Nigel Eaton’s a master hurdy-gurdy player who indeed plays FHL (Faster Harder Louder) as I noted in the review of his awesome new CD, Pandemonium, but there’s an even louder, more kinetic group (!) of hurdy-gurdy players that make him sound almost sedate — Celtarabia. They were formerly known as The Lost Music of Celtarabia which is the name of their first album. The core of the group are Quentin Budworth and Amanda Lowe, based in Hull in Yorkshire, England. Quentin plays hurdy-gurdy and Amanda excels at playing the hammer dulcimer — both old traditional folk instruments. (Not that this is traditional folk music!) They are the core of Celtarabia and are joined by as needed by an assortment of crack musicians for both concert and studio work.
Their now defunct Web site said they were ‘initiated by Quentin Budworth as an experiment into the fusion of cultural elements to create a new, very different acoustic dance music. The aim of the project is to present and popularize the universality and diversity of acoustic dance culture to audiences who would not normally have access to the performance of acoustic or indeed Arabo-European music. The project also aims to develop the performance and repertory of a new acoustic dance music which fuses traditional practices with the recent developments made in the fields of Acid House, Trance Dance, World-Dub and Jungle. The band plays a wide range of unusual instruments in unusual ways in order to create a unique type of sound.’ FHL is an accurate description!
Simply put, Celtarabia is a fusion of Celtic and Arabic sounds. Got that? Let’s try some conceptual frameworks. Is it Celtic rave music with Arabic flourishes? Or is it more akin to Arabic music played on hurdy-gurdies? (And since when is the hurdy-gurdy a Celtic instrument?!? Not bleedin’ likely! ’tisn’t an arabic instrument either… ) How about a group that gets introduced to the festival-goers at Whitby World Music Festival in the form of a poem? No shite! Here it is…
Dynamic – complex / (where) East & West clash / Analogue & digital / Ancient & Modern / In yer face – Subtle / Hammer n Hurdy / Sweaty – No mercy / Stunning musicianship / Did I say stunning – Yes! / Stonking good dance / Throat grabbing – Hypnotic; / Vocals entrance / This is the culture / Of audio / Calling you / Get ready to party / Bop / Like an egg in a boine / Ancient voices / Call us from inside / Call us for – The Ride / Dr Q and his cohort, / Hurdy n hammer, / Kick off with The Chanter / Dance is our mantra / Lose yourself with no fear / Celtarabia
That’s actually not a bad approximation of what Celtarabia’s music is like — hurdy gurdy and hammered dulcimer are great dance tune instruments when played in the FHL mode. Whirling dervishes indeed! The closest album that I can compare the work of this group to is Blowzabella on their Pingha Frenzy CD, the only live album they did. Pingha Frenzy was recorded live on tour in Brazil sans Jo Freya, their primary vocalist. This is an all instrumental album which is both more raucous and more rock than their usual outings. The Lost Music of Celtarabia and Ancient Forces are remarkably similar to that album, whereas Cult of Radio is more pop, less trad in nature. Indeed Ancient Forces has a cover of ‘Eight Step Waltz,’ a favourite tune of Blowzabella, but they call it ‘Eight Step Trance’ instead. The Pingha Frenzy version will bleedin’ near wear the soles off your dancing shoes, but Celtarabia’s version will definitely give you tired feet! (Happy feet but tired nonetheless.) They also cover ‘The Ride,’ which I know from several of Nigel’s albums. Nice!
Although all three albums are full of mad tunes, weird vocals, and enough energy for an all-night dance, the must haves from me point of view are The Lost Music of Celtarabia and Ancient Forces as Cult of Radio is just too weird to bear playing over and over again. The bottom line is that if you love fast-played hurdy-gurdy based genre bending dance music, you’ll love these CDs. If you don’t, may I suggest that you’re in the wrong ‘zine?
The Lost Music of Celtarbia (Grinnigogs, 1995)
Ancient Forces (Osmosys, 1997)
Cult of Radio (Grinnigogs, 2000)
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