Bluesmen's World(Music)

"Any improvisation comes from tradition
Any tradition implies improvisation
Any living specie takes their form
Any living specie contains them both
All living species share them "

"Well, it had to happen sooner or later. It was only a matter of time before the world would experience its first Japanese klezmer big band, and what a joy it is. Saxophonist Kazutoki Umezu, in some ways the John Zorn of Japanese avant-garde jazz (he's worked with many of the downtown New York crowd), assembled Betsuni Nanmo Klezmer, a 19-piece ensemble, and delivered Ahiru, a joyous explosion of klezmer tunes as seen from afar. "Odessa Bulgarish," a ripsnorting dance number, leads off the disc, a wonderful basis for strong solos and extremely tight arrangements. The next two pieces are both fantastic in and of themselves and display awesome chutzpah: "Tum Balalayke" and "Bay Mir Bistu Sheyn." The sheer nerve in trotting out these warhorses, replete with Yiddish and English vocals, would be enough to make one bow one's head in admiration, but Umezu pulls them off with such aplomb, good humor, and imagination that the listener just shakes his head in amazement. The compositions combine a solid conviction in the music with freewheeling imagination in such a way that a klezmer fan presented with them in a blindfold test would arguably be very hard-pressed to identify them as being of Asian origin. Ahiru is a very fine argument for the idea of klezmer music being transcendent over national and cultural boundaries. When they close with "Dos Geshrey Fun der Vilder Katshke," a ridiculously fantastic arrangement of Mickey Katz' parodied Western song "The Cry of the Wild Goose," one has -- almost -- become inured to the shock, the gall. Then one collapses into helpless, overjoyed laughter. An amazing album."

Brian Olewnick, All Music Guide

"So far in our career we have seen that people have trouble fitting Dutar into one single category. Maybe that's for the best! Our music is too 'dirty' to be folk music, too 'clean' to be world music, too Hungarian to be Roma, too Roma to be Hungarian, too light to be literary, too complex to be easy listening. For want of a better term, perhaps it is the tag of 'world music' that suits us best. It is certainly the case that our music deals with the search for beauty and honesty, both in this world and the one that follows. We look for harmony in our interpretations as well as in our original compositions."

Gabriel Yacoub was one of the spearheads of the folk revival that swept through France. The founder and leader of influential French trad rock band Malicorne during the 1970s and early '80s, Yacoub has continued to explore the full spectrum of French music as a soloist. According to Vanity Fair, Yacoub's "voice is liquid and ready, his guitar work brilliant: rich contrapuntal lines and classical technique which, sounded on steel strings, gives his instrument the fullness of a harpsichord." Initially inspired by the songs of American singer/songwriters, especially Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie, Yacoub was introduced to traditional French music as backup guitarist and singer for innovative Breton harp player Alan Stivell. Taking the lessons that he learned from Stivell, he formed Malicorne in 1973 in an attempt to bring traditional music up to contemporary standards. One of the earliest world music groups, Malicorne combined Western instruments, such as guitar and electric bass, with traditional instruments, including krumhorns, bagpipes, and hurdy-gurdies. Together for a decade, Yacoub and Malicorne recorded three albums that achieved gold record status and received a prestigious gold prix de L'Academie du Disque Francais.

“The music of the world is fused into the playing of virtuoso guitarist Thierry Robin. In addition to performing as a soloist, Robin has collaborated with Rajistani percussionist Hameed Khan, Breton guitarist Eric Merchand, Indian singer/dancer Gulabi Sepera, Yiddish accordionist Eddie Schaff, and Turkish percussionist Okay Temiz. Forming an 11-piece band, Nao, with Moroccan, Kurdish, and Indian musicians in 1985, he composed music for French/North African fusion band Jonny Michto, two years later. He formed a trio with Merchand and Khan that combined Breton and northern Indian influences in 1989 and a Turkish/Kurdish/Breton fusion group that he shared with Merchand and Temiz in 1993. Robin, who launched his career in the mid-'70s by playing traditional music in western France, has remained eclectic on his own albums. He recorded the Gypsy-influenced album Gitans in 1993, with a ten-piece group that combined Indian, Arabic, Flamenco, and French folk influences. While he recorded Le Regard Nu (the Naked Look) as an improvising soloist responding to nude models in the studio, Payo Michto was recorded live during a tour of France. Kali Gadji, released in 1998, features a heavy brass sound and combines influences of Arabic, Flamenco, and the Wassoulou music of Mali.

Craig Harris, AMG

“This native of Angers is a brilliant guitar and Arabic oud player. His group is more than ever a family, a tribe.”

Télérama

"Klezmer bands with 18 members are not exactly common anywhere in the world, but it's safe to say this is the only one of Japanese provenance. Reed giant Kazutoki Umezu formed Betsuni Nanmo Klezmer in 1992 and the sprawling ensemble left the world with three public recordings, the 1994 debut Omedeto I shall be celebrating below, and two 1996 releases, Waruzu and Ahiru. Surely a monumental challenge to organize and sustain, the orchestra project was supplemented and eventually supplanted by Komatcha Klezmer, a small group vehicle for Umezu's klez urges that formed in 1995 and continues to be active, with releases in 2001 (Komatcha Kle) and 2003 (Gekkoishi no Shippo). With the exception of drumkitter Kozo Nida, the members of Komatcha Klezmer are BNK alumni: alto saxist Yoko Tada, violinist Ayumi Matsui, accordionist Koyo Chan, and tubist Takero Sekijima, and the two stars (in my mind) of BNK, wunderkind vocalists Tokyo Nammy and Koichi Makigami, have joined the group as occasional guests.

Omedeto is one of the strangest and most cherished items in my music collection. For starters, it's a positively ass-kicking, burning klezmer disc with inspired solos and a rare and devastating orchestral punch. Even more distinctively, the vocal performances by Makigami and Nammy are astonishing triumphs of creativity and virtuosity. More than anything, though, the group stands alone in the annals of klezmer for its alternately sublime and zany postmodernism. The musicians were clearly chosen for their freewheeling embrace of humor and playful antics as much as their instrumental chops. The lineup is something of an abridged who's who of Tokyo's bohemian prankster avant-garde. The total package unfolds as a seamless, ambitious, far-ranging album that doesn't falter for a single moment.

The playing is flawless and bursting with the invigorating spirit of the timeless rhythms and melodies. I could listen to music like this for hours on end.

For a guy who doesn't speak the language, Koichi Makigami's Yiddhish vocals on "Ale Brider" and throughout the album are unbelievably compelling. He rips through each line with utter clarity and verve, and there are few singers in the world who can rival his booming tone and precise, hovering vibrato."

Michael Anton Parker

...a brilliant project — more the spiritual and musical heir to Junkera's Maren... the duo visit with nomad musicians in a variety of countries ­ Mongolia, India, Morocco, a Western Saharan refugee camp in Algeria, and Scandinavia and the result is an unforgettable visual and musical experience, somewhere between Baraka, Latcho Drom, and Buena Vista Social Club. In their travels, they create txalapartak (the plural form) out of ice, stone and wood, showing the many possibilities of their ancient instrument. In doing so, they form global links of friendship between small and marginalized peoples. Oreka TX meet with and perform with a diverse array of musicians, many with traditions as old and unknowable as that of the txalaparta itself. Basque instruments such as the alboka mix with singers and musicians of many lands."

David Cox, RootsWorld