fRoots Jan/Feb 2009 double issue

[fRoots]

fRoots 307/8, the big Jan/Feb 2009 double issue, is at the printers and will head off to subscribers next week. Street date is 18th December.

As usual for this time of year, this one has a major focus on the Critics’ Poll for Albums Of The Year and full details of the nominations in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. We’ve also got a big feature on 10 reasons why it’s now good to celebrate American Roots Music, the final part in our Guinea series paying tribute to veterans of the Authenticité era, Balla and Keletigui, and pieces on traditional music mainstay Reg Hall, Romanian legend Gabi Lunca, acclaimed new all-female band The Shee, Niger’s Malam Mamane Barka, Sami singer Ulla Pirttijärvi, Quebec’s Genticorum, Norwegian iceman Terje Issungset, folkcore bangers GloryStrokes, a spread on the recent New Orleans extravaganza at the O2, and Hungarian cimbalom king Kalman Balogh answering our monthly questionaire. Plus our usual unrivalled news and review coverage and much more – including a chance to Win 100 CDs – all our playlisted ones of 2008 as one big prize!

An added attraction of this big double issue is that it has our fRoots 32 CD, 15 carefully compiled tracks of superb, varied music drawn from our pages by The Crooked Jades, Oumou Sangare, Niyaz, Jim Moray, Les Espoirs De Coronthie, Mawkin:Causley, Warsaw Village Band, The Shee, Kilema, Amadou Sodia, Chris Foster, Mahsa & Marjan Vahdat, Ivo Papasov, Pine Leaf Boys and Tukros Zenekar.

And in this issue's upfront fRoots Playlist, Franco & Le TPOK Jazz Francophonic (Stern's), Chango Spasiuk Pynandi (World Village), Luminescent Orchestrii Neptune's Daughter (Nine Mile), Sayon Bamba Mod' Vakance (Cobalt), Dual Dual (Machair), La Machine Il East Encore Temps (AEPEM), Jayme Stone & Mansa Sissoko Africa To Appalachia (Jayme Stone), Ara Dinkjian Peace On Earth (Krikor Music), René Lacaille Cordéon Kaméléon (Connecting Cultures) and Ablaye Cissoko & Volker Goetze Sira (Obliqsound). Tracks from all those plus more from this issue's featured and reviewed artists can be heard on fRoots Radio, the January edition of which will hit the e-waves and podcast-sphere from around 10th December. You can still get the current edition in both live streaming and downloadable podcast form via http://www.frootsmag.com/radio

[Jonathan E.]

Luminescent Orchestrii are kind of cool, aren't they? Sort of like an edgier Pink Martini — not that I approve of the use of that adjective "edgier."

[Chris P]

Sort of like an edgier Pink Martini

A lump of sago pudding is edgier than Pink Martini

[Jonathan E.]

I was trying not to be unkind! I suppose I should go back to being my malcontent caustic self and ride roughshod over the tastes and opinions of all others. I knew it was too good to last!

[Charlie]

Luminescent Orchestrii are kind of cool, aren't they? Sort of like an edgier Pink Martini — not that I approve of the use of that adjective "edgier."

Kind of cool - was that an unreleased Miles Davis album?

In any case, the Luminescent Orch have a little bit of Klezmer in their DNA, not at all like Pink Martini

[Jonathan E.]

Kind of Cool was Davis' stab at dub before Bill Laswell got his hands on him. It's a difficult-to-find collectors item that for some reason has not been widely mentioned by the more straight-ahead chroniclers of Davis' music. I have only ever seen one copy myself, labeled as a "Test Pressing." Silly money was being asked and I had to pass on it. It's reputed to have an Augustus Pablo feel. I haven't been able to find it available from download anywhere on the net although I check for it every week or so.

My reference to Luminescent Orchestrii was hedged with a "Sort of like," meaning with a very vague feel of combo acoustic sound, not intended to be a musicologically precise description. I can see that someone who liked Pink Martini might venture towards Luminescent Orchestrii if they were feeling particularly wild one day. Otoh, those of us who don't find PM all that fascinating can get some enjoyment from Luminescent Orchestrii. Perhaps they have more than klezmer in their DNA:



And, really I must agree that PM are never likely to get one screaming — except perhaps with boredom.