|
|
EthnoBass
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
EthnoBass
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gai Saber: | Gai Saber Homepage |
| Gustavo Gancedo: | Have a look at:
Gustavo Sancedo Tango Septeto (Argentina) feat. singer Debora Russ and dancers Yannick Juarez / Kahena Saïghi og Jeusa Vasconcelos / Eric Müller at Førde Internasjonale Folkemusikkfestival 2003 (pictures and review). |
| Garmarna Homepage | |
| Agnes Buen Garnås: | Norwegian singer in traditional "kved" style, born in 1946. A major influence and inspiration for younger upcoming kved singers. She's at traditionalist, but she also blending her roots with modern music, her collaboration with jazz saxophonist Jan Garbarek at the album "Rosenfole" is a good example. At "Draumkvedet" (dreamsong) she works with her brother Knut Buen at hardingfele and other instruments; organ, flute, harp and sax. |
| Miquel Gil: | Spanish Artist, hosted by EthnoBass.org |
| Gipsy Kings: | A France based "gipsy" band, consisting of seven seven cousins and brothers, singing in Gitane a local "gipsy" dialect. They are a huge sucsess, with a lot of hit records. The formula is passionate vocals, powerful percussion, and acoustic guitar work, with a little dash of electric bass and synthesizers. |
| The world music quartet Gjallarhorn are rooted in the Swedish/Finish
traditions. To be more accurate they come from the Swedish speaking parts
of Finland. The instrumentation are partly traditional, partly unorthodox.
The vokals and the fiddles are the same (Ok, more or less the same) as
they have been for centuries. But the dronenotes and the socalled shamanic
pulse (often from jews harp, and from the sympathetic strings at the fiddle)
are transformed to the Australian didjeridoo. The beats from the shaman
drums are expanded to various drums and percursive instruments from all
parts of the planet. The African Mbira
is another important element in the music.
EthnoBass has had the pleasure to listen to their latest album Sjofn. Sjofn is the name of the goddess that awakes passion and love in Scandinavian mythology. Most of the material are based at traditional songs and lyrics. Some songs are new. All the arrangements are Gjallarhorns, and thats what makes this CD something special. And thats what makes it a neat introduction for people unfamiliar with North European music. The lead singer has a also been writing awarded arrangements for female choir. The facilities in a modern multitracting studio are used to its most extended. I'm asking myself how they transformes this to a live performance. It's bit to sophisticated for me, the sound quality is a bit dimmed or out of fokus here and there. Anyway, Sjofn is absolutely pleasant company for lonely nights with a good book, or perhaps the perfect soundtrack for a long journey. It may even be the thing after a romantic dinner ... |
|
| Gotan Project: | About La Revancha Del Tango:
'The thing we wanted for the album is to make something with one sound, one mood,' says Phillipe. 'And I think that the tango music is quite melancholic. We wanted a very raw sound for the drums, something very organic. We wanted to make a short album with just essential tracks.' (source: BBC 3 web pages) Tango has been there for a while. For more than a century. What started as folk music in the bars and bordellos in Buenas Aires turned Astor Piazolla into an art music. Music for the elite. Now the French based Gotan Project gives it a completely new direction
mixing it with dub music. The core of Gotan Project is three Parisians;
Phillippe Cohen Solal, Eduardo Makaroff and Christoph H. Muller, handling
the electronics (and some other instruments?). They are employing dub's
ability to distort and colour sound. What they distort is the argentinain
music of, vocalist Cristina Vilallonga, pianist Gustavo Beytelmann and
bandoneon
(the argentinian tango accordion) player Nini Flores.
Their album "La Revancha Del Tango" has been a major sucsess. It won the BBC 3 World Music Award in the Newcomer category. |
| See pictures of Gradac at 2001 Førde Festival here. | |
| Die Grenzgänger: | Have a look at:
Disguise (Germany) at Førde Internasjonal Folkemusikkfestival 2003 (pictures and review). Die Grenzgänger Homepage (in German) |
| Homepage |
L´Ham
de Foc:
 |
Band from Valencia, in the East coast of Spain,
leaded by Efren López and Mara Aranda since 1998. Their music could
be defined as Mediterranean, taking advantaje of the unconcrete of the
term, sang most of it in català (the languaje from the northeast,
Cataluña, the east coast of Spain, Levante and Baleares Islands),
but using other ones if needed, in example, ladino, in one of the songs
of their last CD, Canço de Dona i Home.
L´Ham the Foc (meaning "the hook of fire") has released two CDs: U (Sonifolk, 1999) and Canço de Dona i Home (Sonifolk, 2002). Efren López plays nearly any imaginable string instrument from Mediterranean and Middle East. Mara Aranda sings (wonderfully) and plays percussions and guitar. There are other three members: Paco Bernal (percussions), Diego López (percussions, didgeridoo,...) and Eduard Navarro (wind instruments, violin). |
Hedningarna:
 |
This finnish-swedish band started in 1987 with Hållbus
Totte Mattson , Anders Stake and Björn Tollin. From the first, they
used to build their own instruments and to electrice traditional ones.
They released "Hedningarna", the first work of the band, absolutely instrumental.
In 1991 they met Sanna Kurki-Suonio and Tellu
Paulasto, two finnish singers who joined the group in the albums Kaksi!
(meaning
two) and Trä (three). Their fourth CD, HIPPJOKK,
lacked of they both, but the Finnish lapp Wimme Saari, who had already
colaborate with them in Trä, made an essential vocal work.
In their last album is Karelia, there are again two female voices, Anitta Lettola and Sanna. |
| Honndalstausene: | See picture from 2001 Førde Festival here.
Honndalstausene Homepage |
Hot
Club de Norvège:
Pictures from their concert at Nordfjord Hotell 2002 |
Norwegian
"String Swing" band in
Django
Reinhart tradition, formed by guitarist Jon Larsen. Part of a strong
"string Swing" tradition in Norway, inspired by late Robert Normann, "The
man who knew how Django was playing". Larsen also runs his own record company,
Hot Club Records, devoted to "String Swing" music in Norway and France.
Larsen is the producer of these records.
Go to http://www.hotclub.no/ this is a very informative site about "String Swing" and related topics.
|
| Hoven Droven Homepage | |
| Tone Hulbækmo: | Norwegian harp player and singer in traditional "kved" style, born in 1957. She has created new interest for the norwegian harp. Hulbækmo work with medieval and renaissance European (from Spain, Italy, France, Germany and Norway) material in the group Kalenda Maya. On the other hand she works with new material and modern studiotecnique. |
|
I Mericani is one of the more riski an innovator European bands that
I know nowadays.
I Mericani are sited in Switzerland, but the origins of the members are diverse: Spain, France, Italy, U.S.A. and Switzerland The styles present in their CDs are much more diverse, and reach from Italian tarantella to Brazilian samba and batucada, from Spanish rumba to Indian Katakhali, but their spiritual guide seems to be Renato Carosone, as his "Tu vo fa" was the first song they playd all together. The started to play together in 1992, when Andres García, Robert Grassi, Jérome Doudet, Alessio Tognola and Steve Buchanan found each others inside the cultural underground movement of Geneve. Some time after that, Alessio leaved the band, and Balthasar Boisseau joined them in the drums. The band started absolutely acustic in order to be able to carry the instruments everywhere without a heavy weight, but they have progressively electrifying their proposal. I Mericani are five crazy and rebel men who have created their own term to define their musical style: psycho-folk or death-folk. Their filosophy could be near to punk: do it yourself and have fun! But their musical proposal is much more variated, and keeps ethnic roots (themselves´ or any one elses´!). You can listen some of their songs and not realice they are the same band. The musicians play a lot of different instruments, but the main ones are accordion, bass, violin, drums, keyboard and saxophone. They also sing quite well, in English, Spanish, Italian, French, German, Portugues,... and their lyrics are really freak and suggesting. They have released some CDs: Number One (1994), Death Folk (1996), Live or Not (1999) and a vinyl, "Todos mutantes", composed by only two songs, in which i Mericani try to make an approach to a totally free music. They´ve produced all their releases, and, at this moment, they only have distribution in Spain, by the label Ventilador Music. Steve Buchanan, the saxo player has his own career apart of I Mericani, and has released two CDs under his name: Those Who Say (1995) and Tiny Grimes (2001), which is said to be autobiographic. His partners at I Mericani has colaborated to make a work that´s quite minimalistic, and really hard, that won´t leave the listener impassible. EthnoBass had the luck to talk with Steve in an interview about a phrase in their official web site: "As various and strange as Steve Buchanan can consider music, this album is the cleanest expression of his tortured mind.". I asked: "Why did you write that?" And Steve replied: "Get my CD and you will understand". Uff! Do you want to know more about I Mericani?
|
| The Incredible String Band is a strange bird in the brittish folk-rock
scenery. The Stringband was founded by Robin Williamson and Mike Heron
sometime in mid 60's. The first album Incredible String Band came
in 66. Beatles gave out Sgt Pepper in 67. The Stringband had the The
5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion. The athmosphere is
in many ways similar - naive and intellectual at the same time, freaked
out "folk-psycedelia". Their odd mix off folk, bluegrass and modern pop
music stunnished people. The use of oud and sitars and tambouras was totally
new.
Around 1970 they went electric, like everybody else, and much of the magic disapeared. They continued till 74. I was a kid when this was happening. I remember one evening in 73 very well. My grandparents had been to a Stringband concert, my grandparents! The reason was simple, a relative was a member of the group for a short periode. Most people used to call it gig, but to them it was a concert. They came back shocked and proud. Shocked because "peole where siting at the floor, smoking hasjis, public!". Proud because they senced the quality of this totally new music. We put on the record. It had a yellow sticker at the cower, it was promo copy of "No Ruinous Feud". The Stringband reunited in mid 90's. Recording some albums and touring with new material. Incredible String Band Homepage, (fokused at present days). Try Be Glad for the Song has No Ending a much more freaked out (colourfull) alternative. |
|
| Ivanka
Ivanova:
Schäl Sich Brass Band  |
This conspicuous dolled-up diva, Ivanka Ivanova is born
in 1954 in Pazardzhik in Bulgaria.
Pazardzkik is a part of Thracian Plains in the Ikhtiman area in south eastern
Bulgaria. The Ikhtiman area is close to Greeze and Turkey. It is a cultural
melting pot of the Bulgarian folk styles, and Asian influences. She followed
her late husband and setled in Cologne area in Germany. Now she is living
with her son there. For some strange reason her name is often spelled Iwanka
Iwanowa.
Large parts of her life has been dedicated to her love to Bulgarian music and Bulgarian culture. Ivanka has collected more than 1000 songs from her homeregion, and this warm and friendly person shares them with anyone, anywhere. She is gifted with a clear, very distinct voice. We have listened to her most important recordings, "Kalina Malina",
"Iwanka Iwanowa & Friends" and to her latest "Maza Meze". The two first
titles gives us an introduction to her traditional music. At Maza Meze
she is a full member of Schäl
Sich Brass Band, a Bavarian (German) rooted crossover, brass band.
|
