalism). Da occidente a oriente also includes an interesting cover of 1973 Area's classic, Luglio agosto settembre (nero).
More on Dissói Lógoi here.

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Art Gallery/3

Joan Miró
Blue II (1961)
Oil on canvas, 270 x 355 cm.
Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France.

Miró - The Divine EP (1994)

A little gem, and a very hard to find ep/mini cd. The Divine E.P. was one of the Miró's finest releases. Miró were a London based acoustic folk-rock outfit, founded in 1988 by composer singer guitarist Roddie Harris (later defined by The Guardian "The Godfather of London's acoustic scene") and cellist/singer Julia Palmer. Active, as far as I know, till the mid-90s, in the course of their existence Miró published two albums, Angel No 1 and The Grain of the Voice, plus a bunch of now almost impossible to find singles and eps . The Divine E.P., though, is a good showcase of their talents, with its five flawless songs of shining beauty. Have a good listen and let me know what do you think about it.

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Pink Freud - Sorry Music Polska (2003)

I’m really glad to present you here this amazingly good album from Pink Freud. Formed in Gdansk, Poland, in 1998, this eclectic trio is surely one of the most interesting electro-jazz combos to emerge in Europe in the last decade. Pink Freud have already released four albums: Zawijasy (2000), Live in Jazzgot, Sorry music polska (2003) and Jazz fajny jest (2005). Their actual line-up is: Wojtek Mozolewski (bass, loop, sampler), Tomek Zietek (trumpet and prepared trumpet), Kuba Staruszkiewicz (drums).

«Pink Freud’s music combines the inexhaustible energy of the music of the 1960s and 1970s with contemporary influences sought wherever possible, from grunge to hip hop. Formalized, rich compositions and modern sound generated by electronic instruments leave the musicians enough room for spontaneity, individualism and the wild and crazy improvisations so typical of jazz. A narrative structure to compositions and a wide array of electronic instruments are distinctive features of Pink Freud’s music. The musical sense of humour and detachment from the sounds produced are the features by which the band’s style can be recognized. Pink Freud have become famous for their totally new and sometimes completely crazy interpretations of well-known musical motifs, like Nirvana’s Come As You Are [included in the album presented here – for all you rock fans out there: believe me, this track alone is worth the listen!] and Gershwin’s My Man’s Gone Now.» (Warsaw Voice)

«There must be a lot of intelligence in these musicians to create music, play with it and enjoy it at the same time.» (Gazeta Wyborcza)

The ultra-rare Pink Freud stamp. Don't search for it.
Unfortunately, only one specimen exists, and it's locked in my safe:)

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Postcards from Italy (3) - Two Mediterranean Sunsets

Corniglia, Liguria

Erice, Sicily

Sara Alexander - Café Turc (1999)

This enchanting and moving album from Sara Alexander – an Israeli composer, singer & accordionist based in France - is inspired by all the music around the Mediterranean and recorded with musicians from Greece, Italy, Turkey and France (Pierre Rigopoulos: darbouka, zarb, daf; Anello Capuano: oud, saz, mandolin; Philippe Briegh - clarinet, violin, saxes; guest musicians Mesut Ali: ney & Yannis Vlachos: bouzouki, guitar).

A child of Israel who first saw the light of day in Jerusalem, this daughter of immigrants from Turkey and Rumania, of jews and gypsies, who was born at the crossroads between Orient and Occident, is nourished by all of the cultures settled around the Mediterranean Sea. After her artistic beginnings in the famous Israeli ensemble Leakat HaNachal and on the stages of Tel-Aviv, she left Israël in 1967. Ever since, this nomad's music has been ignoring all categories and all frontiers. She can count on the complicity of musicians that are, like her, travellers from different origins. […] Her warm, deep voice, which is that of an oriental blues singer, and her sensitive and luminous accordion play walk the confines of Greece, Turkey, Spain and North Africa, melting all into an imaginary country where gypsy passion, oriental languor, klezmer humour and contemporary composition grow into something new and original. Very much engaged in encouraging the peace making process in the Near East, Sara has also published, in 1999, a book of her personal experiences and involvement in the attempts of reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians, entitled Shalom! Salam! The ensemble of her work, ethical as much as musical, have brought her many awards, such as, in May 2000 the «Ethics & Meaning Foundation Award» (New York), in April 1999, the «Légion d'Honneur» (Paris) and in 1990, the title of «Laureat of the Smithsonian Institute» (Washington). (Métisse Music)

An Israeli who was already breaking taboos in the early 1970’s with her singing of texts by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, Sara Alexander now appears as a special kind of polyglot who mingles Slavic accents with Mideastern melodies. Yet her intentions remains the same: to widen the spectrum, to build bridges, to bring people together through transmission of the word and the thread of memory. This multiple ancestral memory speaks to all peoples - «wanderers» or not – who have created a history from their wounds and doubts, their hopes and struggles. It is a living memory, made of a disturbing nostalgia, echoing off the present moment which is radiant with happiness. (Xavier Matthyssens, from the liner notes of Café Turc)

Between dream and reality, life unfolds like a geographical map of the heart. We are all travellers. (Sara Alexander)

More on Sara Alexander and her latest projects here

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Talking About The Weather?

Camper Van Beethoven - Telephone Free Landslide Victory (1985)

The same day that the good old Lassie returned from the moon, I went to my local vinyl pusher and came back home with this amazing debut record (the first of a bright career) by Camper Van Beethoven, from Santa Cruz, California, planet Earth. I couldn't believe my ears, 'cause everyhing was in there: ska, punk-rock, country ballads, garage, folk, world music tinged with psychedelia. And, above all, tons of humour. Even now, when reminiscing about my days with Mao in Southern China, and every time I take the skinheads bowling or sail to Greece for a payed vacation, I find it a very enjoyable and entertaining listen. And yet, I'm still wondering where the hell is Bill. Well, maybe he went to get a Vespa scooter...

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Balandrán - Balandrán (1993)

One of my favourite asturian folk bands of the 90s, and surely one of the most innovative too along with groups of international fame like Llan de Cubel and the unfortunate Felpeyu, these relatively unknown Balandrán brought a gust of fresh air to the sometimes too conservative asturian folk movement. Based in the small town of Avilès, near Oviedo, Balandrán released only two albums in the course of their existence: the charming eponymous debut posted here, characterized by a warm and brilliant sound, in which the interplay between the traditional acoustic instruments (guitar, accordion, violin, flute, bodhran and gaita - the asturian bagpipe) is enhanced by the use of electric bass & guitar, was followed by El Viaxe, where they took further experiments with electronics. Coming back to Balandrán, in my opinion the instrumental opener Al Dolce with its well constructed crescendo and the moving Danza la mar, «pa baillar descalzos nel sable moyao» (to dance barefoot on the wet sand) alone are worth the download.

They say 'bout them in Asturies:

«Balandrán fué una de las bandas más importantes del folk asturiano, supusieron un aire nuevo y original en nuestra música de reelaboración»

«De xuru la banda asturiana de los años 90 más avanzada conceutualmente»

Enjoy!

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Lava Light

Tonton Macoute - Tonton Macoute (1971)

My favourite album from the RCA's Neon label small but interesting catalog. The only flaw in this Tonton Macoute's lone effort is probably the awful name of the band. What could have induced this uk quartet of brilliant and accomplished musicians to take inspiration from the cruel Haitian militia force under the control of François 'Papa Doc' Duvalier, notorious for its brutal oppression of political dissidents? We'll never know...
Apart from that, this 1971 album embodies perfectly the highest meaning of the term "progressive rock", being a truly successful and enjoyable merging of disparate musical styles (jazz, classical music, folk, pop and rock, all spiced with some ethnic flavours) which concur to create a unique sound. Although slightly dated here and there, Tonton Macoute remains a must listen for all lovers of true progressive music.

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Postcards from Italy (2) - Alcamo, Sicily

Open air parlour

Arkè String Project - Acquario (2004)

What a beautifully realized project it is! Featuring the five-piece Arkè Strings unit along with Stefano Bollani (piano) and Gabriele Mirabassi (clarinet), this set contains lush melodies written for jazzy themes. Here, bittersweet etudes give way to optimistic viewpoints tinged with Mediterranean underpinnings and other pleasantries. The artists finalize this production with a buoyant spin on Joe Zawinul’s Birdland. This Italian record label boasts a wealth of high caliber productions. Hence, another jazz entity in need of duly earned recognition here in the USA. (AllAboutJazz)

Nel 2004, con l’ingresso in pianta stabile del contrabbassista Stefano Dall’Ora, l’Arkè String Quartet (Carlo Cantini e Valentino Corvino, violini; Sandro Di Paolo, viola; Piero Salvatori, violoncello), attivo dal 1996, muta denominazione in Arkè String Project. Il nuovo quintetto debutta con questo bellissimo lavoro, che si avvale inoltre della partecipazione di ospiti prestigiosi come Stefano Bollani al pianoforte e Gabriele Mirabassi al clarinetto. Acquario è l’opera di un ensemble che dimostra di sapersi muovere con straordinaria scioltezza e originalità all’interno di linguaggi musicali stilisticamente eterogenei (musica classica e avanguardia contemporanea, jazz, pop, folk). Il risultato è un «jazz cameristico» in cui trovano spazio riferimenti alla musica colta europea (Elicoidale), echi di musica sacra (Jaco), suggestioni orientali (la dolcissima e maestosa Terra Antica, fra le mie tracce preferite), motivi simil celtici (la vibrante, memorabile Taranta), e persino un sentito e gustoso omaggio a Joe Zawinul (la conclusiva Birdland). Un album raffinato e coinvolgente, da ascoltare e riascoltare (e acquistare, mi raccomando…), e insieme un’ottima introduzione (per chi ancora non lo conoscesse) al ricco e variegato catalogo Egea.

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Reflections

Van Der Graaf Generator - Whatever Would Robert Have Said? (1970)

A rare VDGG video, dated 1970, from a session filmed for the cult programme Beat Club, that ran from September 1965 to December 1972. It was broadcast from Bremen, Germany on Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen, the national public TV channel of the ARD. The integral version of this video has been included in the first edition of the double dvd Inside Van Der Graaf Generator. To download the video, click on the words "buona visione" at the end of this post.

Un raro filmato dei VDGG, che ne documenta l'inedita session televisiva del 1970 per la nota (e benemerita) trasmissione della tv tedesca Beat Club. In quell'occasione il gruppo eseguì, oltre al brano qui postato, l'ottimo Darkness, altra colonna portante dell'album The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other, primo autentico caposaldo del "suono" VDGG dopo l'acerbo se pur promettente esordio di The Aerosol Grey Machine (nato, oltre tutto, come progetto solista del leader Hammill). Suono che è frutto di un approccio "jazzistico" a materiale "rock" (e non viceversa, come nel caso di molta della fusion coeva che, forse proprio per questo, dopo i primi brillanti risultati divenne presto prevedibile e scontata, per risollevarsi solo in tempi recenti - opinione, ovviamente, del tutto personale) e che ancora oggi, nonostante le inevitabili rughe dovute al passare del tempo, rimane fresco e sorprendente.
A quanto mi risulta, le versioni integrali dei due brani sono apparse soltanto sull'interessante (e oneroso) doppio dvd Inside Van Der Graaf Generator, ma, per insondabili motivi, ne sono state rimosse sin dalla prima ristampa. Troppa grazia...? In ogni caso, negli archivi musicali gratuiti reperibili in rete (come YouTube) si possono rintracciare questo e altri video dei VDGG risalenti ai primi anni '70, come quelli che li ritraggono nell'esecuzione di classici quali Theme One (che potrei "postarvi" in futuro, stay tuned...) e A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers, registrati per la tv belga.
Nel frattempo, non mi resta che augurarvi...

buona visione!

Three Colours

Ibn Battuta 2 / A Musical Homage

Embryo - Ibn Battuta (1994)

The German band Embryo is centered around multi instrumentalist Christian Burchard. Embryo was founded in the late 60s, after Burchard had played in several jazz combos and allegedly had spent a short time in Amon Düül II. Busloads of musicians have played together with Burchard in Embryo and there are probably not two Embryo albums that have the same line-up. Nevertheless, several musicians stayed with Burchard for quite a long time. […]

In addition, Embryo has played constantly with musicians from outside Europe, especially musicians from Asia and Africa. […] The continuous changes in the band line up and the wide range of musical styles probably typify the musical restlessness of Burchard. Although the band started as a Krautrock outfit, it was clear within a few albums that Burchard had a genuine interest in combining jazz (rock) and a large variety of ethnic music styles. Throughout the 70s, the jazz and ethnic influences were often embedded in a jazz rock/fusion format, while in the mid and late 80s the band often focused on purely ethnic music, especially from Africa. During the 90s, Embryo developed more or less into an «ethnic jazz» band, trying to combine and absorb all kinds of ethnic influences, but rarely restricting themselves to a strict compositional format and, as such, always allowing ample room for spontaneous musical interaction. Surprisingly, Embryo still exits after 30 years and the band still play many concerts and festivals, especially throughout Europe, the Middle East and Northern Africa. [...]

On Ibn Battuta, the focus has shifted towards music from the Middle East. Quite an excellent album mixing jazz, fusion and above all various styles of Arabic music. On the title track Edgar Hoffman plays some lovely Turkish clarinet. Simai Ka features a Coltrane like soprano sax solo by Chuck Henderson, and Edgar Hoffman plays a dreamy solo on the nay (a type of flute often used in North African/Arabic music). Burchard adds several virtuoso contributions on vibraphone/xylophone. Kletta is an interesting piece trying to merge percussive elements and structures of three continents. Dieter Serfas plays on the African talking drum and Yusuf Esqah joins on Indian tablas, while Burchard plays the hackbrett (hammer dulcimer). (gnosis2000.net)

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Ibn Battuta 1 / A Recommended Reading

Ross E. Dunn, The Adventures of Ibn Battuta
University of California Press, Los Angeles 1986

From the back cover of the american edition:

Abu Abdallah Ibn Battuta is celebrated as the greatest traveler of premodern times. The narrative of his extraordinary journeys stands, along with Marco Polo's, as the most ambitious and informative work of travel literature of the Middle Ages. Ross Dunn here recounts the great traveler's remarkable career, interpreting it within the cultural and social context of Islamic society and giving the reader both a biography of an extraordinary personality and a study of the hemispheric dimensions of human interchange in medieval times.

Dalla quarta di copertina dell'edizione italiana (Gli straordinari viaggi di Ibn Battuta, Garzanti, Milano 1993):

Nato nel 1304 a Tangeri, Abu 'Abdallah ibn Battuta è unanimemente riconosciuto come il più grande viaggiatore dell'epoca pre.moderna. Compì spedizioni non solo nelle regioni centrali dell'impero islamico, ma raggiunse anche le sue remote frontiere, India, Indonesia, Asia Centrale, Africa orientale e Sudan occidentale, attraverso l'equivalente di quarantaquattro paesi moderni. [...] Dopo una favolosa carriera lunga ventinove anni, Ibn Battuta redasse un libro di viaggi [noto per lo più con il titolo di Rihla, "viaggio"] che è, a un tempo, un resoconto di avventure e un ampio ritratto del mondo cosmopolita di principi, mercanti, studiosi e religiosi musulmani con cui venne in contatto nel corso della sua vita. Nessuno meglio di lui ci introduce nella dimensione internazionalista che fu propria della civiltà islamica. Le sue avventure ci offrono una visione più chiara e più ampia delle forze che fecero della storia dell'Eurasia e dell'Africa del XIV secolo un complesso e unitario sistema di interconnessioni.

Ibn Battuta in un manoscritto arabo