Roch On World Beat: Peter Gabriel's Real World; Celtic Heartbeat
Roch Parisien
Roch On Music
By Roch Parisien
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Arcane ***1\2
(Real World/Virgin)
A Week or Two In The Real World ***
(Real World/Virgin)
In an inspired, pan-continental concept that taps into the
WOMAD concerts/festivals network as a conduit, World Music
impresario Peter Gabriel periodically brings together an
international panoply of performers, hailing from every corner
of the globe, for a freeform week of artistic exchange at his
Real World studios hideaway in Box, Wiltshire, England.
For the August, 1992 sessions captured on "Arcane" under
Gabriel's Real World imprint, the assembled talent (almost 100
strong) was encouraged to wander in and out of six studios,
operating concurrently, to perform with whomever happened to be
gathered at the time. Some performers brought newly-penned
music to the sessions; in many instances, the collective
spontaneously gave birth right there in the studio.
Some of the better-known international names included Simon
Jeffes (Penguin Cafe Orchestra), Canada's Jane Siberry,
violinist Nigel Kennedy, Brazilian percussionist Nana
Vasconcelos, Alex Gifford (former Stranglers reedman, now of
techno-band The Grid), and jazz drummer extraordinaire Bill
Cobham.
Opening track "My Mother Is Not The White Dove" encapsules the
week's spirit perfectly - composed on the spot by Siberry and
Kenyan nyatiti (lyre) player Ayub Ogada, Turk Kudsi Erguner's
celestial nay flute and Siberry's freeform vocals flow
elegantly through the looping nyatiti pattern; the whole mixed
by noted L.A. engineer Tchad Blake.
Another inspired moment finds Gifford breathily intoning the
Coleridge poem "Youth and Age" to a syncopated, progressive
backing led by Jeffes, Cobham, and a cast of several. "Chinese
Canon" offers open-spaces, East-meets-West delights, the pipa
and erhu combination of Cheng Yu and Zhou Yu cascading over
keyboards, guitar and cello.
While you would never guess, based on the recorded results,
that so many random elements were involved here, one also never
gets the impression that "Arcane" is merely an academic
exercise. A palpable, almost spiritual sense of passion and
artistic liberation is communicated through the global language
of music.
"A Week Or Two In The Real World" plays as a more conventional
compilation. Gathering other choice tracks from the Real World
recording weeks of 1991 and 1992, it focusses less on
collaborative efforts than "Arcane". There are hits and misses
among the 16 tracks, exclamatory discoveries and ho-hums, all
of a subjective nature depending on the listener's perspective.
The disc plays it safe from a Western perspective on several
tracks - Van Morrison's joint venture with The Holmes Brothers
falls into this category, as does the conventional soul/R&B of
Carole Rawley, Simon Emmerson and Raw Stylus. Still, for every
Farafina, who sound on "Dounounia" like they're jamming on the
TV theme music to Untamed World, you find a Hassan Hakmoun and
Zahar - African and Arabic polyrhythms meet modern jazz in a
wondrous, organic fusion. Other peak moments come from
Laplander Mari Boine's astounding circular breathing,
traditional joik song style, Ashkhabad's soundtrack to some
Middle Eastern desert convoy, and the heavily percussive Toto
La Momposina Y Sus Tambores. Other readily recognizable names
include World Party's Karl Wallinger, producer Rupert Hine, and
The Grid.
MAIRE BREATNACH
The Voyage of Bran **
(Celtic Heartbeat/Warner)
CLANNAD
Themes **1\2
(Celtic Heartbeat/Warner)
The creation of U2 manager Paul McGuiness together with
Clannad's manager David Kanavagh and music publisher Barbara
Galavan, Celtic Heartbeat is a new label formed, as the
promotional material informs us, "to bring the best in
authentic traditional Irish music from its cultural home to a
worldwide audience." The Warner-distributed project may well be
pulsing to an Irish heartbeat, but falls regrettably short in
the Celtic soul department, at least based on these two initial
offerings.
Maire Breatnach, a respected Irish fiddle player and composer,
draws inspiration for "The Voyage of Bran" from a pre-Christian
mythic tale of quest and displacement. The music blends Celtic
with classical, three Gaelic vocal pieces with instrumentals,
in a technically sound performance. But the recipe has been
sweetened and kneaded to the point of an airy souffle, leaving
little play for passion or substance. Surprisingly, given her
reputation, it's the violin and fiddle playing that strikes one
as most mundane here. Her vocal performance on "Manannan Mac
Lir", sparsely accompanied by keyboards and whistles, comes the
closest to suggesting any drama or mystique.
Celtic-New Age veterans Clannad come out less anemic, although
there's only so much passion you can wring from a collection of
film and TV theme songs. The cover of Joni Mitchell's "Both
Sides Now" (from the Blake Edwards movie "Switch"), all cuddly
synths and dewy vocals (Maire Brennan duetting with Paul
Young), is very pleasant but it's connection with "authentic
traditional Irish music" eludes me. Same with the otherwise
gorgeous A Dream In The Night (from the animated feature The
Angel And The Soldierboy).
Of marginally more substance is "Ancient Forest" from the
British TV series "Robin of Sherwood", and "Theme From Harry's
Game", the first Gaelic song to score a top ten hit in the UK
(1982). It also earned a Billboard World Music Award and a
Grammy nomination and have kept Clannad in soundtrack gravy
ever since. Other popular selections include "I Will Find You"
(love theme from "Last Of The Mohicans") and "In A Lifetime"
(U2's Bono joining in on vocals).
Perhaps other offerings in the label's first slate of releases
- including Anuna (a chant-like choir), Alec Finn (founder of
the influential DeDannan), Frances Black (Black Family and
Arcady) - will fare better. Best bet might be to chance the
"Celtic Heartbeat Collection", which samples all of the above
artists alongside others from the label.
***** - a "desert island" disc; may change your life.
**** - excellent; a long-term keeper.
*** - a good disc, worth repeated listening.
** - fair, but there are better things to spend money on.
* - a waste of valuable natural resources.
Copyright 1995 Rocon Communications - All Rights Reserved
Roch Parisien................................Communications Consulting
Rocon Communications.........................Creative writing
Canada.......................................Music Critic at large
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