Jamie Smith’s Mabon – Twenty (Live)
Easy on the Records – 26 October 2018
I must admit to a certain sense of satisfaction in sitting down to begin writing this review on 21st September, the start of the Autumn equinox and the modern pagan ritual of thanksgiving for the fruits of the earth and a recognition of the need to share them, apparently given the name Mabon, around 1970.
For Jamie Smith’s Mabon, the group, 2018 sees their landmark 20th Anniversary of making mighty fine music. Successful musicians globally, having played well over 1000 gigs in four continents, including being the first ever Welsh band to perform at the Rain Forest World Music Festival in beautiful Kuching, Borneo, (subsequent appearances here have been by Calan and Blackbeard’s Tea Party), their latest release, Twenty is a live collection of Mabon favourites, both old and new, recorded during their Spring 2018 tour by John Eeles, their live sound engineer.
Established now as a five-piece group, main-man Jamie Smith, accordion and vocals, together with Iolo Whelan percussion, have been on-board since the start of the journey, and are capably assisted by Oliver Wilson-Dickson fiddle, Matthew Downer bass guitar and upright electric bass, together with newest recruit Paul Rogers on acoustic guitar, on a release which features contributions from almost all of their previous six albums.
Opening track The Ridiculous Thinker, (The Ridiculous Thinker/Ou Est Le Grandpere?/ Homage to the Fromage), is, appropriately, also the first piece of music arranged for the group when it expanded to five members. Percussive, in-the-groove and joyful, this offering showcases perfectly the band’s knack of seamlessly blurring the boundaries between the heritage of a traditional Celtic legacy and a more contemporary sound.
Track 2, Jig Trouble In Little Blain, (Jig Trouble In Little Blaina/Kaighin’s Jig/Alistair’s Jig), is the first of the two new tune sets on this release; the title, chosen by an audience member, being a tongue-in-the-cheek pun on the 1986 film Big Trouble In Little China. A cracking set it is too, upbeat, swirling jigs which are toe-tappingly addictive.
Having initially established themselves as fine purveyors of instrumental music, across the Celtic diaspora, including Breton An Dro dance music, the traditional muñeira dance and musical genre of Galicia, together with further explorations of mazurka and klezmer, 2012 proved a pivotal year as songs, in both Welsh and English was introduced.
One such, Yr Ennyd, originally the closing track of 2012’s Windblown, appears next, a haunting poem by Iolo, set to music by James. The atmospheric opening builds gently, but none the less intensely, as this majestic song, which translates as The Moment, asks the listener to pause and reflect before making what might be a significant, potentially life-changing choice. It’s a musical equivalent to 1998’s Sliding Doors film, where depending on whether she catches a train or not results in different outcomes for the protagonist’s life.
‘Ond cymer ofal
A chymer anadl,
Dal dy dir;
Gwna fwlch i feddwl’
(But take care
Take a breath,
Hold your ground;
Make a space to think).
Some old tune favourites follow. Firstly, Frank’s Reels (The Lads Of Longtown/Ril Catrin/The Risca Rascals/Gobbagyn Phurt ny Hinshey), the set of four tunes originally written by Jamie to celebrate the birth of his son, but now dedicated to all of the band’s children. It begins with the familiar unorthodox opening bars before the accordion picks out the melody and leads the listener inexorably into five minutes’ worth of feverish, dance-inciting wizardry – difficult indeed to turn down the offer on the sleeve notes to ‘dance around your kitchen’.
A change of tempo next, at least initially, with The Tale Of Nikolai, The Dancing Bear beginning slowly with melancholic violin and then accordion, before developing into a frenetic beat reminiscent of the Klezmer tunes of the Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern Europe, or even Romanian Hora, certainly gypsy or folk music from Eastern Europe of some ilk.
Inspired by an out-of-the-ordinary late-night motorway services stop The Gordano Ranter opens with eerie accordion and fiddle, before flourishing into another fast and furious romp, featuring some whole-hearted drumming. Sandwiched between the two previous tracks, and providing a counterpoint, is the delightfully refined and graceful air, Hummingbird (I Thought I Saw A Hummingbird).
In complete contrast, Drum ‘N’ Breizh, with its driving percussion, certainly has a Breton feel, although more in the vein of the music of someone like Frères Guichen rather than the possibly more familiar music of a Breton bagad. The almost free-form 1970’s jazz-rock break, one and a half minutes in, may jar with some traditionalists, but may also just serve to underline the rich vein of musical roots explored and then employed by the group.
Another treat is provided with another brand new track, Kingfisher And Magnet (Amanda’s Tune/Kingfisher & Magnet), which alludes to a shopping trip. Beginning with a plucked-string figure, the accordion briefly appears before gently soaring and tumbling between the other instruments, only for the sequence to be repeated in a tune that has instant appeal.
The second Welsh language song on the disc, (complete with liner-note Welsh message to which I reply ‘Dyma oedd fy adolygiad cyntaf o albwm Cymreig’), is the magnificent Caru Pum Merch (Loving Five Girls), about loving one woman through the five stages of her life. You don’t need to understand Gymraeg to appreciate the beauty of this track. Commencing with Oliver‘s solo violin, the song builds and develops from a brooding base into an epic of almost prog-rock proportions – think PFM in Welsh.
Wy’n caru merch yn d’ar
A honno braidd yn ddeunaw oed…
Wy’n caru merch yn d’ar
A honno’n newydd fel y wawr
(I love a girl dearly
She’s barely 18 years old …
I love a girl dearly
She’s young as new dawn)
The Accordionist’s Despair, a sequel to 2004’s The Fiddler’s Despair, is a fiendishly difficult and challenging piece described as ‘… an unholy union of Bach and Metallica’, and certainly shows off Jamie‘s technical ability on the instrument to the full in this humdinger of a tune, which reminded me very much of Curved Air‘s Vivaldi With Cannons in terms of its effervescence.
All too soon, we reach the final track, Easy On The Elephant (Elephant Graveyard March/Super Mega Bonus Reel/Hen Ferchetan (trad)). The first tune in the set is the oldest track on the CD, harking back to the group’s debut LP, Lumps Of Mabon, whilst the frenetic Super Mega Bonus Reel makes its recorded debut before the album is brought to a close with a dazzling instrumental version of the traditional Welsh folk song Hen Ferchetan (Old Maid).
The Cornucopia, or Horn of Plenty, is a traditional symbol for the above-mentioned Mabon festival season, representing the wealth of harvest; in the context of this release, it is an equally apt metaphor for the wealth of musical excellence contained within the 12 tracks offered here.
TWENTY is a glorious, celebratory résumé of two decades of inspiring, original, ‘Interceltic’ world music. It should serve as an ideal introduction to those new to Jamie Smith’s Mabon, whilst long-time fans will fully appreciate the release as a successful document, capturing the essence of one of the most entertaining live acts around.
‘Arhoswch gyda ni’ indeed.
Following a live session appearance on Mark Radcliffe’s BBC Radio 2 Folk Show, Wednesday, 24th October 2018, the band undertake a two-part TWENTY UK taith, beginning Autumn 2018 and running into Spring 2019, followed by performances at 2019 WOMADelaide and WOMAD New Zealand, together with a first-time festival visit to Canada.
Tour dates here http://www.jamiesmithsmabon.com/concerts/
Pre-Order Twenty Live! via http://www.jamiesmithsmabon.com/shop/twenty_live/
100 copies of the album will be available from today immediately if pre-ordering direct from the band’s website. To celebrate the release, and their twenty years of music making, their back catalogue is also on special offer, so now’s the time to fill in any gaps in your collection.
Photo Credit: Paul Hughes (press image)