*Queen Elizabeth Hall, London*
fRoots magazine's 35th-anniversary concert encouraged multicultural bed-hopping – which the various performers seized on with relish
Despite widespread euphoria about the infusion of youth, energy, talent and imagination currently driving a revival of the revival, British folk music has disappointingly failed to explore the rich multicultural diversity so invitingly seated on its own doorstep.
Long a champion of folk music of multifarious traditions, fROOTS magazine celebrated its 35th anniversary with a "Bridges" concert specifically designed to encourage such culture-swapping, pitching together seemingly random bedfellows in the hope of conjuring some undefinable magic. The ever-present spectre of imminent disaster provided seductive spice – Eliza Carthy only met her designated collaborator Greek lafta player/singer Martha Mavroidi four days earlier – but the performers found plenty of common ground to play with a relish that fully vindicated the whimsical theory.
Chris Wood, Ben Mandelson and Adriano Adewale played a lovely, desultory opening that included good-humoured Smokey Robinson and Ronnie Lane covers, while Lisa Knapp and Gerry Diver forged a spine-tingling partnership with Greek musicians Katina Kangaris and Chris Morphitis (of Mavrika), including a startling re-working of Knapp's celebrated Shipping Song. Carthy and Mavroidi rose boldly enough to their own challenge to suggest more will follow; and Welsh harpist Catrin Finch and Senegalese kora star Seckou Keita mesmerisingly demonstrated why the mag voted their Clychau Dibon album of the year.
The riskiest and most exciting union of all involved Spiro playing with a singer for the first time. Their involving instrumental interplay has already trampled genre boundaries, but, with the flamboyant and charismatic figure of Mojmir Novaković – frontman of Croatian roots rockers Kries – growling menacingly around them, they developed an unsettling but thrilling new dimension.
Only the marriage of BJ Cole's pedal steel guitar with singer Olivia Chaney lacked the carefree spirit of adventure that characterised the rest of this remarkable experiment. It showed music has its own international vocabulary and sustained a grand finale, as Eliza Carthy led the ensemble powerfully through Banks of the Sweet Primroses.
• Did you catch this show – or any other recently? Tell us about it using #gdnreview
Rating: 4/5 Reported by guardian.co.uk 12 hours ago.
fRoots magazine's 35th-anniversary concert encouraged multicultural bed-hopping – which the various performers seized on with relish
Despite widespread euphoria about the infusion of youth, energy, talent and imagination currently driving a revival of the revival, British folk music has disappointingly failed to explore the rich multicultural diversity so invitingly seated on its own doorstep.
Long a champion of folk music of multifarious traditions, fROOTS magazine celebrated its 35th anniversary with a "Bridges" concert specifically designed to encourage such culture-swapping, pitching together seemingly random bedfellows in the hope of conjuring some undefinable magic. The ever-present spectre of imminent disaster provided seductive spice – Eliza Carthy only met her designated collaborator Greek lafta player/singer Martha Mavroidi four days earlier – but the performers found plenty of common ground to play with a relish that fully vindicated the whimsical theory.
Chris Wood, Ben Mandelson and Adriano Adewale played a lovely, desultory opening that included good-humoured Smokey Robinson and Ronnie Lane covers, while Lisa Knapp and Gerry Diver forged a spine-tingling partnership with Greek musicians Katina Kangaris and Chris Morphitis (of Mavrika), including a startling re-working of Knapp's celebrated Shipping Song. Carthy and Mavroidi rose boldly enough to their own challenge to suggest more will follow; and Welsh harpist Catrin Finch and Senegalese kora star Seckou Keita mesmerisingly demonstrated why the mag voted their Clychau Dibon album of the year.
The riskiest and most exciting union of all involved Spiro playing with a singer for the first time. Their involving instrumental interplay has already trampled genre boundaries, but, with the flamboyant and charismatic figure of Mojmir Novaković – frontman of Croatian roots rockers Kries – growling menacingly around them, they developed an unsettling but thrilling new dimension.
Only the marriage of BJ Cole's pedal steel guitar with singer Olivia Chaney lacked the carefree spirit of adventure that characterised the rest of this remarkable experiment. It showed music has its own international vocabulary and sustained a grand finale, as Eliza Carthy led the ensemble powerfully through Banks of the Sweet Primroses.
• Did you catch this show – or any other recently? Tell us about it using #gdnreview
Rating: 4/5 Reported by guardian.co.uk 12 hours ago.