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Selections from the folks at
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cdRoots Home Page |
Selections from the folks at
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New to cdRoots?
Please read the FAQs!
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fROOTS (that's eff-roots, formerly Folk Roots) is one of the primary editorial sources for information not only on the music you love, but the music you don't know you love yet! Their insightful (and often inciteful) articles and reviews leave no stone unturned in their quest for unique, genuine roots music from around the world. These CDs are by some of the artists recently featured in the pages of fROOTS, with quotes from the magazine. If you are ready to really explore the world, you can do no better than to consider subscribing to fROOTS, the magazine that covers Local Music From Out There
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CDs from recent editions of |
Kristi Stassinapoulou - Taxidoscopio
The Boat Band - A Trip To The Lakes Women Of Egypt 1924-1931 Midnight In Mali Le Rhythme De La Parole 2 |
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Other CDs for fRoots readers
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Reviews from the pages of fRoots
Taxidoscopio - Kristi Stassinopoulou and Stathis Kalyviotis
- 16.99
fRoots says: The significance of the title and its new mutation was that these are mostly songs written on travels - snapshots, sketches and reflections gathered up 'in vans and airplanes, in airport lounges, in dressing rooms, hotel rooms and bamboo huts' - around Europe, North America and Brazil, Armenia, India, out there and at home. Kristi and partner Stathis have long had a world vision in their music, which has kept them somewhat underground in Greece as their international appeal has grown. But what they've evolved over their last two albums has gone beyond fusion, a slightly retro psychedelic feel and specific spicing. It has turned into a completely unique, utterly recognisable and forward-looking style of their own. And in that distillation, it seems to have become more distinctly Greek - a strange, other-worldly Greekness, for sure, but a 21st century Greekness that's modern within its own culture, out there, ahead and rooted rather than just banging off some local language version of what the globised industry dictates. No predictable Greek rock, Europop or hip-hop here then.'
Master of the Turkish Clarinet - Mustafa Kandirali
- 19.99
Mustafa Kandirali is probably the most famous living Turkish clarinettist and, arguably, the finest. Like most traditional clarinet players he comes from a Gypsy background and possesses a phenomenal degree of virtuosity. Since childhood he has been a professional musician and commands a huge repertoire encompassing many genres - not only Gypsy traditions but also classical, pop, folk dance and traditional song. To all these he brings an instantly recognisable manner of playing that entails fearless improvisation, subversive high spirits and some characteristic technical tricks - in particular a kind of slide - that he applies to all genres. The packaging here, in particular the Impulse-style black and white cover, recall jazz and Miles Davis in particular, and the comparison between the two improvising geniuses is apt. This is an infectious, upbeat and highly attractive production.The full range of Kandirali's playing is represented, from the profoundly knowledgable taksim in mode Karcigar to the exuberent, irreverent and quite brilliant Modern Anadol, and the effect of this diversity is actually to underline the essential unity of Kandirali's style. The accompaniment is quite stunning, with some of the finest percussion you will hear on a CD of this kind - and check out the bagpipe imitations played by the violinist on Kirbaç Romani. Melih Duygulu's sleeve notes are first class, touching on just about all aspects of Kandirali's life and art. Duygulu is one of Turkey's best writers on traditional music, and I hope we will soon see an English translation of his recent book on Gypsy music.- Chris Williams
Nordik Tree - Alakotila, Järvelä, Kennemark
- 16.99
It was meeting two fiddles and harmonium band Forsmark Tre from Västergotland in southwest Sweden at Kaustinen festival in 1984 that set Arto and Timo of JPP on a course of adding chordal harmonies and arrangements to Kaustinen fiddling. One of Forsmark Tre's two fiddlers was Hans Kennemark. In Nordik Tree, Arto Järvelä and Timo Alakotila form a trio with Kennemark, again two fiddles and harmonium, with occasional swaps to viola or octave mandolin. The material on Nordik Tree is a mix of traditional tunes from Västergotland and Ostrobothnia with compositions by Järvelä and a couple by Kennemark including a fine bridal-style waltz, All Den Kärlek. More intimate in feel than JPP, and somewhat more Swedish (but Västergotlandic, not Dalarna's lurching polskas), while still with some of those ingenious JPP-style harmonisations and changes, the trio makes a full, elegant sound, as expertly played as one would expect from these three.
La Fabrica Occitana - Gai Saber
- 16.99
The ensemble Gai Saber attempts to combine the spirit, music and culture of the Occitan region of north Italy with the sounds and techniques of contemporary electronica. Their earlier album, Electroch'òc, struggled to get the blend right, but this new release is a major improvement. The electronic instrumentation is far more sophisticated and the band has become increasingly adept at integrating the contrasting extremes of folk and electronica. There are few traditional works represented, but the majority of the material is original and examines the place of Occitan culture in the modern world, with songs such as Occitania Que T'en Vas (My Vanishing Occitana) - a bold statement of Occitan pride and Garda Aquesta Tèrra, a song about ecology set to a lively bourreé rhythm. The band seems to see the mass media as one of the culprits of diminishing regional identity. l'Òme Que Beica La Television rages against the manipulation of TV, whereas Musica Libra criticises the homogenised output of radio and bemoans the lack of coverage for regional music and culture. Most fRoots readers will be able to readily identify with this particular song. - Michael Hingston
The Fox and The Lion - Trio Kavkasia
- 15.99
Here's a superb example of the cross-culturalism that seems to be springing up everywhere these days. Kavkasia are three American men who have been immersed in the vocal music of Georgia for many years now. Georgian polyphony is almost exclusively in three parts, and a trio is possibly the ideal way to explore it. With only one voice to a part, it's much easier to hear and understand exactly what's happening in the music. Those who learn Georgian music will sooner or later come across the idiosyncracies of its tuning system - musicologists agree that the harmonic structure is based around a perfect fifth (rather than a perfect octave, which is what we're used to), but they disagree about the notes in-between - there's much variety in traditional performance, and much influence from Western tempered tuning. In many Georgian recordings this is not too obvious, as neutral thirds are made either major or minor, but Kavkasia some time ago made the bold jump of trying to reconstruct the original tuning of songs even when Georgians will sing them in the tempered scale. This is something few Georgian choirs have even attempted. If that's too theoretical an explanation, let me just say that some of this CD might sound very strange on first hearing. These are harmonies that we're not used to - and certainly not trained to appreciate. Give it time, and you will feel the richness soon enough. There's a good variety here: church songs, love songs, work songs, ritual songs and so on. The different regions of the country have very significantly different styles and many of them are represented too - and some of the songs have been rarely recorded before, if at all. Not all are equally successful, and some of this is the fault of the location - a New York monastery which has a rich acoustic that suits the church songs very well but makes the faster songs and some of the instrumental accompaniment rather smudgy - a more neutral ambience would have been a significant improvement much of the time. Musically, my main criticism would be one of tonality: comparing for example the Telauri Maqruli with that of the Tsinandali choir (who they learnt it from), they have mastered the intricate ornamentation that characterises songs from eastern Georgia but the first difference is a lack of sonic richness. When many Georgian choirs tackle the louder songs their sound is incredibly rich in overtones which combine with the harmonies to create a very intense sound. Kavkasia are clearly tackling it at lesser volume and missing something in the process. Secondly, and possibly more importantly, the tone of voice of the upper two parts is not very well matched. This may sound like a niggle but it's actually critically important to the aesthetic of the music and why this track doesn't work for me at all. All that said, this is still an impressive and useful CD. The notes are as usual exemplary, with both sources and translations. The church songs are especially lovely, and the sheer achievement is immense.- Geoff Burton.
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