World Music & Folk: By Tony Hillier

ALBUMS: World Music Folk

BY TONY HILLIER

SARAH-JANE SUMMERS & JUHANI SILVOLA THE SMOKY SMIRR O RAIN Eighth Nerve Audio

There’s considerable charm and undeniable classicism as well as a sense of playfulness in the playing of Scottish fiddler Sarah-Jane Summers and her partner-inrhyme, Finnish guitarist Juhani Silvola, on their third album together. Based in Norway, the instrumentalists share a rapport that reflects a decade’s worth of gigging together. The thrill of exploration is tangible in their exquisite music making, which sashays across a spectrum of emotions — from radiant joy to quiet despair — while mixing traditional tunes from their native lands with four original compositions. Recorded live, a stunning set traverses various styles within the framework of acoustic folk music. Although guitar is his primary instrument, Silvola shows flair on piano, injecting the ancient ballad that kickstarts The Smoky Smirr o Rain with modal-jazz and Ethiopian undertones. The selftagged “baroque techno” feel of ‘Number 81’, a lively 5-bar reel from the 1600s that follows, contrasts with the meditative ambience of the title track. ‘Polskat’, a medley of 17th century Finnish tunes, has more of a classical ring. In the spaced-out middle section of ‘Borrowed Days’, Summers’ high-pitched fiddle impressively simulates bird song. Elsewhere, she employs pizzicato for effect. ‘The Herring Reel’ has her in full Highland fling mode, albeit with a hint of Nova Scotia.

KHASI-CYMRU COLLECTIVE SAI-THAIÑ KI SUR Naxos World

As unlikely as the combination of a Welsh bard and musicians from the hill country of Meghalaya state in northeast India sounds on paper it actually works pretty well in practice. A Methodist mission planted the collaboration’s roots in the mid-19th century.

With Sai-thaiñ ki Sur, Welsh singer, songwriter and multiinstrumentalist Gareth Bonello, Khasi songsmith Desmond Sunn and fellow Indian artists resuscitate this unique liaison via a blend of language and music. While Bonello’s lilting vocals in Cymraeg, Khasi and English and his acoustic guitar fingerpicking hold centre stage in the set’s most accessible pieces, elsewhere spoken-word poet Lapdiang Syiem takes listeners into Meghalaya territory. A Welsh hymn, a bawdy drinking ballad and other songs receive Indian intonation courtesy of duitara (a traditional stringed instrument) and besil (native bamboo flute).

EVA QUARTET MINKA Riverboat/Planet

Those enchanted by the a cappella excellence and exquisite 4-part harmony singing emanating from the extraordinary Bulgarian intervals and polyphonic music of the all-female Eva Quartet at the 2018 WOMADelaide festival will relish this release. In Minka, originals written by the quartet and others sit snugly alongside beautifully arranged traditional pieces from various regions of Bulgaria, all immaculately pitched by the group’s soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto and contralto voices. From soulful songs prompted by marriage and maternal love to playful ditties about indolence and a girl’s discourse with a dove, the set illustrates the timeless beauty of Bulgarian folk song, first exposed to the world at large by Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares during the world music boom of the 1980s.

KONGERO LIVE IN LONGUEUIL Nordic Notes

The Nordic lands also have a strong tradition of female a cappella singing. In Sweden, Kongero have notched-up 15 years experience in that realm and it shows in their first live waxing, which features immaculately delivered and imaginatively arranged folk songs from their homeland and poems set to music. Playful pieces like ‘King Klang’ and ‘Gökpolska’ are offset by more sombre numbers such as ‘Fjärran Han Dröjer’ and ‘Vila Stilla’ — the last-named a FrenchCanadian song aptly included in the set-list at their Quebec gig during a tour of Canada. The breadth of their repertoire is matched by the pristine quality of their 4-part harmony.

BELCIRQUE LA GRANDE FÊTE ARC Music

Belgian musicians tend to punch above their weight on the world stage, and Belcirque’s international reputation as an entertainingly eclectic and cosmopolitan sextet can only be enhanced by a new journey that takes their tight trademark female harmony vocals and penchant for swing on a trip to South America, where gentle cumbia, rumba and Andean inflected rhythms rub shoulders in songs in French and accented English. La Grande Fête — the big feast — is appositely titled, with Belcirque tucking into a smorgasbord of well-crafted songs and stories that explore and reflect on love, life, adventure, and the need for compassion and understanding. The band’s brass section gets to stretch out in tracks like ‘The Musketeer of Love and Fear’ and ‘Hora D’ora’. The female vocal harmonies are exquisite throughout, particularly so in the short and sweet ‘All My Love’.

FADHILEE ITULYA SHINDU_SHI Naxos/ARC Music

Although he’s adopted a fingerpicking guitar style that evolved in his native Western Kenya back in the 1950s, Fadhilee Itulya’s music is predominantly modern pan-African acoustic pop. That much is implicit in several of the song titles on his latest album, which is infectiously upbeat. In between a spiritually charged opener in his native tongue and a punchy closing song in English, however, are several reflective socio-politically informed ballads, as well as a genuflection to the late Kenyan legend George Mukabi. Fadhilee Itulya’s a worthy successor to Mukabi and Ayub Ogada, whose premature passing in 2019 robbed Kenya of an international flag-bearer.