European Vocals

 Secret Garden has been described as a pop phenomenon, new age group, classical meets easy listening, and even soft jazz - so what is Secret Garden?

 They're from Scandinavia, but they don't sing like Abba: they're essentially a duo of keyboardist Rolf Lovland and violinist Fionnuala Sherry.   Rolf writes the music which often sounds like movie soundtrack music played by a symphony orchestra in which Fionnuala plays lead violin.   Touches of gypsy music, folk, and even a little jazz do come out in her playing.

 The orchestration changes with each tune: some songs feature electric instruments, some have a bit of an Irish reel (as in cut 3, 'Reel'). Some are happy, some sad; some can put you to sleep (cut six is a lullaby appropriately titled 'Sleepsong'). Some of these tunes were actually movie soundtrack music.

 I like the occasional Irish-sounding tunes like the 'Daughters of Erin', which is a jig played by a large orchestra.   Many of the people who settled Ireland (a.k.a. Erin) came from Norway, the home of Secret Garden.

 Cut 10, 'Half a World Away', came as a shock as it has a vocal - if you like love songs, you'll love this number with the vocal by Jan Werner Danielson, lyrics by Brendan Graham.

 The last cut, ' Raise Your Voices', features a vocal chorus which reminds me of a Christmas choral.

 ...so, what is Secret Garden? They define their own, unique category of music and defy niche marketing.

  It's truly amazing, the music that's showing up on cd today. In 1909 the Gramophone Company set about recording the endangered musical traditions of the various countries and ethnic groups of the Caucasus and Central Asia. Unlike most field recording work which we usually receive for review these recordings are primarily of urban musicians, not rural villagers.

 Since recording techniques in 1909 weren't anything like the standards of today, many tonal qualities of the music were not picked up by the equipment, so we have to try to imagine what the full sound was like.

 Geographically, we're talking about an area from Armenia or Turkey's Eastern border to Turkestan or China's Western border.

 Such a variety of sounds: male and female choirs as well as soloists. String instruments, brass instruments, reeds, drums, and other forms of percussion provide backup.   Many of these styles have now disappeared while still others have morphed into styles heard at 'world music' concerts today.

 BEFORE THE REVOLUTION is not an easy to listen to cd for everybody; but if you have family from this region or are a serious scholar or collector of world music, BEFORE THE REVOLUTION is a unique 'must have'.

 ECM has long been known for its spacey European minimalist jazz, even though some of its featured musicians were Americans; but with Greek singer Savina Yannatou we have a real break: she's a singer, not an instrumentalist; and a signer well versed in the traditional songs of Southern and Eastern Europe as well as the nearby Middle East.

 In keeping with the ECM tradition, the musical arrangements are spare if not sparse. At times the music seems disconnected, so in some ways it fits the ECM model.

  Savina has a haunting voice which she uses to great effect. She prefers the higher notes, at times dueting with a violin, matching it note for note.   All the instruments on SUMIGLIA are acoustic; some are traditional such as oud, kalimba and ney.  At times Primavera en Salonico sounds like a small Middle Eastern cafe band, and at other times like an experimental group.

  It took several listens before we began to appreciate her sound: this recording grows on you.

 Classical chamber folk space jazz vocals, anyone?