Giant Donut Discs ® – November 2011
1. 11. 2011 | Rubriky: Articles,Giant Donut Discs
[by Ken Hunt, London] This month’s batch has a lot to do with thinking about rhymes, rhythms, mythologies and conversations. Bert Jansch, Hedy West, La Piva Dal Carner, Grateful Dead, Jagjit Singh & Chitra Singh, Laura Marling, Marvin Gaye, Rapunzel & Sedayne, David Lindley y Wally Ingram, and Ali Akbar Khan supply this month’s inspirations.
Nottamun Town – Bert Jansch
No apologies for returning to Bert Jansch’s 1966 album once again. It was playing as the news broke on the morning of 5 October 2011 that he had died in the wee small hours. I have known and extolled Jack Orion since the year of its release. It had depths and darknesses unlike any of his two previous solo releases, in part because of his embracing of traditional material. Even the LP’s design signalled a bleakness or austerity with its matt black cover when laminating LP sleeves was the norm in Britain.
Nottamun Town’s narrative is mysterious. Still, that’s hardly a revelation. Its rhetorical contradictions and impossibles still captivate. It still communicates its otherworldliness. No wonder its Old Weird Europe tripped a switch in Dylan. From Jack Orion (Castle Music CMRCD304, 2001)
Ken Hunt’s obituary of Bert Jansch from The Independent of 6 October 2011 is to be found at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/bert-jansch-guitarist-whose-style-influenced-his-peers-across-five-decades-2366017.html
Brother Ephus – Hedy West
This innocent, light-hearted banjo and vocal piece peopled with characters with names like Moses and Ephus is addressed to “revenant sisters”. It made its first appearance on Hedy West’s debut Topic album called Old Times & Hard Times – Ballads And Songs From The Appalachians (1965). She learnt this version of the song, which she attributed probably to minstrel song origins. It is full of fun with observations about such as angels’ footwear (“What kind of slippers do the angels wear?/Golden slippers to speed on air/They wear fine slippers and wear fine socks/And drop every nickel into the missionary’s box…”) and the trustworthiness of preachers (“Some folks say a preacher won’t steal/But I caught two in my water-melon field…/A-preachin’ and a-prayin’ and singin’ all the time/Snippin’ water-melons off the vine…”). From Ballads and Songs from the Appalachians (Fellside FECD241, 2011) More information at http://www.fellside.com/
Al Confini d’Ungheria – La Piva Dal Carner
In music everything starts from somewhere and nothing starts from nowhere – whether in alignment with, or opposition to what has gawn before. The Italian folk band B.E.V. (Bonifica Emiliano Veneta) alerted me to this remarkable album focussing on music from Emilla, the region way up north in Italy. It was part of their back pages, their roots and it was part of what they were carrying forward. Piva is an Italian term for bagpipes. Loving the buzz, advice taken, I back-tracked.
This still remains one of my very most played albums to emerge from the Italian Folk Revival. There is a floatiness and earthiness about what they play. Sky and earth. White and grey clouds. Greenery and reds – wine, that is. Everything here is drenched in a Northern Italian sensibility. It remains one of the finest tip-offs of my life.
“La pecora alla mattina bela e alla sera balla.” Or “The sheep bleats in the morning and dances in the evening.” What a metaphor for life! This music is like meeting a stranger on the road – a handsome man, a beautiful woman – needing to share a basket of bread, cheese and olives and a couple of bottles of cheeky reds begging to be uncorked, exhale and be enjoyed.
The band was Claudio Pesky Caroli on double-bass, vocals and piano, Walter Rizzo on French bagpipes – which the album misspells as Frech, German for ‘cheeky’, though that sounds fitting too -, Galician bagpipe, Renaissance shawm, Breton oboe, recorders and vocals, Paolo Simonazzi on hurdy-gurdy, two-row melodeon, vocals and spoons and Marco Mainini on vocals, soprano sax, clarinet and guitars.
This courting song’s title translates as ‘To Hungary’s border’ and harkens back to a time when Hungary – a personification of the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s sheer expanse – amounted to the limit of people’s imagination in terms of distance and separation. “Voglio andare tanto lontano, dagli amici e dai parenti/Voglio fare i miei lamenti, qualcheduno mi sposera…” The translation the notes give is, “I want to go very far away, from my friends and my relations/I want to make my lamentations, somebody will marry me…” I know that parenti looks like ‘parents’ but let’s steer clear because the region’s dialect does not obey Standard Italian rules. From La pegrà a la mateina, la bèla e a la stra labala – Canti e balli d’Emillia/Songs and dances from Emilia (Dunya 217506735 2, 1995)
More information at www.felmay.it and about Bonifica Emiliano Veneta at http://www.bonificaemilianaveneta.it/
Dark Star – Grateful Dead
The so-called Europe ’72 tour was probably the Dead’s finest sallying forth. They had an abundance of tip-top new compositions, a corpus of old and new work of a quality they would not surpass, only add to. It was also the last innings of Ron ‘Pigpen’ McKernan (organ, harmonica, percussion and lead vocals) who died in March 1973. He joined Jerry Garcia (electric guitars and vocals), Donna Jean Godchaux (vocals), Keith Godchaux (keyboards), Bill Kreutzmann (drums, percussion), Phil Lesh (electric bass guitar) and Bob Weir (rhythm electric guitar, vocals).
This version of their singular and signature voyage into new space is from the Bickershaw Festival in May 1972. They had so much to play for. It gets weepy at times but it soars and rides the up-draughts beautifully. From Europe’72 Vol. 2 (Grateful Dead Productions R2 528639, 2011)
More information about this and other releases from the 1972 European tour archives at http://www.dead.net/
Aaye Hain Samjhane Log – Jagjit Singh & Chitra Singh
This LP must have been reissued many times over. This is the original vinyl version from the husband and wife duo that redefined ghazal (and nazm), in their case, the Urdu-language version of ghazal in particular. Neither had ghazal to the fore in their cultural backgrounds. Jagjit was born in Bikaner State, now modern-day Rajasthan of Sikh parents while his wife Chitra had been born in Bengal. There were only two duet tracks on this, their breakthrough LP. One finished each side of the album. This track concluded one of the most revolutionary albums in the history in Indian popular music. So much flows from this work. It was also the sound of sluice gates opening and if others failed to maintain standards, for the most part Jagjit Singh & Chitra Singh did. From The Unforgettables (Gramophone Company of India ECSD 2780, 1977)
Ken Hunt’s obituary of Jagjit Singh from The Independent of 13 October 2011 is to be found at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jagjit-singh-singer-hailed-as-the-maestro-of-indian-ghazal-2369631.html
Don’t Ask Me Why – Laura Marling
To have a singer-songwriter to excite the imagination as much as Joni Mitchell prowling the earth is a very good thing indeed. Yes, Laura Marling’s been hailed another folk darling, especially given how she’s been taken to so many people’s bosoms. She is one of those musicians who summon images and memories of people before her while their voice sounds totally their own. The sound she makes is splendid. Plus, from reading a few interviews with her around the time of A Creature I Don’t Know‘s release I realise that there are currents and undercurrents to much of her material that are engaging. Just as I do when listening to Joni Mitchell or Jackson Browne or Judee Sill, I am willing to wait and have meaning imparted (or not). I mean that as high praise. From A Creature I Don’t Know (Virgin Records CDV3091, 2011)
What’s Going On – Marvin Gaye
Really, really tried to pin-point when the album or this track entered my life. It was recorded in May 1971. So for 40 years it has been part of the framework of my life. Still going strong. From What’s Going On (Motown 013 404-2, 2002)
Porcupine In November Sycamore – Rapunzel & Sedayne
As an opening flourish, this track is pretty damn good. The album notes say it’s “our old field holler in the Javanese Pelog mode, inspired by the North American Tree Porcupine in Blackpool Zoo…” Rapunzel & Sedayne recorded this album between January and February 2011. Some of Sedayne’s vocal phrasing carries of echoes of those who have gone before in the folk revival. To these ears, some of the stresses and glides in Blackwaterside sound Anne Briggs-like while True Thomas has a smack of June Tabor about it in its phrasing. Doesn’t matter one iota. Learn from the best and make what was theirs your own. Rapunzel & Sedayne keep a lot of air in their arrangements. I like that. From Songs From The Barley Temple (Folk Police FPR 001, 2011)
More information at http://www.folkpolicerecordings.com/rapunzel–sedayne.html
When A Guy Gets Boobs – David Lindley y Wally Ingram
People develop strategies, diversions or bad habits before hitting the microphone. This one’s not big, it’s not clever but a few years back I start singing this John Lee Hooker-mated-with-Woody Allen song of David Lindley’s before going on stage. Now I’m not given to singing in public but greeting the public with a smile is no bad thing.
It begins, “When a guy gets boobs it don’t look so good…” – something few would deny – and it just takes off and descends into a world of lardy butts, giant donuts, burgers and fries, blood vessels a-clogging and bits a-drooping. It was recorded somewhere in Europe in 2003. It works for me, oh yes. From Live! (no name, no number, 2004) http://www.davidlindley.com/
Rāg Durgā – Ali Akbar Khan
No apologies for the inclusion of another track from this album after October’s Rāg Hemant. It’s a priceless album and a combination of artistic wellspring and whirlpool and culturally the deepest of musical pools to dive into.
Durga is the embodiment of divine female strength. The Goddess Durgā is generally depicted riding a tigress or lioness. From Indian Architexture (Water Lily Acoustics WLA-ES-20-SACD, 2001)
For more information about Water Lily Acoustics visit http://waterlilyacoustics.com/main.htm
The image of the Durgā mandir (temple) in Jalandhar at night is © Santosh Sidhu/Swing 51 Archives. The copyright of all other images lies with the respective photographers, companies and image-makers.