Tag Archives: Review

EMIAN – Khymeia (2016)



Six years ago on December the 21th 2011, the day of the winter solstice, EMIAN was formed. To celebrate that moment, we have decided to write an introduction for their latest album Khymeia. Way overdue of course, but better late then never.

From the moment I put Khymeia, the second album from the Italian Pagan Folk band EMIAN, in my CD-player, it started to grab me. At first it surprised me, then their music started pulling me in… note by note. By the time the 5th song La Cama Nupcial was playing there was no turning back. I was hooked! The musicality, the originality, the talent. This is a CD well worth buying… But now I’m getting wàààày ahead of myself, so first things first.


EMIAN is a 4 person Pagan Folk band from Italy. As it was formed at the winter solstice 2011, it’s no big surprise the band get its inspiration from their own southern Italy Pagan roots, Mother earth, nature and ancient cultures. They do so with songs by their own hand, inspired by Celtic, North-European and Mediterranean folklore, and songs they collected from those periods, be it in Italian, Finnish, French, English or Gaelic (Both Scottish and Irish Gaelic), taking influences from shamanistic chants to medieval ballads.

The band members are:
Aianna Egan (Anna Cefalo) on vocals, celtic harp and castanets (those are fun).
Emian Druma (Emilio Antonio Cozza) on vocals, hurdy gurdy, nyckelharpa, fiddle, flute, percussion, medieval bagpipe and the Persian santur, an instrument that looks a lot like a hammered dulcimer.
Rohan (Danilo Lupi) on acoustic bass, Irish bouzouki, the tin and low whistle and backing vocals.
Mártín Killian (Martino D’Amico) on drums, percussion, guitar and backing vocals.



The intro song Tribus Hirpeis is followed by a vocal piece written by themselves. Hyria starts with an enchanting harp melody supported by the Persian santur, giving the song a Greek feel. Anna quickly joins in. She has a beautiful warm yet strong voice. A pleasure to listen too. After this ballad-esque start the acoustic bass joins in, giving the song a surprising modern feel. This in contrast to the use of the tribal bass sound from the didgeridoo, well-known from other Pagan Folk bands. Surprising at first, but it actually fits perfectly. With the violin joining in with the harp melody, the band captivates you. Without warning you drift into Khymeia‘s musical world. One you will enjoy.

La giga del lupo starts with a Celtic harp jig that takes me back to the Pagan folklore days of OMNIA, but a loud ‘yehaa’ brings in Emilio’s violin. Playing a lovely Irish folk melody and making it into a perfect instrumental Balfolk dance song. Short, but therefore more powerful.

Rebys is a strong, cheerful and up-tempo song with Spanish Sephardic lyrics, driven by the rhythm of the drums. The Italian language just works wonders in this style of music. Again Anna Cefalo shows she is a really good singer, but she is not alone. It becomes clear that all the band members are talented musicians. A lot of things are happening in the music: harp, Irish bouzouki, hurdy gurdy, percussion, castanets, but also musical breaks, sudden twists in the rhythm, it’s all there. This is really a CD you want to listen to with headphones, just to be able to hear everything that’s hidden in the music (or play it very loud in the living room… when the neighbours are not at home). Midway through this song there is a sudden break in the music, taking it back to only Anna Cefalo’s voice and harp, before the band kicks in again. This build-up is repeated at the end of Rebys.

The next song La Cama Nupcial starts off as if it’s another break, with only Anna’s harp again. If you wouldn’t look at your display at that point, you would certainly think you were still listening to Rebys. Brilliantly done. It clearly shows EMIAN’s compositional skills.

La Cama Nupcial itself is a beautiful duet between harp and flute, a bit like the instrumental duets Sowulo are known for. I always make notes while listening to an album for a review, and at this point I wrote: “I’m now officially hooked!”.

Khymeia is a beautiful album that fits well in the realm of OMNIA, Faun, Sowulo and Rastaban. Not that EMIAN is a copy of any of those bands. They have their own unique style. It’s just to give you, the listener, an idea of what to expect.

The first song not written by EMIAN themselves, and the 6th on the album, is El Viaja de Maria. To show how diversely skilled the members of EMIAN are, it starts with a bit of overtone singing by Emilio Cozza. This is a singing technique where you sing a low tone while making an ‘oe-oo-eu’ sound. When a singer is skilled and has had a lot of practise, his or her vocal chords can make a second tone, higher then the first. The song itself is a well-known traditional (In Extremo recorded a nice version), but EMIAN re-arranged it so it fits their style perfectly. The long instrumental intro will draw you into the song.

Níl Sé’N Lá is actually a Scottish Gaelic song but in the arrangement of EMIAN it becomes a Greek traditional, driven by the percussion. Weird in a way, but it works. It works really well actually. It’s something that EMIAN does so well: they blend their influences together, not only in their song choice alone but also within the songs themselves, making them way more interesting.



I’ll stop here because I don’t want to give away every song on this album. It’s much more fun to get Khymeia yourself and start discovering EMIAN’s musical world . Just listen to the instrumental song La Gavotte for instance. A fun French Balfolk song that, again, finds itself somewhere between the music of Omnia and Faun. Chêne blanc is another up tempo, instrumental dance song. My personal favourite. Kuulin Äänenn is a Finnish (!) ballad, beautifully sung by Anna and Martino D’Amico, but then, halfway, turned into a cheerful Balfolk song. Listen to that flute solo in the end! Surely this song is the high-light of every concert they play. My last personal tip is Le Due Sorelle, an Italian translation by Anna Cefalo of the famous song The Twa Sisters. I have to say the Italian language is very suitable for a ballad like this.

With Khymeia, EMIAN has put themselves right in the top of the pagan folk scene. In my eyes a must have album for everyone who loves this particular style of music.

Cliff

Concert photos taken at Castlefest 2017, courtesy of:
Mariëlle Groot Obbink


Helisir – Spin (2017)


The latest (and last) Helisir CD ‘SPIN’ came out this September and it’s a gem!

But first let’s introduce Helisir a bit more.

Helisir is the musical project and brainchild of Jacqueline Stempher. It started out as an idea for a book based around the fictive Nordic land Helisir, a Nordic equivalent of Avalon where the old Gods in ancient times met.

Over time their stories were set into music by Jacqueline and they ended up on the first Helisir album ‘Ravn’. It was produced by Jacqueline herself and could best be described as Nordic influenced ambient Pagan music. All instruments recorded were played by Jacqueline herself.

In 2016, a mini CD came out called ‘Sårbare’. It was recorded at the Dear World studio by Fieke van der Hurk and featured Jacqueline on harp and vocals in an all acoustic setting.

Now the third album ‘SPIN’ is finally here to conclude the Helisir story.

This time Jacqueline visited the Lava Studios in Copenhagen to have Christopher Juul record ‘SPIN’. The album picks up on the sound of ‘Ravn’ and is musically best described as a crossover between Dido and Euzen. (So not the voice/harp sound we have come to know through her ‘live ploink‘ streaming concerts on Facebook or the mini CD ‘Sårbare’.)


Jacqueline’s last Facebook livestream from the Netherlands, just before moving up North.


From the first seconds of ‘The Tide’ it’s clear this album is all about Jacqueline’s beautiful voice. A crossover between the laid back, fragile way of singing of Dido, the strong sound of Anneke van Giersbergen (ex-The Gathering, Ayreon) and a touch of Sara Weeda (SeeD, ANÚNA).

In her lyrics Jacqueline stayed close to her heart, making this her most personal album. She has put the feelings and fears she went through the past years in beautiful musical poems, partly in English, but also some in Dutch. Listen to ‘Done’, ‘Lighthouse’, ‘Ashes’ or the Dutch title song ‘Spin’ and you’ll hear how personal her lyrics have become.

Jacqueline composed all the music and Christopher Juul arranged all the songs and took care of the instruments, so Jacqueline could focus on the vocals. He managed to make the music work as a supportive partner to Jacqueline’s voice, enhancing the lyrics instead of the instruments taking over. Those who love Euzen will recognize his style with those subtle touches making the music interesting and ‘SPIN’ a CD well worth buying!


I am now left with two wishes:

1. That somewhere in the future, Jacqueline will team up again with Christopher to make more music. It would be such a shame if that would never happen again.

and

2. That Castlefest will book Euzen for their Winter Edition 2017 and they will ask them to support Jacqueline Stempher there on stage as well, so we can hear her songs live in the way they were intended to sound. Mark… Jacqueline… Christopher… pretty please??? 🙂


– Cliff


– Live concert pictures courtesy of:

Kees Stravers
https://www.flickr.com/photos/case_s


ALBUM REVIEW: Martine Kraft – Huldreblod!

A little over a week ago we introduced Cliff to you all as our latest CeltCast family member, and one of the things he said he would be doing for us is reviewing albums, so it’s time for the first one!

Having Martine Kraft ‘s amazing song “Himmelfot” as our Monthly Marker this month, we thought it would be a good idea to start with a review of the album this song is from, Huldreblot, which was released last May.

In his review Cliff certainly shows what he’s made of, as he delves deep into not only the amazing album that it is, but also into his emotional connections with other music that was triggered by it and he clearly did research to provide the reader with not only relevant but also very interesting background information!

Curious yet? Good! 😀
Head on over to this link and read the review! You won’t be disappointed!

Review ‘Martine Kraft – Huldreblod’

A little over a week ago we introduced Cliff to you all as our latest CeltCast family member and one of the things he said he would be doing for us is reviewing albums. So, it’s time for the first one! 🙂
Having Martine Kraft‘s amazing song “Himmelfot” as our Monthly Marker this month, we thought it would be a good idea to start with a review of the album this song is from, Huldreblot, which was released last May.

In his review Cliff certainly shows what he’s made of, as he delves deep into not only the amazing album that it is, but also into his emotional connections with other music that was triggered by it and he clearly did research to provide the reader with not only relevant but also very interesting background information!

Curious yet? Good! 😀
Head on over to the review. You won’t be disappointed!


Martine Kraft – Huldreblod (2017)


Alex and I both have our guilty pleasures. Bands that don’t fit the CeltCast format, but we like anyway. (I have quite a lot actually, but that’s beside the point.) 😉

One of those guilty pleasures we share together, is Martine Kraft‘s newest album ‘Huldreblod’. It made a big impression on us both. As did her performance at Castlefest, together with Kati Ran. So it’s no surprise one of her songs is the CeltCast Monthly Marker for October. And with that we can also introduce her and her music to the CeltCast community. With pleasure. 🙂

Martine Kraft (34) is a Norwegian musician, singer and composer. Her main instrument is the Hardanger fiddle (in Norse: Hardingfele), which is called the Norwegian national instrument and is named after the area it originates from, Hardanger. The first known one was made in 1615. The Hardanger fiddle is quite similar to a ‘normal’ violin with 4 strings that are played with a bow, but under the 4 strings are another 4 or 6 which are lead through the bridge under the ‘main’ strings and which resonate with the upper strings.

Traditionally the Hardanger fiddle is richly decorated with carvings, Mother of Pearl inlays and black ink decorations called Rosing. Martine’s personal Hardanger fiddle, called ‘Huldrefela’, was given to her by the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle fund, in recognition of her work to make this fiddle more widely known. It’s a 10 string Hardanger fiddle with a special tuning mechanism, making it easier to tune while on the road in challenging climates. It was made by the master violin maker Helge M. Bergnord.

Martine also plays the nyckelharpa (a keyed fiddle and the Swedish national instrument), the ‘ordinary’ violin and the viola (or Bratsj as the Norwegians call it), which is a bigger violin with a deeper sound. Beside the violins she also plays several kinds of flutes. On stage as well as on her album, she is accompanied by her Martine Kraft band consisting of her life partner Nils Jørgen Nygaard Kraft on guitar and keyboards (among other things), Stig Enger on electric guitar, Jon Karlsen on bass and Freddy Wike on drums.

Her fifth album ‘Huldreblod’ was recorded in the Enger studio with Stig. He also co-produced the CD together with Nils Jørgen. Martine wrote all the music for the album and almost all the lyrics. Nils Jørgen wrote them for the tracks ‘Huldreblod’ and ‘Himmelfot’.

Track 1: Huldreblod

On the opening track of the CD, the title track ‘Huldreblod’, Martine showcases that Hardanger fiddle straight away. Huldreblod is a song about the forest nymph ‘Huldra’, a nymph that fell in love with a human. To be able to be with her lover she lost her abilities as a nymph. Every time she was treated wrong, she lost a little bit of her beauty, but her strength and wisdom stayed with her. In a touching and real personal way, Martine dedicates this whole album to Huldra and the strength we all carry inside. We all can have a bit of Huldra running through our veins. The song itself starts with the sound of a Rhombus, (Norse: Brummar) and whispered Norse lyrics, giving us the eerie feel of the dark, misty Norwegian forests where Huldra once lived. The Hardanger fiddle comes in for a fast, ear-catching Prog-rock song. The way the song is built up: the choir, the church organ, the sound of the guitar solo, the break with organ… makes me think of Mike Oldfield’s early work. And I mean that in a real complimentary way. This song grabs you and drags you into the album, leaving you with a ear-worm that will stick with you for days. 🙂




Track 2: Sølje

The second song, ‘Sølje’, is a ballad. A Sølje is a piece of Nordic jewellery, in this case left by Huldra on a path for a young man to be found. Here we hear Martine’s voice for the first time and it is a unique one. High, a wee wee bit hoarse and very young in tone, delicate and fragile, which fits the music really well. Martine uses her voice in the same way as Ágnes Tóth (The Moon and the Night Spirit), to enhance the feel of the music she makes. It starts out really gently with only piano, showing her music is about the songs. Not a violin extravaganza. The violin only comes in on the second part of the song with a powerful musical break, kicking this into a pure power-ballad.


Castlefest 2017 Ran & Kraft

Track 3: Frikar

‘Frikar’ starts out with a keyboard intro that, very shortly, reminds me a bit of Euzen. It’s a pure Prog-rock intro actually, but then the violin steps in and the music takes a 180° turn into a pure up-tempo Folk song. A tribute to the toughest Norwegian traditional dancers, the Frikar.


Track 4: Villvind

Next ‘Villvind’ starts with a jazzy, jumpy piano intro?! By now it’s getting clear that Martine’s music isn’t straight forward. She likes to tease us listeners, keep us surprised, putting us on the wrong foot, while the music stays catchy and fun at the same time. Impressive. The song goes on as an instrumental, bit jazzy violin improvisation (or at least it feels like that) again within that Prog-rock style. Especially when the music builds up beautifully from a real gentle, fragile violin improvisation into a climax, lead by Stig Enger’s electric guitar. Short, but oh so powerful (and my head suddenly goes ‘Hello, Dream Theater‘). At this point it’s also clear that the whole band excels on this album. Just listen to Jon Karlsen’s bass-line on ‘Villvind’.


Castlefest 2017 Ran & Kraft

Track 5: Nar dagen hviler

‘Nar dagen hviler’ is a second ballad. Starting with a moving, Gypsy like violin solo and Martine’s special fragile voice we are drifting away in moon filled dreams. An ambient, dream-scape kinda song.



Track 6: Himmelfot

Which brings us to our Monthly Marker, ‘Himmelfot’. Here I quote Martine from the introduction she wrote in the booklet: ”My child was born with a birthmark shaped like a cloud on his foot. This song ‘Himmelfot’ means ‘sky foot’ “. The song starts with the sound of child’s play, and a balladesque intro… but then jumps into a cool cheerful ‘Norwegian’ jig. Bring out the Balfolk dancers!




Track 7: Solefall

‘Solefall’ is a nice mid-tempo Prog-rock song featuring the violin again. With a nice vocal display from Martine to top it off.




Track 8: Mørketid

‘Mørketid’ is a beautiful ballad. It is one of the more personal songs on ‘Huldreblod’ for Martine, judging by her intro in the booklet. And you can hear it. Just read her intro in the booklet and flow with the music. A special mention to the male ‘Joik’ * on this track. Just another part of the musical diversity of this band proving how they are able to blend Norse (Nordic) traditions into modern songs.




Track 9: Djeveldans
&
Track 10: Nidhogg

‘Djeveldans’ and ‘Nidhogg’ are up-tempo instrumental Prog-rock songs again. Beautiful, with the violin taking over the role of the electric guitar solo’s. Keeping the sound really clean yet powerful. All kind of musical twists are in there again, as it should be in progressive music. Piano, choirs, breaks… it is all there. Special mention in this case to drummer Freddy Wike in ‘Nidhogg’. He gets his chance to shine with some impressive double bass drumming. Oh and did I mention the trombone in this song already?!?


Track 11: Ravn

After all this pure energy, the album ends with the ambient ballad ‘Ravn’. Again, in the booklet, Martine gets real personal in her message to us, the listener. Sharing with us her wishes for future times. Again you can hear it in the music. ‘Ravn’ becomes a beautiful ending to ‘Huldreblod’. An album I really fell in love with during the listening-sessions for this introduction.




If the idea of a unique mix of progressive Pop/Rock music, with a Hardanger fiddle as lead solo instrument (in stead of screamin’ guitars or keyboards), dipped way deep in Norwegian traditions and folklore appeals to you, then this is your CD. If in doubt, just check out our Monthly Marker ‘Himmelfot’ and be convinced. In the meantime I’m gonna go after the other four Martine Kraft albums. This one made me hungry for more! 🙂


– Cliff


* the Joik is one of the traditional ways of singing of the Sami people. As an art form, each Joik is meant to reflect or evoke a person, animal or place. Music researchers believe that the Joik is one of the longest-living musical traditions in Europe. (all according to Wikipedia)





– Live concert pictures courtesy of:

Kees Stravers
https://www.flickr.com/photos/case_s








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