Culture Break: Eskil Romme: Forårsfred

Believe it or not, I do listen to something besides loud obnoxious rock and impenetrable contempoerary avant-garde music. I actually listen to quite a bit of Nordic traditional music. Eskil Romme is one that shows up a lot on my playlist. This is from his album Himmerlandsmelodier, which I reviewed as part of this group.

Culture Break: Aziz Herawi

I don't know the name of this piece, or even if it has a name. I have one of Herawi's albums, which I enjoy thoroughly:

From Wikipedia:

Aziz Herawi (born c.1952 in Herat, Afghanistan) is a noted musician from Afghanistan. He specializes in the dutar and rubab, both plucked string instruments. Afghan musician Aziz Herawi was seven years of age the first time he heard the strings of the dutar being plucked. He talked one of the family servants, who hid it in a blanket, into buying the instrument for him from a shepherd. The boy would wait until his father was asleep, then sneak into the woods surrounding their home. Alone, in the dark, he practiced, teaching himself to play the long-necked 12-stringed dutar.

Herawi is now 57 and a resident of Sacramento, California. He has lived in northern California since 1985 and released several albums. His music is a blend of Persian and Hindustani instruments and styles and considered to be typical of Herat, Herawi's hometown, near the northeastern border with Iran.

Culture Break: The Danish String Quartet: The Dromer

I finally found a live performance of this one, which is on their album Last Leaf.

No, it's not the best video in the world, but it does give an idea of their energy.

Culture Break: The Danish String Quartet: Unst Boat Song

Another from Last Leaf, and another of my favorites from that album. Here it is, even though I couldn't find a performance video.

Culture Break: The Danish String Quartet: Drømte mig en drøm

I couldn't find an actual performance video of this one, but it can certainly be just listened to. Another one from Last Leaf, and one of my favorites:

(Yes, I know it's Halloween and I don't care.)

Culture Break: The Danish String Quartet: Æ Rømeser

I don't know if I've used this one before; if I haven't, well, I'm using it now. This is for all of us suffering from too much news, most of it bad -- I just needed to hear something peaceful and beautiful this morning.

It's from their album Last Leaf, which is a collection of mostly Nordic traditional tunes arranged for string quartet.

My review of the album is here.

Culture Break: The Danish String Quartet: Æ Rømeser

Another selection from the album Last Leaf.

Culture Break: Tjønneblomen

I'm not listing an artist in the header because I'm bringing you two versions of this song. It's a Norwegian waltz, listed as "after Gjermund Haugen," from which I assume he did the arrangement offered here first: Annbjørg Lien on hardanger fiddle, with Bjørn Ole Rasch on keyboards.

Second, because it's a versatile tune that loses nothing in translation, the Danish String Quartet. Sadly, I couldn't find a video of them performing this, so we'll have to make do:

There. That ought to five you a nice peaceful feeling to start the day.

Culture Break: The Danish String Quartet: Drømte mig en drøm

I know, it's not Wednesday, but this came up on the playlist and it's one of my many favorites from their latest album, Last Leaf. I just wish there were more videos of them performing some of these songs.

Did I mention that I reviewed the album?

This Week at Green Man Review

It's that day of the week again -- hope you all survived St. Patrick's Day in good order. Interesting things at Green Man Review today, very heavy on Neil Gaiman:

Danish String Quartet’s Last Leaf, Lindt dark chocolate, music from Planxty, some very different approaches to “traditional” music, and Neverwhere in various forms

But as you can see, there are other things, too, so check it out.

Culture Breatk: The Danish String Quartet: Tiny Desk Concert (NPR)

I first encountered the Danish String Quartet when offered their next-to-most-recent album for review by ECM. ECM has a strong focus on contemporary European composers and performers, and that one was works by two Danish and one English composer.

Well, I have their latest album sitting here for review -- their versions of traditional songs from various places. There are a couple on the album that are real charmers, so I thought I'd see if one of them was available for posting. Well, it turns out this is not their first foray into traditional music: they have a previous album, Wood Works, also featuring traditional tunes.

Thus, this video, which runs about eighteen minutes but is interesting enough to spend the time. The program: Ye Honest Bridal Couple — Sønderho Bridal Trilogy Parts I & II; Sekstur from Vendsyssel — The Peat Dance; Sønderho Bridal Trilogy Part III (arr. Nikolaj Busk).

The text accompanying this video is equally rewarding. You can find it here.

Culture Break: Lúnasa: Ryestraw

I've been doing a Lúnasa marathon this morning, partly as a break from my usual desperately mordant rock/pop menu, and partly to check out some of the music I've not listened to recently.

I actually have a fair amount of "traditional" Irish/Scottish/British/Appalachian/Nordic music in my library, and I like Lúnasa (I reviewed one of their albums, The Story So Far, a retrospective album.)

From the YouTube description: Called "the hottest Irish acoustic band on the planet" by the Irish Times, Lúnasa performs live from the intimate confines of The Burren Irish Pub in Somerville, Massachusetts. This is the opening song of the night, "Ryestraw". Named for an ancient Celtic harvest festival in honor of the Irish god Lugh, patron of the arts, Lúnasa is made up of some of the top musical talents in Ireland.

That should get your toe tapping.

What's New at Green Man Review

Something old, something new. . . .

As seems usually to be the case there. Hop on over and take a look at what we've got today.