Search - Various Artists, Benat Achiary :: Basque Music of Today

Benat Achiary certainly creates music of today, no matter how old the source material may be. The subtitle of this album is Mes Chantes Verts et Bleus, and the dark greens of folk music are well blended with the blues of jazz and the avant-garde. He may start with a Basque-rooted folk song, but what appears is more like Meredith Monk, a vocal sound that is both abrasive and impressive, capable of rich sensitivity and brutal aggression. He chooses text and songs from a surprising array of sources: Lord Byron, Taos Native American, Basque tradition, as well as original material by Achiary himself and some of the best Basque writers. This is played out with a musical base that includes drums, saxophones, electric guitars, and bass in sometimes spacey, sometimes full-throttled arrangements that always have the voice front and center. Not folk, not jazz, not "world music," this CD is an original work of creative daring. --Louis Gibson