Dédale - No Past (1995)

Musique traditionelle de demain, traditional music of tomorrow. It was true yesterday, it will be true in the future, and for a very long time. A simply amazing record by one of the best French avant-folk bands of the last twenty years. Highly recommended.

Enfants des musiques et danses traditionnelles, les membres de Dedale ont souhaité dès 1988 capter d’autres traces : celles du jazz ou des musiques orientales qui inspirent leurs compositions, leurs improvisations et leurs solos; ou encore une forme inventée de rock ethnique instrumental dans lequel ils puisent leur son et leur énergie.
Tout en goûtant un éclectisme musical revendiqué par le groupe - influences pluriculturelles, instruments traditionnels employés dans un style contemporain, rigueur de l’écriture et improvisation - le public que Dédalea croisé en Rhône-Alpes, en France et en Europe a pu replacer ces musiques et danses dans leur réel devenir : celui d’une renaissance. (MusTraDem)

[…] This is an entirely instrumental recording, with the main instrumentation being the button box of Norbert Pignol, the whistles and recorders of Christophe Sacchettini, and the hurdy-gurdy of Isabelle Pignol. Oh, yes, I forgot to mention - Dedale are French. Actually, it's easy to forget their nationality because this does not sound like French music is supposed to. It has similarities to La Bamboche at their best, and to Ti Jaz, but Dedale go further and faster. In fifteen years of listening to French trad folk, I've never heard the degree of energy and innovation which Dedale bring to their music. And can they play! The musicianship is awesome. The woodwind struck me particularly, soaring over the other instruments with a life of its own, and not a finger or breath out of place. The first time I heard it, I was just so jealous! The box-player's no slouch either, playing the kind of stuff which usually only the Irish play on a two-row box, and also writing half the tunes on the album. Hurdy-gurdies are sometimes a matter of taste, but this one is so tasteful that I'd be amazed if anyone was put off by it. If you don't know much about hurdy-gurdy players, then this is a good place to start: if you're a connoisseur, then this lady will knock you out. She wrote the other half of the tunes, and can turn her wheel to Balkan, Berrichon or Blues as required.
The tunes are nicely varied, with tracks from under a minute to nearly ten, some quite close to traditional French dance music, others more experimental. There's a touch of bagpipe, a touch of dulcimer, a touch of clarinet, some nice slap bass, and just the right amount of keyboards and percussion. (Alex Monaghan, folkmusic.net)

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