 | | Reviews | | |  ANDREW CRONSHAW
Ochre
Cloud Valley CV2008
In a just world, a man with the talents of Andrew Cronshaw would be a household name. With a regular output in music journalism, session work with the likes of Scott Walker, Suede and Ute Lemper, film soundtracks, and more production/engineering credits than you can shake a stick at, it's a wonder he finds time to work on his own projects.
Zither virtuoso Mr C is also master of a whole raft of esoteric instruments: fujara (a 6-foot long Slovakian flute), ba-wu (Chinese brass-reeded instrument), gu-cheng, dizi and quenacho also feature on this, his eighth album. Recent forays into Finno-Ugrian music notwithstanding, Cronshaw's musical roots are firmly British and on Ochre, he uses the tunes of seven traditional English songs as a base for the seven tracks on the album. That said, it's still a distinctly cross-cultural experience as virtuoso musicians from Greece, Wales and the Middle East conjoin to see where exploration takes them.
As Cronshaw says, the stories related in traditional lyrics often didn't originate in Britain, and a strong tune gets reworked and carried onward to a new life. Thus A Rosebud In June, Lucy Wan, The Broomfield Hill and other gems from English source singers become pan-global masterpieces of invention and beauty. Just namechecking the musical team presages the aural feast: Syrian qanun and oud player Abdullah Chhadeh, Welsh triple-harpist Llio Rhydderch, Arabic vocalist Natacha Atlas and Pontic lyra player Matthaios Tsahourides from Greece, plus Irish double bassist Bernard O'Neill and Ian Blake on clarinets, sax and prepared piano. Prepare to be swept on a hypnotic journey across chilly Chinese landscapes and warm Turkish shores, moved by the harp-plucked The Blue Rocks (aka Salisbury Plain) and intrigued by the the gu-cheng/qanun rendition of Shirley Collins' tune for Our Captain Cried. Nowhere else will you find the tale of Lord Bateman titled as Sofia, the Saracen's Daughter and told via a haunting, muscular, Arabic vocal
No token crossover merchant, Cronshaw is a musician/producer of rare quality. Don't worry about categorising this album as folk, classical, world or any other kind of music - just file under Essential.
Mel McClellan - September 2004
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 On the strength of the above recommendation of "essential" and enjoyment of "Wasps in the Woodpile", I purchased the album. What a disappointment!!! Mood music for elevators and dentist waiting rooms. Definitely one for the charity shop.
Lizzy, Hampshire
just given this a second listening, its lots of great playing by Chhadeh, Blake and co but cronshaws contribution like that on his tour was crass
richard, londonderry | | | | | | |  |
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Folk & Acoustic
