CACHAO/ THE MASTER SESSIONS/ VOLUME 2 (Crescent Moon/Epic, 555 Madison Avenue/ New York, NY, 10022) consists of thirteen tunes drawn from the same 1994 sessions that produced the Grammy-winning first installment. The Cuban acoustic upright bass virtuoso, composer and band-leader has obviously hand-picked his team and they inhabit the grooves body and soul. Some of the stalwarts on hand include Paquito D'Rivera on clarinet and alto sax, Alfredo "Chocolate" Armenteros on trumpet, Paulinho Da Costa on percussion, Nestor Torres on flute and Richie Flores on congas. The actor Andy Garcia, whose personal mission to gain a wider audience for Cachao got these recordings made, sings back-up and plays some percussion. The material is a festival of styles from throughout the Island and ranges from torrid to suave. The rumba gets personal here and a delirious son montuno celebrates one of Cuba's most essential time signatures. Furiously engaged descargas (jams) send spirits soaring and inhibitions packing. An earthy guaracha with massed horns, a plinking tres guitar and call-and-response vocals is full of news about the daily grind as luscious danzas, which are spun out of impassioned string sections fronted by woodwinds, surge against a post-colonial formality. A bolero son called "Romantica Mujer (Romantic Woman)" is a pantheistic drama presented with the worldly intimacy of a bar-room serenade. During "Eleggua", a dialogue between an aggressive mixed chorus and frenzied drummers emerges from Yoruba history lived and recalled. Cachao's bass supplies a point of departure for the tunes and points the way home, either snapping at our heels at center stage or growling in fun from a warm corner. As a composer, his homegrown virility is tempered by the finesse of his conservatory training. He relates stories about everyday people, jokes and matters of the heart while visiting local deities draw near, joining in the dances that they have demanded and inspired.
TROUBADOURS OF BRITISH FOLK (Rhino Records, 10635 Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90025-4900 (310) 474-4778), is utter perfection, consisting of three archival compilations that trace the history of England's mother lode of tradition and those who mined it. While the sets are ideal for nostalgic folkies and old hippies, they will also dazzle newcomers. However, these are not mere samplers. They are fascinating aural documentaries that will stir up tidal waves of Deja Vu. Some of the rarer cuts are culled from sources such as 78 RPM shellac recordings and have never been available on CD before and, unlike aging Boomers' memories, will supposedly never wear out. The individual discs carry detailed track notes plus a counterpoint of insightful essays contributed by the artists and their cohorts.
If your concept of this music involves crinkly-haired sopranos singing fey little ditties, VOLUME ONE/ UNEARTHING THE TRADITION will quickly disabuse you. Whether urban or rural in origin, most of the tunes originated in the oral traditions of barely literate working folk. The banjo and washboard wielding Lonnie Donegan Skiffle Group jumps in with "Rock Island Line" (an American tune), which spawned thousands of imitative bands and was a major influence on the development of British rock and roll. Davy Graham's rhythmically lopsided "Angi" became a guitar staple in folk clubs worldwide, while Donovan's lovely "Colours" hails from a youthful period of gentle questioning prior to his departure for fairyland. Jean Redpath's delicious mezzo makes a rueful poem of "Love Is Teasin'" and A.L. Lloyd spins a ruttish tale of vile intentions in "The Two Magicians". The lyrics may veer toward fancy, but a poignant gravity is underscored by the acoustic values of the arrangements - except during the last cut. This brings us to VOLUME TWO/ FOLK INTO ROCK, which explains how the present began to infiltrate and embellish the movement, to the dismay of purist navel-gazers. Early music, psychedelia and a blue tinge were stirred into the blend and people got plugged in, paralleling developments across the pond. "Matty Groves", a bloodthirsty tale of adultery and retribution, is given a savage coda with choo-choo fiddle licks by Fairport Convention. "Mr. Fox" is an original tune whose violence amid the fantastic recalls the novelist Angela Carter's nightshade esthetic. Traffic's celebrated "John Barleycorn" is a frisky version of a corn-myth as old as the ages. Yet islands of quiet empathy appear, such as Ralph McTell's "Streets Of London" with its sketches of lonely town-dwellers. The trail of the country bard was still fresh amid the electrification.
VOLUME THREE/ AN EVOLVING TRADITION takes the survey up to 1993. There are a lot of new songs that employ a purist's vocabulary, making constructive use of the past while reporting tales of the here-and-now. Relationships between men and women are finally portrayed with maturity and fairness. The traditional sources describe a past that was notoriously unkind to the "faire ladies" whose exploits and tragedies made such great copy. Dougie McLean displays a die-hard's disdain for the newfangled in his ballad, "Caledonia", as do Silly Wizard in the enchanting "The Broom Of The Cowden Knowles". While the retro tunes glow with a back-to-basics patina, there are also some large scale anthems such as Home Service's "Sorrow/Babylon", with its melodramatic quotes from "Dies Irae". Fave oddity: Billy Bragg's in-your-face but affecting "Between The Wars".
THE RING SESSIONS/ IRISH TRADITIONAL MUSIC ON FIDDLE AND GUITAR (Phaeton Records, Distributed by Rounder Records, One Camp Street, Cambridge, MA, 02140 (617) 354-0700)was recorded in County Waterford and is a winning parade of both older classics and original tunes. The Irish-born second generation fiddler James Kelly's technique has an unruffled classical elegance while the folkloric veracity of his playing conveys soul and wit. Zan McCloud hails from the Appalachian foothills and his study of the music of the Scots-Irish immigrants of that region informs his guitar and bouzouki stylings with a touch of breakneck adventure and humor. While respectful and authentic, the album is not a polite academic exercise and the musicians can be as mischievous as they are beguiling. A slight horizontal swagger mitigates the usual up-and-down approach to jigs and reels, which livens things up. However, the "Lament For Terence Macdonough" is a majestic fiddle solo containing a small universe of dignified pathos and it's unforgettable.
SARGAM (Music Of The World, PO Box 3640, Chapel Hill, NC 27515-3620) has a relaxed and radiant sensuality which will appeal even to those who are daunted by the formidable intricacies of Indian Classical music. The santur (hammered dulcimer) mastery of Tarun Bhattacharya is accompanied by a consort consisting of a shenai (folkloric oboe or shawm), tabla drums and a droning tamboura. The opening raga, Ahir Bhairav, begins with an alap or unaccompanied preamble. The plaintive main melody is then traded back and forth between the harp-like santur and the extroverted shenai. Interestingly, both instruments were considered too unsophisticated for Classical forms and strictly for the countryside until quite recently. The balance of the recording includes an additional raga and a pair of dhuns (folk melodies). "Sargam" offers pleasures that either initiates or tyros can approach in their own fashion.
Copyright 1996 Christina Roden.
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