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Hughes de COURSON Babel – from Bach in Africa to Mozart in Egypt CD 1
Al Sahm al Taéh, song [4:57]
Sankada, song (after Bach's "Lasset uns den Nicht zerteilen") [5:20]
Toma que Toma, song [2:49]
Il Sonno, for ensemble & traditional Irish instruments
[4:10]
Stella Splendens, song (after a traditional Catalan melody)
[4:43]
Ya Shady Symphony, for voice & orchestra [5:41]
Romero Santo, song [3:36]
Kuteva, song [4:42]
Concerto for oud and piano "No. 23" [7:23]
Herr, unser Herrscher, song (after Bach) [4:36]
El Vuelo, song [3:39]
Ikhtitaf fi Assareva, song [6:39]
O'Stravaganza, for ensemble & traditional Irish instruments
[3:45]
Loyauté, song (after Machaut) [3:38]
Concerto for kaval and flute "Alatul" [6:22] CD 2
The Queen of the 1001 Nights, song [3:37]
Il Duello, for ensemble & traditional Irish instruments
[4:57]
Qui n'auroit autre déport, song (after Machaut) [7:38]
Barisokhanda, song [4:25]
Bombé, song (after Bach's "Ruht wohl ihr heiligen
Gebeine") [3:46]
Muort'oramai, song (after Landini) [6:21]
Al Riyah, song (after Mozart) [7:58]
Tana Shàot Leïn, song [4:24]
Alle, song [4:29]
Yaman Hawa (Thomas King of Egypt), song [4:47]
La Bigoudine, for children's chorus & barrel organ
[3:19]
Ceol Cuaine, for ensemble & traditional Irish instruments
[4:19]
Dhikr / Requiem / Golgotha, for voices, children's chorus & orchestra
[4:30] Various
artists
No recording details VIRGIN CLASSICS 5190342 [72:09
+ 64:38]
This
is my first extended encounter with the cultural crossover
music of Hughes de Courson. I’ve heard snippets before
but not two CD’s worth, including those tracks here culled
from previous Virgin albums. There are a large number of
contributors, not all named in the notes, and no recording
dates so the
constituency for this conspectus will be a more general
audience, one assumes.
If we follow the booklet
notes we can say that Bach has been reborn as an African,
Mozart as an Egyptian and Vivaldi as an Irishman. Machaut
meets techno-rock. That sort of thing. De Courson has had
a colourful history, his biography is not short of incident
and his pluralist instincts have led to best-selling albums.
People like this stuff.
So
we find that Bachian themes emerge stealthily from African
chant, complete with drumming patterns and shouts, and
that thumping rhythm announces some Vivaldi – it sounds
rather like Nyman’s Purcellian escapades, which I have
to admit I enjoy. If you’re a fan of throbbing disco beat
underlying wailing ‘ethnic’ vocals you could do worse than
explore CD 1 track 5 where a Catalan original is sung by
a Bulgarian Choir over a Studio 52 beat. To blend Arabo-Andalusian
chant with Mozart is fun for a while but Bulgar disco fusion
gets me down I regret to say.
I
positively liked CD 1 track 8 though – Kuteva - with
its made-up language. The composer joins forces with Paddy
Bush – brother of the more famous Kate – and it works.
After which elsewhere the oud converses with Mozart in
a virtuoso act of fusion and cross-pollination, Bach is
assailed by percussion, Vivaldi gets the Dubliners treatment
and there are some spaced out weirdo sounds on CD 2 track
5. By the time we reach the electro-medievalism of CD 2
track 9 – the song Alle - with its complement of
funk ‘guitar’ and heavy rock drumming I was beginning to
wilt. By the end I had had enough of world fusion and longed
for Scarlatti or a bit of King Oliver.
Still,
it’s best to listen a bit at a time I should think. There
are some splendidly reproduced photographs and a centre-spread
Mappa Mundi from 1630. Not my bag really but some of you
might like it.
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Various
artists 
