"This song's Enya-like lameness is saved by the accordian player."

[elfs]

That has to fall into the list of most improbable sentences: "This song's Enya-like lameness is saved by the accordian player." It is, however, a true sentence when spoken of Kepa Junkera, a Basque accordian player rarely heard or known in the United States. (Heck, his Wikipedia entry is just a discography, and doesn't even include his latest album, Hiri, which is what I was listening to.)

All of the songs on Hiri are anchored in a cheerful, powerfully content musical theme that seems to be backed by traditional themes and songs. Most of them don't have lyrics but there is something powerfully lively and, well, grounded to all of these pieces. The second piece, Kiri, is the one that provoked my subject because it does sound like it could have been written by Enya except for the accordian, which completely salvages it and makes it worth listening to. The first piece is fun, done with voices-as-instruments that almost seems written with a "Hey, one of our bandmates can do this weird thing with her voice" notion in mind. The kids thought it was cool, shouting "Play that again!" from the back seats of the car.

There are many other moments on this album that are really fun. All in all, it's an oddity in a world of plastic packaging: an album that makes the accordion, usually regarded as an instrument of torture, into a fun, exciting and above all honest musical pleasure.

Comments

[slutdiary.livejournal.com]

I've gotta hear it sometime. I'll be willing to loan my out-of-print copy of Accordion Tribe in return?

[amythis.livejournal.com]

All in all, it's an oddity in a world of plastic packaging: an album that makes the accordion, usually regarded as an instrument of torture, into a fun, exciting and above all honest musical pleasure.

What about Weird Al?

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Good point. Does he still play it in concert?

[amythis.livejournal.com]

No idea, but I thought I should get back to you and say that I have no idea.

[bellebonnesage.livejournal.com]

I'll go listen to this, but in the meantime, what have you got against Enya?

[elfs.livejournal.com]

I've just never particularly enjoyed her, especially not when she was hot and new and played just to death. It didn't help that her major radio hit, Sail Away, named names and aired dirty laundry.

[bellebonnesage.livejournal.com]

Yikes! I never knew there was any problem with Sail Away. But I do understand about overplay. Fair enough.

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Actually, much to my consternation, it turns out the poke at the unidentified "Ross" in the song was, in fact, all in good fun. He was her sound engineer and he was out sick the day the recorded Sail Away, so she worked his name into the song. At least, that's the story on one of her fansites.