When I was in Bath last week to see Graham Nash, I noticed
a poster in the venue announcing that Rhiannon Giddens was appearing
there on November 26th. Although I wasn’t familiar with her work, I
thought it might be a good night out because I have heard great reports about
her from internet friends. I bought myself a ticket and in order to get
familiarised with her music I ordered a copy of her latest album which she has
made with Francesco Turrisi. It arrived yesterday and I have listened to
it twice now and I must say it is a very nice album indeed.
Rhiannon Giddens is from North Carolina although she also
has a house in Ireland. I think it was a chance meeting in Ireland with multi-instrumentalist
Italian jazz musician Francesco Turrisi that led to this collaboration. They discovered
that their music complimented each other. That doesn’t surprise me because
there are no boundaries in music. The music of different countries has been
influencing each other for hundreds of years. The album was recorded at Windmill
Lane studios in Dublin last year.
The opening track Ten Thousand Voices reminded me a
little at first of the traditional song Nottamun Town that Fairport Convention
recorded but this is an original song written by Rhiannon. She plays violin and
Francesco plays lute. Gonna Write Me A Letter was written by Ola
Belle Reed who was a famous banjo player from North Carolina and I would
imagine quite an influence on Rhiannon. There is an annual Ola Belle Reed
festival in North Carolina every year. Kate Ellis plays cello on this
track and others. Wayfaring Stranger is a traditional ballad that has
been recorded by many people including Steve Earle and Emmylou Harris. I love
this version though. Rhiannon’s banjo playing makes me think of Karen Dalton
who was also partly native American I believe. The title track There Is
No Other is an instrumental with just banjo and frame drum and it is very
powerful. I think I will enjoy hearing this track played live.
Trees On The
Mountain was written by Carlisle Floyd who is an American opera
composer born in 1926 who also hails from the Carolinas and based a lot of his
work in the south. By complete contrast Pizzica Di San Vito is a very
lively Italian traditional song that Rhiannon sings in the dialect of Puglia. I
imagine that Francesco would have coached her in the singing. It almost sounds
North African to my ears but again that is not surprising. Francesco plays
percussion instruments that I haven’t even heard of before such as tamburella, tombak
& colascione, although I imagine a tamburella is what Italians call a tambourine.
Brown Baby is much more soulful and written by Oscar Brown Jr. As
well as being a songwriter he was also a civil rights activist and Mahalia
Jackson originally recorded this song. The lyrics are very appropriate to
today's world. Briggs Forro is a lively instrumental featuring banjo and accordion
which Rhiannon scats along to. The accordion sound reminded me slightly of
Sharon Shannon. The tune was written by Thomas F Briggs who was a banjo teacher
and wrote a guide to banjo playing in 1855.
Possibly my favourite track after two listens is Little
Margaret. This is a variation of a traditional song that I have heard
previously as Matty Groves by Fairport Convention and Little Musgrave by
Christy Moore. This version is great and is just Rhiannon on vocals and
Francesco on daf. I have never heard of a daf before, but I imagine it must be
similar to what the Irish call a bodhran. Black Swan was written by Gian
Carlo Menotti who was an Italian-American classical composer. I think the
song must be from one of his operas. I’m On My Way is co-written by Rhiannon
and Joe Henry who also produced the album. There is a nice video of this
song which I have shared from youtube below if you want to see it. He Will
See You Through is a very nice spiritually uplifting song to bring this
album to a close. I am really looking forward to seeing Rhiannon Giddens
& Francesco Turrisi in November.
