Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Frbežar, Ivo
Label: Celinka
Released: 2017
Runtime: 21:23
Rating: 4/5
A killer release! Globally speaking, honestly nothing special as far as the originality of the basic idea goes, but still. It feels fresh and different. Ivo Frbežar is a Slovenian poet, writer, designer, painter and editor, he runs his own publishing house and contributes pieces here and there. His ear for the »green language« and his all-around ecological awareness are well known. »Anti/SONETI« came out as a poetry collection back in 2011, and then recently Ivo, Klemen Kotar, Klemen Krajc and Enos Kugler came up with the idea of setting selected poems to music!
It’s fair to assume that the main idea man and driving engine behind the musical treatment, meaning the dreaming up of arrangements and compositions with the spoken word (Ivo’s poetry recitals) deftly nested inside them, is the endlessly versatile music workhorse and multi-instrumentalist Klemen Kotar. Musically, you could expect from the start that the structures lean heavily on the jazz tradition, cabaret jazz in particular, though not in the usual trivial, smooth-jazz-predictable way. These are fresh ideas, where the lead motifs get decorated with unpretentious flights on sax or keys. Then of course there’s Ivo’s storytelling, or rather his sharp-tongued reading of the poetry, right at the heart of it. His voice is accusing, wary, unbending, theatrically dramatic. Less demanding listeners, who get tired quickly by all this »problematizing«, would say it can also be obnoxious! As a true doctor of language, Ivo simply knows no jokes and admits none. Not in the message, not in the delivery, as he focuses on following his senses, instincts and emotions the way the nature of the message itself stirs them in his heart.
The production sounds organic, alive. Sonically, you could link some moments to the cheeky cheerfulness and grimacing wisecracking of the clowns in Nulla Kelvin, and the whole thing might interest those who get their fix from Same Babe. At the far end of the comparison spectrum you might even find NL3, as well as the piercing acuity of the unshakable intelligence of Rambo Amadeus. As for the mix, it works so that the instrumental part of the crew mostly played it like a live gig (the drums and double bass at least mostly work that way), and then the sound engineer added Frbežar’s poetic outpourings on top afterwards.
The poetry is a reflection of our reality. The reality of being part of Slovenianhood, of being part of this country. Here and now. So the message is hardly rose-tinted. Tragicomic to melancholic, and always accompanied by a generous dose of sarcasm and cynicism. As singular, strange and at moments downright lucid as the record is, it hits all the harder with its sacred simplicity, which rides first and foremost on directness of message, since Frbežar at times brings us, in a somewhat bizarre way, the latest fashion craze of Slovenianhood: the recently traveled road from Yugo-lackeys to EU-slaves.
A highly intellectual piece of work, in every respect. The music and the poetry are broadly reconciled and play out within a dialogue of overall fulfillment. Recommended for everyone, but those who go for healthy black humor and love exploring the odd and the eccentric will be especially thrilled. Trust me, Kotar is the master of this kind of rhetoric and the poetry Frbežar writes suits him down to the ground! Not least, he did a superb job in this respect with his collaborations with the Nova Gorica gangsta rapper Smaal Tokk. The musical version of Frbežar’s poetry »Anti/SONETI« is a crunchy roll that will keep you busy for a good while. A musical-poetic experiment that ignites and works!
Lineup
Ivo Frbežar – spoken poetry
Klemen Kotar – saxophone, flute, keyboards
Klemen Krajc – double bass
Enos Kugler – drums
Production
Klemen Kotar
Tracklist
1. Pravi soneti
2. Izostrena realnost Simona Fajfarja
3. Radio, radio
4. Karkoli se lahko zgodi
5. Molk ne mara besed
6. Geni so podobni klavirju
7. Slišim svoj glas
8. Janez je moj prijatelj
9. Kocke
10. Transplantacija srca
11. Tatovi duš
12. Johanna, pomaranča in fige
