Volume 28 Issue 1 | September 20 - November 8, 2022

– proud Canadians (particularly of the
Scottish diaspora) continue to keep the
cultural flame of the shanty alive. There is
much to choose from; shanties – creations of
the peripatetic merchant mariner – grew out
of the French “chanter” fused into boisterous
barn-dancing songs, merrily sung by British
mariners into a pint of lager across the ocean
to North America. Many have made it to this
outstanding live recording.
Two celebrated traditional music groups
– Montreal’s La Nef and Vancouver’s Junonominated
Chor Leoni, came together for a
one-night-only performance of brand new
arrangements of these work songs on the
resplendent Shanties! Live. It would be a
minor travesty to suggest that all praise for
this performance accrues to members of
La Nef, albeit the fact that the ensemble’s
fame is owed to their iconic soundtrack for
Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed video game. The
participation of the iconic Chor Leoni has –
together with arrangements by Seán Dagher
and the Chor directed by Erick Lichte –
turned this rare collaboration into something
truly special.
Rip-roaring shanties such as Haul on
the Bowline and the stomach-churning
Stormalong John provide thrill-a-minute
excitement. Meanwhile the profound beauty
of Lowlands Away, Shallow Brown and Le 31
du mois d’août, and the sublime fidelity of
the recording make this classic sea shanties
disc truly spectacular.
Raul da Gama
Three Corners
Hypnosis Negative
(instagram.com/hypnosis.negative)
! Hypnosis
Negative is a collaboration
between
Canadian Robert
Alan Mackie (violin)
and Estonian
Katariina Tirmaste
(flute, jawharp).
The duo explores
the roots of dance
in their modern original interpretations of
international and traditional repetitive dance
music with inherent trance-like “hypnotic”
listening and movement qualities.
The ten-track debut release includes their
modern renditions of some Estonian dance
tunes they found in folk music archives,
which I appreciate as a Canadian musician
of Estonian parents. The first track – Hi
(Mardi Tandi Polka), and last track – Bye
(Kuldimuna Lõikaja) – are each under 50
seconds, opening and closing the release
with two shorter version repetitive rhythmic
and melodic Estonian polka interpretations.
Track 2, Buffalo Gals, (Kuldimuna Lõikaja),
from the “common repertoire” Estonia, is
its longer version. This upbeat rendition has
many melodic repetitions with flute harmonies,
quasi atonality and a waltz midstream,
with a legato violin countermelody to an
abrupt “time to stop dancing” accented
ending. Guest percussionist is Juan de la
Fuente Alcón. His subtle background beats in
the calming waltz Sõrmõlugu from Estonian
Jaan Palu’s repertoire, support high-pitched
flute, violin held notes and astoundingly tight
lyrical unison instrumental passages. Three
southeastern United States square dance
interpretations show a surprising traditional
folk-dance similarity to them. There are
Spanish cultural flavours with tight violin and
flute playing over percussion grooves in the
more contemporary sounding Cantiga 181 by
Alfonso X El Sabio.
Hypnosis Negative is creating a brilliant
traditional music future here, both on and off
the dance floor!
Tiina Kiik
Something in the Air
The Timeless Appeal of
Large-ish Ensemble Music
KEN WAXMAN
They were supposed to have vanished when singers replaced big bands and become
anachronisms once rock music combos became the de facto performance configuration.
Yet large ensembles never went away. The challenge of blending multiple instrumental
colours still fascinates composers and players of both notated and improvised music.
Producing the proper balance between those two motifs, while taking advantage of every
timbre produced by a large group of musicians is what characterizes the following CDs.
Using the 14-member Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, Norwegian bassist
Ole Morton Vågan created Plastic Wave (Odin Records ODINLP 9578
odinrecords.bandcamp.com), a 2CD meditation on modern challenges
and promises. Although the brief recitations by a poet are lost
on non-Norwegian speakers, the compositions stand on their own.
Taking advantage of the soprano tessitura of vocalist Sofia Jernberg,
Vågan’s arrangements often blend her wordless lyricism with brassy
fissures or placid reed tones. But groove is never sacrificed for gentleness.
Throughout motifs, which suggest Charles Mingus at his bluesiest and Henry Mancini
at his jazziest, are driven by Ståle Storløkken’s Hammond organ pumps, Kjetil Møster’s and
Espen Reinertsen’s tenor saxophone vamps and Vågan’s own double bass stops. Tracks such
as Critical Mass Distraction are notable for their unified polyphony, as the piece advances
due to contributions from trumpeter Eivind Lønning’s shakes and triplets and violinist Ola
Kvernberg’s barbed glissandi. Meanwhile, drummers Gard Nilssen and Håkon Johansen’s
pops and rebounds emphasize the tune’s spikiness, confirmed by a coda of heightened brassiness.
Extended or briefer tracks accentuate the unforced swing that underlies the program.
Two of the more notable are Pickaboogaloo and the title track; moving along with double
bass thumps and drum backbeats the former maintaining a funk tempo projected by contrapuntal
reed and brass riffs. Soon though, a wailing plunger interlude from trombonist Øyvind
Brække, paced by double time organ smears introduces a stop-time variant that matches
portamento brass flutters and honks from the group’s four-person reed section, sliding
from that dissonate interlude to a coordinated finale. Plastic Wave confirms tone construction.
Gradually building up from unified voice, brass and reed expressions, Oscar Grønberg’s
piano tinkles precede an arrangement that alternates intermittent drum beats, brass tongue
sucking and puffs from Eirik Hegdal’s baritone saxophone with the layered harmonies of the
introduction.
Another double bassist, Benjamin Duboc of Paris, composed and directed an even more ambitious
project. Entitled Volumes II – Fiction Musicale et Chorégraphique – Création pour Grand
Orchestre et Corps Actants (Dark Tree DT 15 darktree-records.com), Duboc’s Ensemble
thewholenote.com September 20 - November 8, 2022 | 67