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Written in fRoots issue 241, 2003

TEAGRASS
Vecírek
Indies MAM 176-2 (2002)

Highly regarded in US bluegrass circles is the Czech band Druhá Tráva. Back in 1990 its leader Luboš Malina was one of the founder members, with mandolinist Jiří Plocek and others, of the band Teagrass, which set out to explore unorthodox directions for bluegrass.
      In pursuit of that quest, after a couple of years Teagrass turned its attention to the folk music of the musicians’ own homeland, Moravia. The CD Moravian Love Songs came out on Plocek’s Gnosis Brno label in 1999. Titled after the major folksong collection made in the early twentieth century by Moravian composer and folksong collector Leoš Janáček with Pavel Váša, it was a remarkably natural combination of bluegrass instrumental techniques with the melodies and lyrics of folksongs.
      This one is a live album, made during two shows at the tiny Stará Pekárna club in Brno. The raw material is largely from Moravian tradition plus some from neighbours Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania and Hungary, including klezmer from the region. In addition there are a couple of numbers written by hot-picking guitarist Michal Vavro that leave no doubt of their bluegrass and swing credentials, plus the well done but rather incongruous Crazy Man Michael, sung in English by guest Kateřina García, and a swing-jazz-Gypsy-bluegrass closer of Sweet Georgia Brown, a corny choice perhaps but far better done than most of its renditions.
      The five current members of the band are Stanislav Palúch, a master of thrilling Gypsy-jazz fiddling, guitarist Vavro, Plocek on mandolin and end-blown pipe, bassist Petr Surý, the fluid klezmer-style clarinet and tarogáto of Michal Zpěvák. Luboš Malina returns to guest on banjo, low whistle and tarogáto. Over their career they’ve usually co-opted female singers to deliver the traditional lyrics; here it’s Jitka and Tat’ána Málková, who were on Moravian Love Songs. They alternate in taking the vocal, and duet on a couple of items including an acapella rendering of songs from their native region of Uherský Brod.
      Teagrass is no bluegrassing-up of Moravian music; what they’re making is a new step for Moravian music in which the skills learned in bluegrass are modified for use back home. It’s the sort of process of absorption and twisting of new influences that occurs in the evolution of all folk musics.
      The press release rather wistfully notes that they do “fewer and fewer live concerts”, and can rarely run to this extended line-up. I’d have thought that were this live album to reach the right promoters abroad there might well be changes in that situation.
      www.indiesrec.cz

© 2003 Andrew Cronshaw
 

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