Ar Seizh Avel (On Seven Winds)

by Kornog

Overview

Kornog's second album features a broad range of material, from the lovely set of Breton gavottes that opens the program to the Bulgarian ratchenitza that ends it in a lightning-fast 7/16 dance meter. The combination of French and East European dance steps with a Celtic instrumentation (flute, guitar, fiddle, bouzouki) and playing style is part of what distinguishes the music of Brittany from other, more familiar Celtic traditions. The angular, modal melodies are also distinctive, as demonstrated on tunes like the almost medieval-sounding "Toniou Bale" and the stark and lovely "Dans Plinn." In a somewhat strange juxtaposition with the rest of the program, bandleader Jamie McMenemy sings "The Shuttle Rins," a 19th-century Scottish song written by Henry Syme "for the encouragement of the working classes." "Sweetly may the shuttle rin/That wins the bairnie's bread," goes part of the chorus, and the melancholy image of a young mother toiling at a loom to feed her baby contrasts heartbreakingly with the song's sweet and gentle melody. This is a lovely record. ~ Rick Anderson

Product Details

Release Date:	01/05/1993
Label:	Green Linnet
UPC:	0048248106221
Rank:	115706

Tracks

1. Gavotten Ar Menez
2. Sir Aldingar
3. Toniou Bale
4. Ronds de Saint Vincent
5. Helen of Kirkconnel
6. Trip to Flagstaff
7. The Shuttle Rins
8. Da¿¿s Pinn
9. Gavotten Ar Menez
10. Varbishka Ratchenitza

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Kornog   Primary Artist
Soig Siberil   Guitar
Christian Lemaitre   Fiddle
Jamie McMenemy   Bouzouki,Mandolin,Vocals
Jean-Michel Veillon   Flute,Whistle (Instrument),Whistle (Human)

Technical Credits

Traditional   Composer
Henry Syme   Composer
Jacki Molard   Composer
Gilles Lehart   Composer
Soig Siberil   Composer
Jamie McMenemy   Composer,Liner Notes
Daniel Feon   Composer
Patrick LeBalc'h   Composer
Richard Loury   Engineer