Volume 24 Issue 7 - April 2019

utilizing looping, bowing, sampling, electronics
and various prepared techniques, all
richly displayed on Vanishing. The album
is cinematic in scope. In its spontaneously
composed sonic world each scene in the
undefined – sometimes airy and melodically
lush, sometimes unsetting – vocal storyline is
created though the intimate musical dialogue
between Krucker and Motzer.
My favourite track is the epic-length
Density, which according to the liner notes,
“Broods on the state of the world, gathers
weight with each motif, steps the listener
outside of civilized sound.” Some days taking
a walk on the sonic wild side is what the
doctor should order.
Andrew Timar
In This Body
Fides Krucker; Rob Clutton; Tania Gill;
Germaine Liu
Independent FK-01-2018 (fideskrucker.
com/productions/in-this-body)
!!
Anyone who
knows the multidimensional
and multi-disciplinary
work of
Fides Krucker is
naturally going to
wonder how much
of the dance and –
more importantly – the theatre that defines
Krucker’s art this CD is going to capture. It is,
after all merely audio. Fortunately, however,
Krucker is a highly evocative vocalist and
she spares nothing to imbue her music with
atmosphere and even the nuanced auras of
her often spiritual and always colourful work.
Even with the suggested stasis of the title,
In This Body, one cannot help but imagine
the body in motion. This is a work by Krucker,
remember? True to form she creates a kind of
series of one-woman operatic arias. Each is
expressed in an inimitable manner which can
only be associated by someone like Krucker.
Her version of Leonard Cohen’s iconic piece
Suzanne is turned from something almost
impressionistic-Cohenesque into a work
of extraordinary sensuality in an almost
Nabokov-like (Lolita) manner. Another wildly
sensual track – Striptease – follows this one.
But Krucker also rings in the changes of
mood and emotion, structure and tempo with
Mary Margaret O’Hara’s Body’s In Trouble,
Leslie Feist’s Let It Die, k.d. lang’s Hain’t It
Funny and, of course, the forlorn and classic
song Helpless by Neil Young. Along the way,
Krucker is magnificently aided by bassist Rob
Clutton, pianist Tania Gill and percussionist
Germaine Liu. Together the musicians propel
Krucker into a rarefied artistic realm where
she and her music truly belong.
Raul da Gama
Talismã
Mark Duggan
Independent (markduggan.com/talisma)
!!
Percussionist
Mark Duggan
demonstrates his
wide-ranging
abundant musical
talent in this
project rooted in
the Brazilian styles
of samba, bossa
nova and choro. Be
it as a composer of four tracks, arranger of
six Brazilian classics, and lead and chamber
performer throughout, with outstanding
musicians Louis Simão, contrabass and accordion,
and Marco Tulio, violão (Portuguese
guitar), Duggan’s understanding of vibraphone
intricacies, compositional form/
style and listening skills create music for
everyone to enjoy, regardless of one’s stylistic
preferences.
The trio plays the covers with respect
and intelligence. Astor Silva’s Chorinho no
Gafieira opens the recording with an upbeat
happy start, thought-out vibraphone lines,
good instrumental balances, and a simple
yet colourful middle section. Antonio Carlos
Jobim’s Triste has slight dynamic modulations
and clear phrasing with the violão
chords and contrabass keeping the faster
vibes part grounded to the final Jobim chord.
Duggan’s compositions are great. In his Above
the Rain, the hypnotic two-note accordion
start, with up-and-down melodic lines, is
followed by vibraphone runs, which at times
double and contrast the accordion chordal
swells and staccato notes. Irresoluto is slightly
more atonal yet rooted in rhythmic/melodic
tradition, while Shifting Sands features a
relaxing more traditional vibes melody with
background bass groove, and instrumental
dialogue throughout. Duggan’s firm grasp of
the samba form in Samba des Nues is heard
in its contrabass/violão rhythmic opening,
florid lines and slower ending.
Perfect production values complete
Duggan’s smart, nuance-abundant, Brazilian
music-flavoured release.
Tiina Kiik
The Art of the Vietnamese Zither –
Đàn Tranh
Tri Nguyen
ARC Music EUCD2826 (arcmusic.co.uk)
!!
This album
features the
subtly expressive
Vietnamese plucked
zither đàn tranh,
which belongs to
the widely distributed
family of
Asian long zithers.
Its cousins are
the Chinese zheng and qin, Japanese koto,
Korean kayageum, as well as the çatkhan of
the Khakass of southern Russian Siberia and
the kacapi of the Sundanese of West Java,
Indonesia.
Born into a family of literati in South
Vietnam, Trí Nguyen began his music studies
at an early age on the piano with Frenchtrained
teachers, eventually continuing them
in Paris. His family however was strongly
attached to its ancestral Vietnamese culture
and also arranged đàn tranh lessons for
Nguyen with the noted master Hai Bieu.
Nguyen’s bi-cultural training positions him
well to pursue his goal of taking traditional
Vietnamese music to international audiences,
combining Vietnamese musics with
global genres and instruments. His approach
has already garnered success: his 2015 debut
album Consonnances won the Global Music
Award Gold Medal for world music.
In The Art of Vietnamese Zither, Nguyen
draws on this bi-musicality, presenting the
đàn tranh in a transcultural context. The
closing tracks are up-tempo nods to a worldmusic
style aimed at broad audience appeal in
which he adds other Vietnamese instruments,
the oud and darabuka (goblet drum).
The most impressive aspect of the album
however is the suite presented in the first
nine tracks. Effectively arranged for his đàn
tranh and Western string quartet, they feature
melodies borrowed and adapted from the six
schools of traditional Vietnamese music he
inherited from his master Bieu.
Andrew Timar
thewholenote.com April 2019 | 81