Various Artists Various Artists the Elizabethan

fR376 PAGES 52-71 (17 Pgs)_Layout 1 28/08/2014 17:00 Page 7 f 58 VARIOUS ARTISTS The Rough Guide To The Music Of Palestine World Music Network RGNET1314 What a pertinent release. With the Israel / Gaza conflict experiencing a particularly bloody recapitulation, the World Music Net- work continue their fantastic series of Rough Guides with the Rough Guide To The Music Of Palestine, focusing on the often over- looked culture of the troubled region. One might expect this album to be chock-full of Palestine’s particular brand of Levantine classical music and Egyptian- inspired orchestral works that are seemingly ever-present in the Arabic world, but, while some great examples of these are included, they sit amongst a diverse line-up that includes hip-hop, punk, pop, reggae and a fair amount of jazz. Full credit should be given to compilers Nili Belkind and Nadeem Karkabi for managing to squeeze in so many styles without any sounding out of place or Photo: Judith Burrows the album feeling too muddled. With such a range of genres, it’s quite difficult to choose particular highlights, although Sanaa Mous- sa’s indie-acoustic tribute to Ottoman-period Palestinian songsters on Wea’younha and the driving modern jazz of Michel Sajrawy’s Tojann stand out in particular. As with most Rough Guide releases, The The Elizabethan Nancy Kerr Music Of Palestine comes with a bonus album – Reflections Of Palestine by buzuk player THE ELIZABETHAN overtly ‘Elizabethan’-inflected pieces Ramzi Aburedwan. Mixing Arabic classical (Askew’s lively medley of pavane and ground music with jazz, tango and French elements, SESSION bass and Hardy’s lament for Shakespeare’s this bonus is an appropriate and complimen- The Elizabethan Session Quercus QRCD001 Hermia) easily transcend any potential tary addition to the Rough Guide. charges of pastiche. The collection’s attention to the less ‘tra- Reject those images of twee musos in doublet Finally, as regards final presentation, ditional’ side of Palestine’s musical spectrum and hose jamming on lutes and viols! Instead track-by-track personnel credits are the only can be seen as a positive, humanising tool at this is another ‘folk celebrity challenge’ in the significant omission from the splendid, a time where most images we see of Palestine manner of the Cecil Sharp and Darwin Pro- attractively designed package bestowed on are of the ruined buildings and wounded jects. For The Elizabethan Session, eight lead- this satisfying creative endeavour. civilians of Gaza. It also serves as a reminder ing folk artists spent five days in March this www.efdss.org of some of the great culture that may well be year at a Herefordshire farmhouse creating, disappearing before our eyes. Even dis- to a commission from Folk By The Oak and www.folkbytheoak.com regarding the timeliness of such a release, the EFDSS, new music inspired by facets of David Kidman however, it’s still a brilliant and varied compi- the Elizabethan age. The whole exercise was lation from a country that is not necessarily completed in just under a week, and the famous for its musical output. music was premièred immediately thereafter STONE BREATH www.worldmusic.net at a concert at Hatfield Old Palace. The roll- call comprised Martin Simpson, Nancy Kerr, Children Of Hum Hand/Eye H/E 060 Jim Hickson Bella Hardy, Jim Moray, John Smith, Hannah Stone Breath have existed for the best part James, Rachel Newton and Emily Askew – of two decades, steadily amassing a devoted most of whom are no strangers to artistic col- (oc)cult following for their uniquely eldritch VARIOUS ARTISTS laboration. Showing true imagination in con- psych-folk. Now a duo of Timothy and Pryd- 1970’s Algerian Folk and Pop Sublime ception and execution, they readily absorbed wyn, this all-acoustic, hand-made music, with Frequencies SF 088CD the spirit of the era in their new composi- two voices, Celtic harp, flute, guitar, bouzou- tions, with the emphasis on presenting fresh ki and whistles, demonstrates a clear (and This well-researched compilation brings insights into events and situations from the acknowledged) debt to The Incredible String together a range of styles and artists to shed Elizabethan age, often by telling the personal Band. Don’t, however, expect to find any a light on the vibrant music scene of 1970s stories of characters from that era. traces of a funny little hedgehogs or paint- Algeria. Across twelve tracks we are treated Each musician inevitably gets a turn in ing boxes here, but rather plenty of stuff to everything from haunting folk duets to the spotlight, yet every track brings a distinc- about ‘the eyes of the dead’, ‘dark veils’, a eastern-influenced rock riffs that remind of tive air of white-heat creativity to the stage ‘scarecrow’s wake’, and ‘the wound from Led Zeppelin. with its strong collaborative ambience. At risk which you bleed’. Highlights include Rachid and Fethi’s of cherry-picking nonetheless, I’d cite Kerr’s The six tracks that comprise Children Of Habit En Ich, a psychedelic rollercoaster driv- Broadside, which magically interweaves a Hum are bolstered by a generously equal en by FX-heavy guitars and rhythm, which is hybrid of ballad and shanty around and out of number of bonus tracks, including a none incredibly well-produced and an insight into unfathomably tricky guitar licks from Simpson more black version of the traditional the diversity of 1970s Algerian music. As with and Smith, who next (on Elizabeth Spells Famous Flower Of Serving Men. Brother many of the other tracks on this record Habit Death) convey, with a brooding, menacing Blood, Sister Moon and Song For The Fold- En Ich has a fascinating backstory which grunge, Elizabeth’s inner turmoil when sign- ing Leaves, with its sitar drones and the includes the birth of Rai and the tragic mur- ing Mary Queen Of Scots’ death warrant. Lon- familiar line: “first there is a mountain, then der of Rachid Baba. don is wild-card, Smith’s powerful reflection it’s gone”, are pure Mogadonovan, while Likewise Idir’s stunning A Vava Inouva, on life as a commoner in Elizabethan England. Just Like The River shares its title with a an international hit when released, sets tradi- Kerr’s other principal contributions are Robin Williamson song from 2008. tional poetry to delicate folk guitar to raptur- also standouts: The Shores Of Hispaniola There is much to admire here, from the ous effect. Elsewhere Les Djinns call upon views Gloriana’s slave trade through the eyes intricately picked melodies to the darkly- rhythms that might be familiar to Tuareg rock of an African female, while The Oak Casts His crafted poetry and the band’s laudable and somehow combine them with Can-like Shadow explores timeless symbolism within refusal to countenance anything approaching riffs while Smail Chaoui swoons his way the English countryside and Suspicious Mind MOR or ‘twee-folk’, but the monotone vocals through N’Sani N’Sani. (a co-write with Smith), posits that Liz was a – permanently at a default setting of This disc is a mixed bag with a real country singer at heart! Simpson’s telling por- ‘unremittingly dark foreboding,’ can eventu- breadth of music which makes for interesting trait of Christopher Marlowe exposes the ally become wearisome. It’s low, low down in and sometimes stirring listening. writer’s dark side, whereas Newton’s chiming, the gloom… beautifully poised Come Live With Me bril- www.sublimefrequencies.com/ www.stonebreath.org liantly conjoins Marlowe’s own verses with Liam Thompson Raleigh’s poetic response. Even the most Steve Hunt.

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