Two Belgian CD-presentations for the price of one with the mandolin as the common thread. Green Moon present their second album, “Tyto Alba” while MANdolinMAN re-energise traditional Brabantine music with their third album, “Unfolding The Roots”.
Like MANdolinMAN, the musicians who make up Green Moon come from well-known musical families. After a first CD with the modest title “Allô la terre?” Lorcan Fahy, Téo Crommen and Lucas Dru are now poised to take flight. It is no surprise, therefore, that the title of their new CD, “Tyto Alba”, refers to the barn owl. Like the graceful flight of that fascinating bird, the band’s folk compositions fly off in many different directions, from the broad horizons of northern, central and southern Europe to the infections rhythms which might be heard in a pub in Galway. What’s more, for this concert the band will be accompanied by a number of special guests.
In the same way that Alan Lomax continued and deepened the work of his father, so was Andries Boone, son of the Flemish folk-song collector Hubert, inspired to build on the work of his father and to add his own personal twist. Together with his three fellow mandolin players, Peter-Jan Daems, Dirk Nassens and Maarten Decombel, Andries set up the MANdolinMAN project. By playing the music which Hubert had transcribed on an internationally-known instrument such as the mandolin, they succeed in giving locally-rooted dance melodies such as a waltz from Eppegem, a polka from Hever or a Schottische from Zaventem a universal and timeless character. Following a detour to Brazilian bossa nova rhythms on their last album, MANdolinMAN return to traditional Brabantine melodies with their latest CD “Unfolding the Roots”. Their widely-acclaimed performance at Womex amply demonstrated the universal appeal of these tunes.
MANDOLINMAN
Andries Boone : mandolin
Peter-Jan Daems : 10-string mandolin
Maarten Decombel : mandocello
Dirk Naessens : mandolin
GREEN MOON
Lorcan Fahy : violin, mandolin
Lucas Deru : double bass
Téo Crommen : guitar