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CARR & ROSWALL - Time Flies  

CARR & ROSWALL - Time Flies  
Dalakollektivet Records DKCD007  

Guitarist Ian Carr is well known for his many and varied contributions to British folk music some years back, with Simon Thoumire and Karen Tweed among others. He then moved to Sweden and has been doing great things there too. Niklas Roswall is rather less well known in the UK, but his nyckelharpa virtuosity is apparently world famous in Sweden - and you can hear why. This duo produced an album together in 2003 which I have never seen, and a mere 15 years later they are following on with a collection of mostly their own tunes which has already been snapped up by West Park Records for distribution in Germany and the UK, so if you don't live in Sweden you might want to check out www.westparkmusic.de for more information.

Time Flies is certainly worth seeking out. It combines Carr's eclectic and irreverent compositions, such as the great waltz, The Astronaut, and the very contemporary Step On It Sven, with Roswall's hardcore Scandinavian tunes - polskas and a schottiche, but basically polskas. There are also some older pieces too - the many-part polska, Cedervall, which sounds more like a Baroque partita, and a pair of polskas from north-east Sweden with quite different characters. Both guitar and nyckelharpa are played with rare mastery, and Niklas also switches to the even more mysterious moraharpa for a sound full of medieval magic and menace. Incidentally, this moraharpa was built by Leif Eriksson - ancient indeed! The final gentle Majpolska ends this CD in a charming but unresolved way, perhaps promising more from Carr & Roswall in the fullness of time.

www.dalakollektivet.se 

Alex Monaghan


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This album was reviewed in Issue 127 of The Living Tradition magazine.