Jazzpodium, March 2003,
Germany
Reviewed by Ulfert Goeman |
This release of the Greek (folk) singer
Savina Yannatou and her band Primavera en Salonico by ECM is certainly
just as surprising as decades ago the one of P.Lask or, a few years
ago, the one of Nils Petter Molvær (“Khmer”), because
it doesn’t seem to fit into their assumed pattern, which after
all though can be described with Edition of Contemporary Music nevertheless.
Or does this album fit into their program exactly because of that?
Isn’t it true that specifically jazz and the new classical music
live from originality and spontaneous improvisation? ….
The versatility of Yannatou is obvious from her Vita. In Renaissance
and Baroque music she is as much at home as in modern electronic music;
she performed with the deceased jazz bass-player Peter Kowald, just
as with the Greek reed-player Floros Floridi; she collaborated with
the famous Greek composers Manos Hadjidakis and Nikos Mamangakis,
just as with the songwriter Lena |
Platonos and performed in January of this
year at the occasion of the Greek EU presidency in London’s
Queen Elizabeth Hall, where she sang songs of Theodorakis a.o.
It was in 1994 that the singer Savina Yannatou from Athens and the
arranger and multi-instrumentalist Kostas Vomvolos joined forces.
In the band Primavera en Salonico one can find such exotic instruments
as oud, tamboura, quanun, accordion, violin and nay; they are played
by musicians who are no strangers to jazz , who are used to free improvisation,
who are able to follow the singer to a “terra incognita”
(which jazz still is to many).
Thus signalizes the album title “Terra Nostra” in different
spheres the open dialogue between the singer and the instrumentalists,
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in five titles also a peaceful “clash”
of two voices from completely different cultures (Yannatou and the
Tunisian singer Lamia Bedioui), which successfully results in a uniform
and integrated whole.
This debut on ECM gets into an event of special significance. Yannatou’s
voice, tender and lithe, like a reed swaying in the wind, seems celestial.
One can only agree with the view of for example critic Roberto Villarel,
when he says that Savina sings like an angel or jubilates like a nightingale:
“I can only say that she sings exactly as she wants, without
technical or expressive limit. The dream voice. We must assume that
the Greek singer has received a divine gift”. And Primavera
en Salonico is here the perfect counterpart, with its improvisational
maturity and the expressive instrumental freedom: jazz and beyond. |
|
fROOTS Magazine,
#239, May 2003
Reviewed by Chris Williams |
A live recording featuring a gloriously varied range
of material - there are songs here from Greece, Lebanon, Spain, Sardinia,
Bulgaria, the Caribbean and many other places, besides (including
a Hebridian song from the Marjory Kennedy-Frazer collection). It’s
hard to say exactly how much post-concert work was done in the studio,
but this is a live CD that really does combine the energy and spontaneity
of performance with the technical precision of a studio recording.
Yannatou’s vocals are impeccable throughout, her articulation
clear, the ornamentation precise and - where necessary - the voice
gutsy without being strained. Another excellent female vocalist, Lamia
Bedioui, sings on a number of the songs in Arabic.
The subtle textures of the two female voices are offset perfectly
by the instrumental backing. Primavera en Salonico is a mainly acoustic
orchestra consisting of traditional instruments such as |
oud, kanun and ney, as well as guitar, accordeon and
double bass. It is an excellent and versatile band that copes gloriously
with the demands made by the various styles on offer - this CD would
be an enjoyable listen even without the vocals. As someone with a
special interest in the instrument, I was especially impressed by
Kyriakos Gouventas’ violin playing, but there is not a single
instrumentalist here who is less than excellent.
I have one minor quibble, which is that the sleeve notes give minimal
information (and in English only - most of the song texts are given
in translation) about what is a very interesting selection of songs.
But this is one of Savina Yannatou’s best releases and is
highly recommended. |
|
Birmingham Mail, 15 February 2003
Reviewed by Peter Bacon |
| From the folky/world music end of the ECM label’s output is
this wide-ranging Greek singer and her virtuoso ensemble of musicians.
They may play traditional instruments like oud, accordion, violin
and nay, but they have their roots in jazz improvisation and experimentation.
The lithe rhythms and space in the playing certainly reflect that.
Listen to how the jazz feel enters in the instrumental break between
the verses of the Hebridean Fairy’s Love Song.
Yannatou’s voice has many colours - it’s a beautifully
pure instrument able to jump from Greece to Scottland in the space
of a song, still very much a folk voice but then she roughens it
and chops it up for a song like Ballo Sardo from Sardinia which
is a real ear-opener.
This is a recording of an Athens concert in 2001, richly recorded
and so long and full of individual delights that it’s a bit
much to take in at one sitting. |
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