SKYE CONSORT & EMMA BJORLING - SKYE CONSORT & EMMA BJORLING
Leaf Music LM225
This is a collaboration between an Early Music / folk fusion trio from Canada and a Swedish singer, so it immediately has the appeal of the unusual. Band members play nyckelharpa/violin, bouzouki/banjo and cello, and six of the CD’s 14 tracks are sung in Swedish - or at least I think they are (some songs are of Norwegian origin). Translations are provided!
By and large these are my favourite items, perhaps because of the attraction of the unfamiliar. However, the opening two tracks, both Scandinavian, are very strong contributions whichever way you look at them, with Herr Hillebrand having a brief but powerful story – another song with a violent fate for the heroine, sadly. There are also four songs in English, one in French and three tune sets. The band’s Sean Dagher sings two of the English language songs, and Emma Bjorling covers The Banks Of The Sweet Primroses – the one misstep on the album in my view; the arrangement is just too jaunty. Might I have preferred an all-Scandinavian album? Possibly so, but the band and record label will know their market better than I do, and they probably enjoy the variety themselves.
Definitely worth investigating for that ‘different’ factor, and the research is easy enough; the band’s website has several videos featuring Emma.
www.skyeconsort.org
Paul Mansfield
This review appeared in Issue 131 of The Living Tradition magazine