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IVO PAPASOV WEDDING BAND @
ISLINGTON ACADEMY
For the finale of Balkan Fever 2007 Kazum saved the best
‘til last: the first London performance of Thracian flute legend Ivo
Papasov in at least 15 years! On stage at 8, off at 10 – then was the
loudest, fastest most intense gig I’ve been too since, oh, Motorhead
at The Astoria many years ago.
I’m not being supercilious with the
comparison: there’s an element of Balkan music that appeals to more
extreme rock fans – I’m aware Fanfare Ciocarlia initially won
over rock and rave fans in Germany and Ferus Mustafa’s awesome Live
CD has a calamitous rush that its executive producer compares to –
yes – Motorhead. For those not familiar with live Balkan music and
wondering how a Gypsy clarinet player can be compared with Lemmy & co
it’s the physicality of the music, its huge dense rush, the way solos
build and build, musicians stuck together like glue, the sense that nothing
in the world matters more than taking the sound as far out as possible.
Exhilarating? Indeed. Exhausting? Yes, this is physical music, a wave of
constant sound crashing over you, no way you can escape it, chat over it,
concentrate on anything else. As the band began its first number I noticed
some reaching for ear-plugs – not an unwise decision.
But let’s
backtrack: before Taraf, before Fanfare, there was Ivo Papasov, a Gypsy
Giant from the southern Balkans who appeared capable of holding Western
audiences transfixed as he wove wild patterns of sound from his magical
clarinet. This was in the late 1980s when the Berlin Wall still stood and
the Eastern Bloc remained something very foreign and deeply strange. That
Papasov was from
Bulgaria
, amongst the most totalitarian and
isolated of communist nations, added to his aura. Ivo, with his big sound
and big gut and two excellent albums produced by Joe Boyd (and released on
Hannibal
) was a rising star. Yet as communism collapsed Papasov
vanished from Western stages, missing out on the West’s embrace of
Balkan Gypsy music. Then at the 2005 BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards Papasov
won the Audience Award – away for more than a dozen years and yet it
showed the general public still wanted to hear from the master! Papasov
accepted the award at the ceremony before again disappearing from site.
Boyd got him booked for Womad 2006 and he played a strong set on the main
stage on Sunday morning though the lack of volume – last year’s
Womad was often too quiet I felt – and 45 minute set length
weren’t ideal for a first introduction to Ivo. The Academy gig is how
Ivo should be heard – beyond at a Bulgarian wedding! – and
tonight it appears the old King wants to reclaim his crown.
Papasov was backed by a
five piece band (and joined on occasion by his wife Maria Karafezieva who
sang with great throaty presence). Maria, drummer Salif Ali and
accordionist Neshko Neshev have been with Papasov for decades and the band
locked down with that singular Balkan intensity shaped by decades of
playing weddings. The first number began to immediately build and build and
when Ivo took one of those huge solos that build and twist and churn, full
of fire and spit and ancient melodies that go way, way back, the audience
erupted. Very few musicians anywhere in the world can make their instrument
convey such wild, lyrical intensity as Ivo. And so the concert continued,
no let up, each number crashing across us. Bam! Bam! Bam!
Admittedly, the numbers
Maria sang were quieter but no less intense – “she a Gypsy but
she’s employing Bulgarian phrasing” noted Nick Nasev, my buddy
in Balkan adventures – and when the members took solos they demanded
your concentration: the guitarist played a Turkish flavoured oud solo on
his electric guitar! Papasov, like many Balkan musicians of his generation,
has an interest in jazz and certain numbers mixed a Thracian jazz-fusion
which is not always successful. That said, when Gilad Atzmon joined on
saxophone every musician rose to the challenge and pushed the sound even
further out. Lacking a bassist, the keyboardist was supposed to play the
bass notes, something he didn’t seem too focused on – much to
Ivo’s displeasure, his black eyes burning! And the poor kaval player
had problems with his clip-on microphone – kavals were not invented
with the idea of mic’s in mind – but these were minor quibbles
in a masterful gig. At a Womad workshop Joe Boyd said drummer Salif Ali
stands as one of the greatest drummers he’s ever worked with (and
Joe’s produced Bernard Purdie and others) and last night it seemed he
had four arms: seemingly playing drums and percussion at the same time.
I hope
Ivo and his wedding band don’t wait another fifteen years to return
to
London
, this was a hugely impressive performance. Much respect
to Kazum for getting Ivo over and all the other impressive concerts they
organised over the last few weeks.
Garth Cartwright
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