AKKU
Akku
NORCD
0142
As the canon of improvised music expands and brushes up against the sounds
created within the confines of so-called ethnic communities, it's becoming
apparent that some techniques we think of as experimental or far-out are
accepted as everyday in these societies.
Take
the roots sounds created by the Norwegian trio akku, which is made up
of the voices of Ruth Wilhelmine Meyer and Elfi Sverdrup and the voice
and tuba playing of Lars Andreas Haug. Committed to the sounds and musical
traditions of the Northern part of the world, the three include and adapt
fragments of historic melodies from the Inuit people and from such countries
as their own, Greenland, Scotland and (oddly enough) Bali.
Interestingly,
proving the quirky universality of some methodologies, the vocal techniques
utilized by the two women closely resemble those used by other traditional
singers who have recorded with improvisers. For instance you can compare
them to Tuvan Sainko Namtchylak, who has duetted with Evan Parker, and
Sicilian Mariam Palma who was one-third of the Terra Arsa group.
It
may help, of course, that the instrumentalist here -- similar to what
saxophonists Parker does with Namtchylak or Gianni Gebbia with Terra Arsa
-- is malleable enough to find a place for improv effects within the folk
process. Haug, who has performed at many Scandinavian jazz festivals,
regularly plays with other vocalists as well as in other bands that feature
saxophone and trumpet.
Not
only do throat, lip and tongue sounds here reference vocal creations from
other folkloric areas, but at times, on "Budeiesull" for instance,
soloist Sverdrup appears to be singing an Eastern European, Yiddish language
air.
Don't
forget that mouths were the original instruments. For instance, "Hjondo,"
based on a song from the Hebrides where wives ask the seals to send their
husband back from the hunt, begins with a soprano lead and tuba percussion.
Soon, however, Sverdrup's basso profundo begins to mirror the helicon's
tone, to be quickly succeeded by the tubaist vocalizing and vibrating
his valves in sympathy with the voices. "Kudjang" -- which goes
far beyond miscegenation -- is a Balinese "love song for humans and
frogs" and which leads you wonder whether valves or voices have created
some of the music. Surely those frog which appear to be baa-ing like sheep
are mouth products, while the deep toad-like sounds must come courtesy
of mouthpiece pressure.
Then
there are those songs that suggest improv more than tradition. "Abm
II," for example has the women engaging in some Inuit throat singing,
tossing phrases back and forth, faster and faster, while the tuba plays
straight legato lines and then a lighthearted ditty. Velvety "Abm
I," on the other hand, feature unhurried vocals matched with ghostly
echoes from the mega-horn. Or take "Favolaije" where Meyer ethereal
soprano voice follows one line, Sverdrup primitive rumbling bass another,
and Haug creates mouth percussion with steady jug band-like blasts from
his instrument.
Throaty
bird sounds characterize the Inuit-influenced "Favolaije," which
builds up to such an intensity of nonsense syllables that Sverdrup finally
collapses into laughter.
Listening to this CD will easily persuade listeners that tweaking established
vocal folk traditions will definitely one part of improvised music's future.
--
Ken Waxman
Track
Listing: 1. Hangawawahi; 2. Hjondo; 3. Atukutunga; 4. Abm II; 5. Favolaije;
6. Sibin; 7. Kudjang; 8. Hngejo; 9. Ih; 10. Intermezzo; 11. Monotone;
12. Rottoto; 13. Hejewa; 14. Abm II; 15. Budeiesull
Personnel:
Ruth Wilhelmine Meyer, Elfi Sverdrup, voices; Lars Andreas Haug, tuba,
voice