The Free-Reed Review
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CD Review: Deishovida fast folk

CD Image

Total Time: 72:42
Released in 1995

label: Extraplatte GmbH (EX 204-2)

Extraplatte Musikproductions und Verlags GmbH
PO Box 2
A-1094 Vienna
Austria
Phone: +43/1/310 10 84
FAX: +43/1/310 03 24
E-mail:

Performers:
Kurt Bauer: Violin
Lothar Lasser: Accordion
Matthias Loibner: Hurdy Gurdy, Guitar
Walter Pogantsch: Electric Bass, Cello

Program:

  • Vienna 1567
  • Flight of the Termite
  • Mazurka for You
  • Zejlkoloci
  • fir bir
  • fast folk
  • Michael Gorman's (trad)
  • Valentinstag
  • Mugi
  • Blakullan
  • Neffko
  • Scottish for Someone Else
  • Harlem Nocturne
  • Blueselina
  • Roma 1567

Review by Henry Doktorski:


Deishovida is one of Austria's premier fusion jazz/rock/folk groups and this seventy-two minute album showcases some of their incredible music. The overall sound reminds me a little of John McLaughlin's "Maha-vishnu orchestra." Adjectives such as fiery, dynamic, forward-looking and progressive come to mind. There is great stylistic variety between tracks, with influences as varied as rock and swing and Eastern European folk music, yet a common stylistic thread unifies all the music on this CD.

The opening and closing tracks are based on a theme by the sixteenth-century composer Perluigi. Matthias Loibner—the hurdy gurdy and guitar player who wrote most of the music for the album—very cleverly adapted Perluigi's theme in the form of a two-part jazz canon for violin and hurdy gurdy which is interspersed with energetic driving band material. One section features a wild electric bass guitar solo by Walter Pogantsh, who also plays cello in other tracks.

The violinist Kurt Bauer is an especially prominent member of the quartet, who is featured in practically every track.

The accordion provides an enchanting introduction to "Valentinstag," which is perhaps the sweetest and gentlest cut on the album. Lothar Lasser creates very subtle and attractive tonal shadings caused by alternating the adjacent notes of the melody between the left and right hand manuals. In all the other tracks the accordion contributes important rhythmic, melodic and solo material.

Lasser plays two accordions; one with chromatic buttons on both sides with a free-bass system; the other is a "Schrammel" accordion with chromatic buttons on the right and a diatonic system on the left side.

All the players are virtuosos in their own right and blend together extremely well. I was amazed at the "contemporary" sounds contributed by the accordion and hurdy-gurdy, instruments which are unfortuntately too often condemned to performing only folk music. Just listen to the jazz hurdy-gurdy solo in "Harlem Nocturne!"

After hearing Deishovida (which literally means "Them again") I wondered why the accordion (and hurdy-gurdy) haven't been regular members of fusion groups since the genre appeared twenty-some years ago. After listening to Deishovida, I have decided that it has been worth the wait.


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