Roberto
Cassan (accordion); Matt Glover (electric mandolin); Fabio Pirozzolo
(percussion, voice); Mike Rivard (double bass, sintir); also Claudio Ragazzi
(acoustic and 12 string guitars, cuatro puertorriqueno); Christian Cassan
(additional percussion)
(Review
by Ann Alex).
Lance said ‘You’ll love
this CD’ and he certainly wasn’t wrong, though I still don’t know what a ‘cuatro
puertorrqueno’ is. It sounds like a
Spanish medicine. The sintir is
apparently a 3-stringed bass lute, so think Medieval for that one. Anyway this is a humdinger of great
listening, a whirl of world sounds, encompassing Bulgarian dance song, Moroccan
chaabi grooves, Italian folk ballads and slinky tango rhythms. Not jazz as such, but some tracks have what
sound like improvised solos, so why worry about classifying it, the music is
superb.
It begins with a lively Cigansko Oro, a Balkan dance tune with
percussion, rousing accordion, shifting time signatures, ending with accordion
playing in 7/8 time, then comes Five Of
Swords, featuring the sintir. Alla Carpinese starts with a bass solo, followed by mandolin
and a traditional song with Castanets.
Bebe features a melody with
descending riffs and (I think) improvised solos from the band; Sandansko Oro, a Bulgarian dance,
gradually builds tension and speed; Milonga
Para Lucia is a sort of slow tango where chimes of music are overlaid by an
accordion tune, with whistling to round off the track. Fracanapa
is another tango, this time with a ‘dragging’ effect in the music. (A fracanapa is a Venetian mask.) My favourite track 11 Southern Italian Medley is a combination of 2 songs, a haunting
shepherd’s song sung over a drone, and a fast song which is meant to cure the
listener of the effects of a bite from the tarantella spider. I’m not sure if the cure worked but the music
does, with effective percussion. 12 tracks in all, many lasting more than 7
minutes, providing good value.
Although Grand Fatilla
have been performing for over 6 years, this is their debut album, which was
recorded live in an old church which is now used as a studio. You can see the band at the CD release party
on September 4 but you will have to go to Cambridge
MA , USA
Ann
Alex.
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