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Written in fRoots issue 251, 2004


GERMÁN DÍAZ
El Suéter De Claudia
Fonomusic 5046643512 (2003)

One thing that the European folk revival cannot be denied to have sparked is the elevation of two keyed and bowed instruments – the hurdy-gurdy and nyckelharpa – from near extinction to substantial boom, and to the development in both of a level of technique never before seen in their entire history.
      26-year-old Germán Díaz is perhaps the leading example of the high skill, musicality and sheer listenability now to be found among hurdy-gurdy players, sufficient to seduce even the most traumatised bee-in-a-bottle hater.
      Born in Valladolid, now living in Santiago de Compostela and playing with Galician band Laio, his solo project El Suéter De Claudia is a revelation of brilliant playing and interesting material. His root tradition is Castilian rather than Galician, and what we get here is a fine flow of arrangements of often Moorish-sounding themes from Castile plus a couple of Sephardic melodies, material from Anouar Brahem, Gilles Chabenat, and a pair of Díaz’s own compositions.
      If the idea of a hurdy-gurdy album suggests a tiring or one-dimensional listen, this certainly isn’t that. He makes the instrument sing like a violin, and joined by Pablo Pascual’s clarinets, Eugenio Rodríguez’s oboe, ex Radio Tarifa Wafir Sheik’s oud, Baldo Martínez’s bass, David Herrington’s trumpet and tuba, and Nirankhar Kalsa’s tabla, bendhir and darabukka, there’s great sonic richness in the impeccable arrangements, immensely tight, creative playing and classily gutsy recording. And Díaz’s rendition of his composition Volver A Nacer is a solo tour de force that has one checking the booklet to see if it might be a lost Bach partita.
      A hurdy-gurdy landmark.


© 2004 Andrew Cronshaw
 

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