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Written in fRoots issue 297, 2008
 

AFION
Afion
Aquarius CD 134-06 (2006)

Afion is a Croatian folk band taking a refreshing, uncluttered line with traditional songs from the various regional traditions of Croatia and also from another former Yugoslav country, Macedonia. Their instrumentation isn’t traditional – no bagpipes, diple, diplica, sopile, tambura or the like here - but it’s an effective light-toned, well-arranged blend of guitar, flute, bass and percussion, with occasional charango, that subtly supports the voices of two female singers and occasionally the male voices of guitarist Danijel Maoduš and percussionist Nenad Kovačić.
      Lidija Dokuzović, who takes the lead vocals, is a fine singer with an aura of still melodiousness and grace, emerging here as a leading Croatian tradition-rooted artist. She sings in her own natural voice, using some traditional techniques but not copying what, in the regions where some of these songs are from, might be a harder-edged Balkan mountain voice; she expresses the songs and their lyrics truly and without affectation.
      The booklet notes, which I’m guessing she wrote, rather than translating the lyrics summarise them in Croatian and English (often the best approach – direct translation often doesn’t convey the real meaning), and show real fondness for the people and stories of these songs of love, parting, bad luck, mythological incest, accusations of infidelity, a daughter drawn into the circle dance when she should be getting water for her sick mother, a highlander’s wife’s lack of wide Turkish trousers, and three cauldrons of soup made from one frog.
      The album’s available from www.aquarius-records.com, and you can listen to tracks in the ‘multimedija’ section of www.afion.net.


© 2007 Andrew Cronshaw
 

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