Denmark - Sjælland Part II

As we continue our exploration of Copenhagen, we encounter balfolk band the Mads Hansens Kapel.  Coming from a variety of musical backgrounds the 5 members of the band got together in 2015 to play traditional Danish dance tunes with a slightly unusual line-up of instruments with fiddle, guitar, bass, piano and clarinet, which gives them a sometimes slightly jazzy feel.  Here is a live version of a tune called Newcastle Hotline from their latest 2021 EP One For the Road:

Like most capital cities, Copenhagen has its fair share of international influences and a thriving global music scene.  One such example is North Macedonian saxophonist and clarinettist Bjonko, who has made Copenhagen his home.  He creates a crossover of Balkan Beats and Nordic contemporary sounds and hip-hop.  Here's a hip-hop Balkan number called OPA! from his 2021 album Enigma:

Spanish guitarist (the guitar style being Spanish, not the player) Jacob Gurevitsch was actually born in the small town Havnbjerg in the southeast of the country, but is now very much a Copenhagen resident.  He is at pains to point out that he does not play flamenco, but melancholic style Spanish guitar tunes mostly in minor tunings evoking romantic moods of Spain.  Here is the title track of his 2015 debut album Lovers in Paris:

Danish/Pakistani Sufi Rock band Rocqawali combine the 1000 year old traditional Pakistani Sufi music of Qawali with 70's style rock'n'roll.  The Pakistani front man Ejaz Sher Ali comes from one of Pakistan's most eminent musical families, and he is backed by 4 Danish musicians from the Indie Rock scene.  Here is the opening track of their 2017 album Sufi Spirit called Ill Allah:

The north meets the east with Klezmer band Mames Babegenush, who blend Nordic calm with East European wedding music.  The 6-piece band formed in 2004 in an effort to revive the Danish Klezmer scene and developed their own style of the genre.  For their 2017 album Mames Babegenush with Strings they added, as the name suggests, some strings to their sound and this is the opening track to the album called Tornado Albastru:

Fusion band Total Hip Replacement combine Reggae, soul with a dash of Afrobeat.  They mostly operate as a live band touring extensively around the world, but have brought out some notable releases.  This a song from their 2020 album Bliss called Lost in Thought:

Finally, just before hopping over the bridge to Sweden, we go to the island of Amager, which houses the eastern half of Copenhagen.  We started this post with something traditional and we shall finish on that note.  Medieval folk band Virelai has a Viking theme to much of their music with Nordic ballads as well as some southern European dance tunes, all played on traditional instruments. This song is homage to the Norse goddess of love and fertility Freja and was released as a single in 2017: Frejas Store Kraft:

That's it from Denmark, next stop the south of Sweden.  In the meantime, as usual, you can follow my virtual musical journey on my Tripline map. 

Switzerland - The West & the Rest

Moving onto the French speaking part of Switzerland we cover a music style you may not be expecting from this part of the world: Reggae.  Junior Tshaka was born in Neuchâtel in 1978 and has been playing Reggae ever since winning the European Reggae Contest in 2000.  He sings in French and here is a song from his 2010 album Il Est Temps called Dis-moi qui:

Next stop is Geneva, where I visited a friend a few years ago.

Duo Hyperculte were formed in Geneva in 2014 and describe their style as minimalist transpop prekraut postdisco.  Playing drums and double bass with electronic sounds they are inspired by the likes of Kraftwerk.  Here is a track from their 2019 album Massif Occidental called Temps Mort:

Moving on to Lausanne we meet El Mizan, a band combining the sounds of the Maghreb with punk rock.  Algerian mandole player Anouar Kaddour Chérif and his Swiss band describe their work as "a North African Occidental dish served in Darija".  Here's a track from their only release to date, their 2019 album Nirani, called Hakmet Lakdar:

11-piece Afrobeat band Professor Wouassa were founded in 2003 in Lausanne with mostly Swiss musicians.  It's a long way from yodelling, but shows the metropolitan side of Switzerland.  Here's a track from their 2017 album Grow Yes Yes! called We Thit:

Moving on to the town of Monthey in the mountains of the Canton of Valais, where the Swiss/Malian duo Kala Jula are based consisting of Swiss multi-instrumatalist Vincent Zanetti (guitar, kora, djembe drums) and Malian griot Samba Diabaté on acoustic guitar.  Diabaté is from the western Malian town of Kita and belongs to the Mandinka people and therefore the music very much is inspired by Manding tradition, but with a modern twist, sometimes hinting at jazz.   For their 2017 album Mande Kulu they are joined on double bass by Hélène Labarrière and violonist Jackie Molard to form almost a chamber music ensemble.  Here is a piece from the album called Les Bouffons recorded live:

And just to finish off our virtual tour of Switzerland we stop off in Lugano in the Italian speaking Ticino region, where Switzerland's most successful music act comes from, the hard rock band Gotthard.  They've been going since 1992 and their last 11 albums all went to the top of the Swiss album charts.  In 2010 founding member and lead singer Steve Lee died in a motorcycle accident and was replaced by Nic Maeder.  Shortly after they released a single in memory of their departed singer called Remember It's Me:

Finally on our way east and out of Switzerland we go back to the German speaking Central Switzerland to the Muotathal for something more traditional again.  This is where balfolk trio Ambäck hail from consisting of Markus Flückiger (Schwyzerörgeli), Andreas Gabriel (fiddle) and Pirmin Huber (double bass).  They give a contemporary twist to the traditional dance tunes of their little valley.  Here is a tune from their latest EP Chreiselheuer, which came out earlier this year called Verändler:

This is it from our virtual trip around Switzerland.  Todays tour felt more like a world tour than a tour through this Alpine nation, but at least there was no yodelling in sight this time.  Next stop Liechtenstein (perhaps not...) and Austria.  As usual you can follow my virtual ramblings on my Tripline map.

Switzerland - The Centre

 Next we are heading to Luzern (Lucerne) right bang in the middle of Switzerland.  This is where folk and jazz musician Albin Brun was born in 1959.  The composer, saxophonist and Schwyzerörgeli (a small diatonic accordion) player has his fingers in many pies, collaborating with many ensembles including the Ala Fekra Project and Patricia Draeger mentioned in the last post.  Patricia Draeger is also part of the Albin Brun Trio which explores the boundaries between folk music and jazz.  Here's a song from the trio's 2018 album Lied.schatten called Dr Heimetvogel (the home bird) sung in Swiss German featuring Issa Wiss on vocals.

Moving on to the sleepy capital of Switzerland Bern, where we encounter contemporary folk band Silberen.  They consist of Barbara Berger (vocals, Schwyzerörgeli, harmonium), Christian Schmid (double bass), Nayan Stalder (hammered dulcimer) and Roli Strobel (percussion).  They produce songs inspired by their native landscape combined with some jazz influences.  Here is a song from their debut album Blumenstein called Melklied (milking song), which includes some melodic yodelling (you can't go to Switzerland and not yodel!):

Also from Bern is 'techno-yodeller' Christine Lauterburg born in in 1956.  She combines yodelling with a variety of more contemporary styles, although I wouldn't call it techno myself.  This is a clip with her band Landstrichmusik where inexplicably, apart from yodelling she also plays the broomstick and a guy playing the bodhran on an old banjo case:

Singer/songwriter Émilie Jeanne-Sophie Welti aka Sophie Hunger was born in Bern in 1983, but has been around the block a bit having been brought up in London, Bonn and Zurich and now living in Berlin.  She is influenced more by the Anglo-Saxon folk tradition singing in English, German, Swiss German, French and Italian.  Here is a song which features on her
2013 live album The Rules of Fire called Walzer für Niemand (Waltz for nobody):

Senegalese composer and singer Pape Djiby Ba also calls Bern his home and has set out to teach the Swiss some African rhythms by founding the Swiss African Orchestra.  It's a veritable big band with a beefy horn section, percussion, electric guitars and bass as well as keyboard and background singers fronted by Ba on vocals.  They combine Mbalax Senegalese rhythms with jazz improvisations and a touch of funk.  This should get even the dour Swiss to swing a dance leg.  Here is a song from their latest album Jokko called Baliya, a song about the importance of family:

Finally some more African influences: DJ, musician and filmmaker Fabio Friedli aka Pablo Nouvelle is also from Bern.  He mostly dabbles in electronica and trip-hop and produced an EP of afrobeat inspired music last year in collaboration with Beninese superstar Angelique Kidjo and ethno-musicologist Hugh Tracey called Eliso Lyamu Katata.  The track Milambi has Kidjo's powerful vocals over some pulsating electronic house rhythms interlaced with afrobeat as well as archival recordings of tribal singing.   The video is made up of archival footage of African landscapes and ritual dances.

That's it from Central Switzerland for now.  Quite a varied lot this time, hope you found something in there you liked.  As usual you can follow my virtual ramblings on my Tripline map.

Netherlands -Amsterdam

 Almost every time I tell someone I am Dutch they will say something like: "Oh I've been to Amsterdam and found this cute little place, you probably know it" or "I'm going on a stag do to Amsterdam soon.  Do you have any recommendations of places we must see?".  I then have to patiently explain that my family are from Rotterdam, that the people of Rotterdam don't like the people of Amsterdam much, so much so that none of my large and sprawling family live there and I have only briefly visited the place about 3 times in my life, twice in the 70's and once in the 90's.  So don't ask me for any recommendations of places to visit in Amsterdam!

Right, now that I have that out of the way, I have to admit that Amsterdam in the province of North Holland is the capital of the Netherlands and as such a magnet for tourists and artists from all over the world, so I shall acknowledge some of the mostly international music acts from this city.

Whilst I did say I wouldn't do any recommendations, one tourist attraction is the Anne Frank House, where the young Jewish girl wrote her famous diary, while hiding away from the Nazis.  This demonstrates the ongoing Jewish connection of the city, which is also reflected in some of the music, such as The Amsterdam Klezmer Band, who have been playing their modern danceable sound of klezmer combined with Balkan, Jazz, Gypsy and hip-hop since 1996.  Here is the opening track from the 2006 album Remixed called Sadagora Hot Dub:

 

Amsterdam-based Turkish psychedelia band Altin Gün are a band consisting of Turkish and Indonesian immigrants as well as Dutch musicians performing music inspired by Anatolian folk infused with 80's psychedelic pop.  Here's a track from their upcoming album Yol called Ordunun Dereleri:

The Mauskovic Dance Band might sound like another klezmer band, but the varying members of the Mauskovic family produce an electronic dance sound with psychedelic Afrobeat and Cumbia influences. This might not be everybody's cup of tea, but here is a live clip of some of their hypnotic grooves:

In 1995 Jazz drummer Lucas van Merwijk founded the Cubop City Big Band in Amsterdam, who have been in the forefront of the Salsa and Latin dance scene in Europe.  Given that the full ensemble consists of some 20 musicians, it must be tricky to get them all together at one place at any one time, which is perhaps why they have only released 7 albums during their 25 years in existence.  Here's a track from their 2003 album Arsenio with music by Arsenio Rodriguez called Mulence:

Boi Akih are a jazz and world music outfit around Dutch guitarist Niels Brouwer and Indonesian vocalist Monica Akihary that was established in 1997.  Akihary sings both in English and her father's native Haruku, an endangered language of the island in Indonesia of the same name.  Their musical style combines musical traditions of the Molucca Islands, Bali, Dutch jazz, improvised music, Indian classical music and traditional African music.  On their latest 2020 album Storyteller they are joined by Hungarian recorder player Dodó Kis and Ivorian kora player Sékou Dioubaté.  Here is a small session showcasing 3 songs from the album:

I first came across Selma Peelen from Amsterdam several years ago when I heard her singing Turkish folk.  In her latest project she teamed up with Johan Visschers to form folk duo Mankes.  They named themselves after Dutch painter Jan Mankes (1889-1920).

Mankes self portrait

Mankes (the music duo) describe their style as cinematic folk with a hint of the Orient and a healthy dose of noisy and dark texture.  Here's a song from their 2019 album Chant called You're Loved (since it was Valentines Day yesterday...)

That's it from Amsterdam.  As usual you can follow my virtual ramblings on my tripline map.

England - London Part II

Continuing our exploration of the multi-faceted music scene of London we encounter record producer and guitarist Simon Emmerson.  After a life changing trip to Senegal to produce 3 tracks for Afro pop-star Baaba Maal, he felt similarities between African and Celtic music and went on to found the Afro Celt Sound System in 1995.  This is a track from their 2018 album Flight called Sanctus:

Simon Emmerson was also one of the main organisers of The Imagined Village, a collaborative work from many roots musicians intended to produce modern folk music.  They produced a self-titled album in 2007, from which this song is taken, where Emmerson plays the bouzouki and featuring Billy Bragg on guest vocals: John Barleycorn: 

London based music collective Kefaya based around Giuliano Modarelli and Al MacSween collaborates with musicians from all over the world, including the UK, Italy, Cuba, India, Spain, Kurdistan and Afghanistan.  The result can sometimes be a confusing mix of styles as on their 2016 debut album Radio International, which includes a rendition of Bella Ciao alongside classical Indian, Flamenco, Maghreb sounds and electronica.  Their second album with Afghan pop singer Elaha Soroor called Songs of Our Mothers released in 2019 is a bit more focussed.  Their name means 'enough' in Arabic and is used to describe the grassroots liberation movement in Egypt which lead to the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011.  This is a song off the second album called Charsi:

Folk musician and fiddler Peter Knight left Steeleye Span in 2013 to forge a career mostly with his band Gigspanner.  He is way more than just a fiddler, but is a classically trained violin virtuoso as is demonstrated on this tune called The Water is Wide, which features on his 2011 live album Doors at Eight:

Folk band Blowzabella was formed in 1978 in Whitechapel, East London who play bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy and an array of acoustic instruments to produce a driving, drone-based sound influenced by English and European folk.   Here's a song from their 2018 album Two Score called Adam Was A Poacher:

Folk singer/songwriter and fiddler Nancy Kerr was born in Plaistow, East London, but has since moved to Sheffield.  She has been impressively productive both on her own and as part of numerous collaborations since her emergence in the early 1990's.  This a song from her 2016 album Instar called Gingerbread:

I think we'll leave it there for today and spend a 3rd day in London as to not overwhelm you all.  As usual you can follow my virtual trip on my tripline map.