Suku
- Your Life Is Your Poem by
Nils Kercher ... Driftwood Harp by Pippa
Reid-Foster ... Innamorata by Andrea
Terrano
German multi-instrumentalist Nils Kercher's second studio album is an
international affair. His ensemble is made up of musicians from Mali, Finland,
Martinique, Senegal and Australia. The result is an ambient soundscape infused
with the music of West Africa but also betraying Kercher's classical orchestral
background, (which predated his interest in drumming, the djembe and the kora.)
Accompanied by Oumar Barou Kouyaté on ngoni and guitar and Mariama Kouyaté,
Kira Kaipainen and Sylvia Laubé on vocals, Kercher sings and plays kora and balafon, while violin,
viola and cello add extra depth to the sound. This is particularly compelling on
'Tuuli Itkee', where the insistent pulse creates an effect almost like the
music of Steve Reich.
Kercher studied kora with Djelemady
Sissoko (brother of Ballaké Sissoko) and, if you like the fusion of kora and cello on Ballaké Sissoko and Vincent
Segal's albums, you'll probably enjoy this. Kercher's music may lack the
spontaneity of Sissoko and Segal or, for that matter, Ali Farka Touré and
Toumani Diabaté's classic In the Heart of
the Moon, but Suku - Your Life Is Your Poem offers a beautifully crafted
dreamworld of shifting rhythms and many-layered voices and sounds.
Pippa
Reid-Foster's debut CD
is a set of original compositions and arrangements for the traditional Scottish
harp (clarsach). The album has an
uncluttered purity befitting the instrument, and is reminiscent of Alan
Stivell's 1964 album Telenn Geltiek
(Celtic Harp).
Pippa, a graduate of the Royal
Conservatoire of Scotland, is based in the Argyll region on Scotland's west
coast and Driftwood Harp draws upon the sights and sounds of the area, as
well as on Celtic folklore. The rhythmically shifting opening track 'The Selkie'
conjures up the mythical, half-seal, half-human creature while 'The Mermaid
Song' is a delicate rendition of a traditional Gaelic song. Original tunes evoke
scenes and landscapes. In 'Steam Boats on Crinan/The Herring Lassies of Argyll'
Pippa shows that the harp can be both haunting and jaunty, and her virtuosity
creates something akin to a rhythm guitar accompaniment for her complex melodic
lines.
There's plenty to please
traditionalists here – such as the three jigs that make up 'Kilmartin Glen
Campsite' – but I prefer the more ethereal quality of tracks like 'Elements 1' and the six minute finale, 'Deirdre
in Dreams', which show Pippa's skill as a composer as well as a performer.
The press release suggests Innamorata
is 'a perfect companion for driving around the Ibizan hills.' Tunes like
'Heatwave' certainly evoke a sun-kissed, chilled-out Mediterranean mood. Italian
guitarist Andrea Terrano's album is
produced by Felix Buxton of Basement Jaxx. Fellow guitarist Rafa Marchante supports
Andrea on a couple of tracks while elsewhere there are sympathetic touches of
cello, violin and flute.
'Sugar Rush', 'La Song Gaucho' and
'Autumn Symphony' (the latter driven along by Raul Terzi's drumming) offer a
groovy kind of flamenco not unlike the flamenco jazz fusion of the likes of
Eduardo Niebla.
The dramatic 'Our Story' is pure Ennio
Morricone and the wittily-titled 'Braindrops' twists and turns pleasingly, while the closing track (or should I say end
credits) 'Cinemotions' leaves us in no doubt that Andrea has ambitions to write
film soundtracks and this could be another theme to a spaghetti western that
never was. Innamorata – the title is Italian for 'lover' by
the way – is a varied, uplifting collection of original tunes, played
with verve and obvious enjoyment.
