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Written in fRoots issue 213, 2001


HEVIA
The Other Side
EMI 7243 5 29407 2 1 (2000)

XOSÉ MANUEL BUDIÑO
Arredor
Virgin Yerba Buena 8494532 (2000)

As sales of 1998’s Tierra De Nadie - No Man’s Land move toward the two million mark Asturian bagpiper and flute player José Ángel Hevia’s invigorating new one shows no difficulty at all in leaping the “follow-that” hurdle. Apart from its variety and joyful exuberance what makes Al Otru Llau - The Other Side really special is the way in which technology, including the electronic gaitas Hevia co-developed, supports and emphasises the sounds of gaita, flute, traditional singing and traditional percussion to make a clear, current statement of the catchy melodic shapes and rhythms of Asturias. Folk music as popular music? ¡Qué raro!
      Commercial success hasn’t seduced Hevia away from his Asturian culture; indeed, far from that, it has put him in all the stronger position to champion it. Bagpipe fandango, saltón, a military march, a song from grandfather, and memory flashes of Asturian life, myth and mining, shape and inspire the compositions, which are largely by Hevia himself with a pair of titles by Toli Morilla and a couple by percussionist/programmer Tao Gutiérrez and keyboardist/programmer Ángel Luis Samos. The huge-sounding but subtly acute production and arranging features a core of just ten or so musicians, plus single-track guest contributions from such as the Villaviciosa Pipe Band, the great traditional singer Mari Luz Cristóbal Caunedo, Kepa Junkera with the two txalaparta players from his band, and on the powerful opening track Tanzila, in which Asturian music twists very naturally into Arabic, singer Suhail Serghini, Breton pipe band Bagad Kemper and Prague Symphony Orchestra.

      Dazzling Galician piper Xosé Manuel Budiño’s first album, Paralaia, was a fresh, energetically melodic gem, a classic of the new gaiteiro wave. On its sequel, Arredor, he gathers his band (now including bass clarinettist Pablo Alonso) and a small team of guests around a new set of his own tunes. His gaita, uilleann pipes or low whistle lead the band’s bouzouki, accordeon, bass clarinet, bass and drums, supplemented on some tracks by Tony McManus’ guitar, Jacky Molard’s fiddle, José Climent’s hurdy-gurdy, a La Bottine-like backbeaty brass/reed trio and co-producer Donald Shaw’s keyboards and programming. The strong creative association between Budiño and Mercedes Peón continues; for the cherishing Se Souberas she sings her own lyrics to a Budiño/trad tune. Compostela is the piece Budiño wrote for the millennium TV link-up, performed here as then with the pandeiretera vocal group Leilía. Songs apart, the prevailing feel is of intricate, often up-tempo instrumental arrangements; perhaps not as varied as Paralaia nor as incisive in sound texture, this one’s nevertheless full of Budiño’s great ingenuity and skill, and is the stuff of the band’s storming live gigs.

      The new Carlos Núñez album Mayo Longo, which has been in the shops in Spain and Britain for several months, would have fitted well in this company, but its major label hasn’t yet sent a copy for review.


© 2000 Andrew Cronshaw
 

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