International

Live In Paris [Digipak] *

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Duniya Project

Bansuri flute player and composer, Catherine Potter has carved out a distinctive niche in the Canadian world music scene with her unique musical style and a sophisticated cross-cultural approach to composition and performance. Duniya Project is the fruit

Nitshisseniten E Tshissenitamin [9/22] *

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Gold

Rimur

This is a collection of Icelandic epic and proverbs set to musical poetry by Steindor Andersen, one of the top proponents of the rimur form and a previous collaborator with Sigur Ros. The production comes from Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson, a curious explorer of sound best known for his work on Bj”rk's albums. While rimur is essentially a solo vocal form sung at gatherings, the dimensions of the sound are usually done in nonreverberant locations. Hilmarsson took the opportunity of this recording to explore how rimur sounded in large churches, small lofts, and all points in-between. The end result is a bit of a spectrum of vocal quality, from flat to resounding. The songs, themselves, could easily become tedious to an average listener, especially without the advantage of full translations of the epic battles they're representing. Indeed, the album can become rather monotonous from time to time. A few innovations, however, are tossed in toward the end to spice up the experience. A didgeridoo appears as accompaniment in the devotional Haustio nalgast and, in the sea song "Rammislagur," a second rimur chanter doubles a number of lines and adds aspects of counterpoint. Andersen also plays an Irish harp in a pair of songs from the old poet Sigurdur Breidfjord, punctuating works on love and beauty. The overall effect of the album is one of nostalgia and a bit of historical reverence. It's interesting musically, but the poetry, itself, is the real focus of a rimur session. Give this album a listen for the historical and poetic aspects alone, and dig out translations of the poems for a fuller effect. ~ Adam Greenberg

Fado Curvo *

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Personnel: Fernando Ara£jo, Ant¢nio Neto (guitar, viola); Mario Pacheco (guitar); Davide Zaccaria (cello); Miguel Goncalves (trumpet, bass trumpet); Carlos Maria Trindade (piano); Quin' (percussion).
Recording information: Estudios Xangrila.
Photographer: Robert Devian.
Unknown Contributor Roles: Pedrinho R'go; Jorge Barata.
On her first album, Fado em Mim, Mariza covered four songs by the late queen of fado, Am lia Rodrigues, drawing a specific parallel to her predecessor. On her second album, Fado Curvo, she covers only one, "Primavera," which may suggest that she is starting to put her inspiration behind her. But she remains true to the traditional sound and mood of fado, even if the album title implies that she is giving it her own twist. Producer Carlos Maria Trindade provides spare, acoustic, and rhythmic arrangements, focusing on the Portuguese guitar of M rio Pacheco, but for the most part he stays out of the singer's way, using the accompaniment merely to anchor her expressive vocals. The lyrical sentiments, conveniently translated in the booklet to the American version of the release (even if a note admonishes, "No literate [literal?] aim at the translation of the poems"), are highly poetic and filled with regret and longing for the past, the better to be interpreted by Mariza's heartrending singing. Even an English speaker struggling with the "literate aim" of those words can get the point of the songs from the arrangements and the singer's tone. ~ William Ruhlmann

Le World Cuba: Havana Noches

Italian Treasury: Sicily

Recorded in the field in the 1950's by Alan Lomax and Diego Carpitella.

Hier Encore...