Giant Donut Discs ® – June 2013
30. 6. 2013 | Rubriky: Articles,Giant Donut Discs
[by Ken Hunt, London] Oh, the wind, the rain and sun. This month Jyotsna Srikanth, Allman Brothers Band, Simon Thacker’s Svara-Kanti, Dunaj & Iva Bittová, Jefferson Airplane, Rosalie Sorrels Véronique Sanson, Joan Jeanrenaud, Martin Simpson, Fraunhofer Saitenmusik supply the umbrellas and the parasols.
Brovabarama – Jyotsna Srikanth
This is the centrepiece of one of the finest Karnatic albums to cross my path thus far in 2013. Jyotsna Srikanth plays South Indian-style violin and this particular track is imagination distilled. From Call of Bangalore (Riverboat Records/World Music Network TUGCD1072, 12013)
Ken Hunt’s review of the album is in the online sampling of CD reviews in the summer 2013 issue of fRoots magazine at at http://www.frootsmag.com/content/issue/reviews/
Mountain Jam – Allman Brothers Band
In Prague, it turns out, under certain meteorological and optical conditions something strange happens. From the south, say from Braník, looking towards Hradkany – the castle – a mountain may heave into view just to the right of Hradkany. Ordinarily it isn’t there, isn’t visible. Yet the mountain is real and it has a name: Milešovka.
It is some seventy or so kilometres away. On being told this tale – and how rare it is to see it – Donovan’s There Is A Mountain immediately sprang to mind. It is a song that got referenced by both the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers Band in jams. “First there is a mountain…” and then there isn’t. That sort of stuff. And that transmuted into the Allman Brothers’ take on the song from 1971. And that is why Milešovka figures here in an aural form because during a break in the torrential rains that caused, amongst others, the Vlatava, Elbe, Danube and Saale to rise and flood, the air cleared and then there was a mountain. From Eat A Peach (Island Def Jam Music B0006795-02, 2006)
SwarAmant – Simon Thacker’s Svara-Kanti
Rakshasa, the Simon Thacker’s Svara-Kanti’s debut, succeeds on many counts and levels. They are a four-piece consisting of Japjit Kaur (vocals), Sarvar Sabri (tabla), Jacqueline Shave (violin) and Simon Thacker (classical guitar). What it weaves, it weaves with a dexterity and surefootedness that is astounding. It has an abundance of surprises to spring in its ability to wrong-foot expectations and paint smiles on listeners’ faces.
Its core musical fabric is spun from art music influences from the South Asian subcontinent, a little from the Far East and a pleasing amount from contemporary Western classical elements. The best exemplar for that last one is the US composer Terry Riley’s SwarAmant for guitar, violin and tabla. It is a nuanced composition to compete with Riley’s 2004 composition, The Cusp of Magic that the Kronos Quartet and the pipa player Wu Man recorded.
A review proper of the album appears in the August 2013 issue (177) of the London-based magazine Jazzwise. From Rakshasa (Slap The Moon Records STMRCD02 2013)
Loads more information at http://www.simonthacker.com/svara-kanti.htm
Dunaj – Dunaj & Iva Bittová
Dunaj means ‘Danube’ in Czech. Watching the Vlatava brought thoughts of the Danube and the flooding going on in Budapest. The energy of this track connected with images of the Danube in full spate. This record was first released in 1988. From Dunaj & Iva Bittova (Pavian Records PM0064-2, 2012)
Escalay – Joan Jeanrenaud
This is a composition that translates as ‘Water Wheel’. Its composer is Hamza El Din, one of the musicians who revolutionised my mind. The Kronos Quartet have done a similar job on my head. This composition, here arranged for celli, figures on the Kronos album Pieces of Africa (1992), for which I wrote the CD booklet notes. It proved to be a project that opened people’s minds in ways that were totally unimaginable whilst putting together its music.
As part of the project I interviewed Hamza El Din (1929-2006) and we stayed in touch afterwards, with me writing about him in various places thereafter, up to and after his death. I wrote a UK national newspaper obituary about him.
Joan Jeanrenaud was the cellist on the Pieces of Africa recording. On Metamorphosis she revisits the composition. Over more than 17 minutes, she retells the story of Hamza’s water wheel from her own perspective. It is a candid performance to be put on replay and drunk like water from the well. From The Metamorphosis (jj23556, 2002)
Pretty As You Feel – Jefferson Airplane
This was a single for Jefferson Airplane in October 1971. It was one of the highlights of that year’s ho-hum album Bark. After their former drummer Joey Covington died on 4 June 2013, this was the first piece of music of theirs that got played. It is still taut and tense but shorter than remembered. Papa John Creach’s fiddle still thrills. From Jefferson Airplane Loves You (RCA 61110-2, 1992)
More at http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/joey-covington-jefferson-airplane-drummer-dead-at-67-20130605
Jackie and Murphy – Martin Simpson
This is song by Martin Simpson about Jack Simpson Kirkpatrick (1892-1915), a donkey called Murphy and the Dardanelles. Jackie was a medical orderly, a volunteer with the 3rd Field Ambulance. Together with Murphy the donkey, he brought the wounded in. He died at Gallipoli and was nominated for a Victoria Cross for bravery. As Martin Simpson relates, the honour was turned down “because he was nominated ‘under the wrong category of heroism‘ [his italics]”. I first listened to this song whilst driving but there was no chance to pull over to read what Martin Simpson had written about the song’s inspiration, so I kept repeating the song, letting the song wash over me. The song came about as a thematic suggestion from June Tabor. From Vagrant Stanzas (Topic TXCD589, 2013)
Ragweed Ruth – Rosalie Sorrels
This song has a Ken Kesey lyric at its heart. It’s a song with a lot of words and Rosie Sorrels negotiates them well. Accompanying her vocal are Barbara Higbie on piano, Laurie Lewis on fiddle, Mitch Greenhill on guitar, Bruce Barthol on bass and Brent Rampone on drums. Another interesting song-story. On this occasion its choice was prompted by an ignoramus’ boorish and drunken rant about subjects he knew nothing about but felt quite prepared to snap out dismissive judgements about. He had never heard of Ken Kesey but that did not stop him. From Borderline Heart (Green Linnet GLCD 2119, 1995)
Bernard’s Song – Véronique Sanson
This is the opening track from the French singer Véronique Sanson’s fifth album released in 1977, in the middle of the period during which she was married to Steve Stills – that is, from 1973 to 1979. It has a US vibe and the sort of groove that Little Feat conjure (though it is not them backing her).
Bernard’s Song (Il est de nulle part) cheerfully breezed back into my life, courtesy of Channel 21 travelling through the Ardennes. Giant Donut Discs aren’t necessarily meant for forever. From Hollywood, 1977)
All mein Gedanken – Fraunhofer Saitenmusik
The news that Fraunhofer Saitenmusik’s co-founder Heidi Zink had died on 23 June 2013 struck me particularly hard. Heidi played several instruments but her main one was the Hackbrett, a variety of hammer dulcimer. She elevated the instrument to new heights. I truly believe that.
This particular piece – it translates as ‘All my thoughts’ – is a traditional song from 1460, according to notes to this career overview. This rendition has Richard Kurländer on harp and Heidi on Hackbrett is a throwback to the band’s earliest days when they were a duo performing in Munich venues under the name of »Heidi und Richard«. As Heidi Zink’s commentary on the track explains the arrangement has little to do with 1460. The performance is suffused with a romanticism as envisioned by its arranger Walter Götze. Exquisite. From Das Album 1978-1998 (Trikont US-0254, 1998)
The copyright of all images lies with the respective photographers, companies and image-makers. The Martin Simpson clutcher is David Lindley, July 2013 © Santosh Sidhu/Swing 51 Archives.