Label: Self-released
Release year: 2013
Production: Peter Ošlaj & Ethnotrip
Album length: 46.32
Ethnotrip is a quartet that plays folk standards. They only formed in 2009 and they’re young going by the birth years on their ID cards, but these are seasoned musicians for whom the stage is a second home, and they look right at home on it. They’re constantly on stage as Ethnotrip, and the individual members are also active in other outfits (Mlada Beltinska Banda, Marko Banda, L’amour Fou), so they stay in top form all the time.
The debut »Ethnotrip« is a really lovely piece of work. It’s packed with recognizable standards that capture the particular melos of tunes from all over Europe, from the West (England) to the East (Russia, Hungary), and of course our dear Balkan Peninsula (Macedonia, Croatia). Naturally, the folk tradition is well represented too, like the opening Bela Krajina tune Pastirče mlado (in milo) – a standard that a whole universe of Slovenian performers has tackled over the years, from Katalena to Magnifico and everyone in between. There are also two from Prekmurje: Zreilo je žito, plus another classic from Prekmurje’s Žižki, Speivaj nama Katica (Zapoj nam Katica).
Such a colorful musical picture book, drawn from the rich passport of Europe’s folk-music mission, guarantees entertaining listening, and »Ethnotrip« captures it effectively. At the center of the band’s character stands the striking voice of singer Tjaša Šimonka. On the numbers tied together by the related “Gypsy” melos of the geographically close Prekmurje, Međimurje, Baranja and the area stretching toward Russia (Hungary), the fragile, swaying sweetness of her thin, virginally pure voice is definitely an element that wins you over in an instant. That moment is engraved all across the album. The yearning delivery of the vocal melodies is exceptionally soft yet soaked in pain, even though the lyrics usually carry messages of celebration. You could say it would be hard to find a voice better suited to the job than Tjaša’s. Doing such brilliant justice to the message of traditional folk tunes, the way the album »Ethnotrip« gathers them, would certainly be very hard with anyone else.
The instruments that build the sonic backdrop of the accompaniment are downright ideal for the album’s melancholic melos, which doesn’t let up even in the “Balkanisms” of Jovano Jovanke and Ajde Jano, where it openly blends with the soothing breeze of “arabesque” influences from Asia Minor. For this selection of standards, working together with Tjaša’s core-defining vocal, they get the optimal expressive payoff.
Despite the top-notch interpretation, which you can’t fault in the slightest, the album sticks a bit too closely to the guidelines of school music textbooks. You can hardly squeeze out more correct playing and singing. And it’s precisely this textbook “ironed-out” and “polished” quality, with not a single “crooked hair” or “smudge left by a fly’s footprint” to be found, that creates the feeling these stories have already been told many times, very similarly. The quartet is developing its own identity, but when you look at the plethora of Slovenian bands and performers who also dig deep into folk and ethno elements, »Ethnotrip« ends up in the league of the average. It plays it safe rather than giving in to experimentation, and so it misses out on a bigger showing of its own songwriting sharpness. Here you won’t hear anything “punchy” and provocative, the way acts like Katalena, Vasko Atanasovski and the like are. The inclusion of the well-worn Podmoskovnye vechera and Katyusha, which scouts have been singing around campfires for decades (all we’re missing is Trzinka!), plus the Celtic Scarbourough Fair, which Simon And Garfunkel turned into a hit single way back when and which art metallers Queensryche reworked their own way while recording the album »Empire« (1990), is just proof that on their first album Ethnotrip would rather swim in the waters of broad accessibility and likability than try to slalom through artistic self-challenge, that is, outside the predictable molds fixed by the melodies of the folk standards chosen for this album.
So, to sum up: nothing bad to say about the album. God forbid. It stands well and offers the listener a pleasant musical adventure. A gorgeous piece of high-quality interpretation, adorned by the brilliance of an organic, authentic, natural production and especially by singer Tjaša’s exceptional vocal charisma, which with her fascinating performance pushes all the way up to mezzo-soprano heights, it’s a solid start to a fascinating new story of a new ethno/folk band, one that we can rightly believe will, in its future evolution, deliver releases with more tangible substance and a bit more songwriting “sting”.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
rating: 8.0 / 10
Track list:
1. Pastirče mlado
2. Seiyem hajad / Szep asszonyak kurizalok
3. Jovano Jovanke
4. Speivaj nama Katice
5. Dekanovsko grobiće
6. Igrale se Delije
7. Zreilo je žito
8. Podmoskovnye vechera / Katyusha
9. Ljubav se ne trži
10. Ajde Jano
11. Scarbourough Fair*
*… bonus track
Lineup:
Tjaša Šimonka – vocals
Miha Kavaš – violin
Aleksander Varga – bass guitar
Primož Kramberger – piano
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Boštjan Baša – accordion
Kristijan Majcen – guitar
Urban Kolar – trumpet
Marko Markovič – Maki – percussion
