Kepa
Junkera's name pops up in a lot of reviews here on RootsWorld.
As a folk music icon in the Basque region of Spain and as
an innovator on the diatonic accordion known in the region
as trikitixa, he has made his mark as a unique young musician.
He's willing to try anything, and yet never seems to lose
sight of the roots of his music and his instrument. Bilbao
00:00h is an album that will make the case for his artistry
and his expansive viewpoint. In two CDs with 23 tracks,
he tackles traditional Basque folk music, lush Spanish ballads,
blues, rock, jazz and Malagasy pop, joined by an impressive
cast of musicians from around the world, from the best of
Spain's new folk literati to stars from Ireland, Sweden,
Madagascar and America.
The opening track is a hummer, with a flashy trad accordion
line that bursts into a roaring adventure with the Quebecois
band La Bottine Souriante. In four short minutes it touches
on Basque tunes, La Bottine's classic foot-stomping rhythms
and a full throttle, folk-horn section. Dulces Ponces joins
him on the romantic "Maitia Nun Zira," accompanied
by Paddy Maloney on flute, and touched by piano, guitar
and synths. Another ballad is the instrumental "Gesala"
with Liam O'Flynn on bagpipes and Alasdair Fraser on violin,
and again, the lush becomes lovely at the hands of master
musicians.
"Bok-Espok" finds him in the hands of the Swedish
trio Hedningarna and Basque alboka (ram's horn played with
a circular breathing technique) player Ibon Koteron. It
is cold, dark and eerie, as much for its insistent lack
of "place," its defiance to the idea of locating
specific roots of the tune. Is it Sami? Is it Basque? Yes.
No.
|
|
Perhaps
the
most striking collaborations are the half dozen tracks that
feature Malagasy valiha man Justin Vali. The amazing "Fali-Faly"
is going to be remembered as one of those classic collaborations
as Vali sings and plays a folk song from Madagascar that expands
with an acoustic jazz bass, followed with a slow build of
trikitixa, accordion (Mairtin O'Conner), flute (Manuel Budiño),
fiddle (Fraser), more accordion (Phil Cunningham), banjo (Bela
Fleck) and footstomps and voices from the La Bottine front.
The arrangement shows a beautiful sense of timing and mutual
understanding, and it's just plain fun and exciting.
Vali enters the scene regularly throughout the album, lending
unique touches to Basque tunes, and offering Malagasy tunes
for radical changes and ideas from the other musicians. This
typifies the entire album, where Junkera's high musicianship
is always at the center, but where the music is never sacrificed
to make him the star. These musicians from three continents
seem to understand Basque music and Junkera's vision, and
he seems to understand theirs. What results are collaborations
that really matter, not merely the music-minus-one approach
so common in these days of modern recording. Bilbao 00:00h
is about the artist whose name is featured on the cover, but
it is also about the future of world music, where musicians
(and maybe eventually listeners) come together to share on
another's cultures rather than devour them.
Times
ngjf
|