Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Diatonic Strings Duo
Label: Celinka
Released: 2015
Length: 32:45
Rating: 4/5
So what do a violin and a diatonic accordion have in common these days? The album »Ragbag«, for starters, put together by violinist Rok Kleva Ivančič, who’s also a member of the Istrian band Vruja, and accordionist Manuel Šavron, who joined forces as Diatonic Strings Duo. This partnership isn’t new, either – they’ve been at it since 2006.
What the two musicians are up to is an unusually twisted, or let’s just say turned-upside-down, result of experimentation, centered on a fresh jazz take on traditional folk melodies, as embodied by the album »Ragbag«. The album sounds out of the ordinary and strange, and that’s exactly what makes it so thrilling. It tickles and pokes at your ear in just the right way. It teases and keeps you busy in all the right ways. Over a good half hour of tracks, the two have built a fascinating musical mosaic. It draws on the riches of traditional folk music stretching from the north of Europe to the south – from Swedish and Breton all the way to Macedonian folk heritage. And of course they didn’t skip Slovenia’s own musical heritage either (Pomurje, Istria).
The music carries a strong jazz component that breathes a modern, »outgoing« edge into the »incoming« tradition, and it’s also a hugely important element that once again effectively and uniquely »flips« well-known musical themes on their heads. In Slovenia alone, these have been through plenty of arrangement tweaks and variations over the years. And Diatonic Strings Duo does it in an unusual way yet again, which is the guarantee of the constant appeal of »Ragbag«. The way the two musicians complement each other here is outstanding. The chemistry works perfectly. You can tell they’ve been playing together for a long time and know and sense each other really well. They lock into each other almost flawlessly in the weave of the playing, and in their harmonizing they create a distinctive sonic contrast between violin and diatonic accordion.
»Ragbag« is a fun, colorful patchwork of world music, ethno and folk, heavily weighted with jazz, where the two musicians never run short of cheeky inspiration when it comes to working in all kinds of improvisational inserts. It effectively dispels all predictable fixedness and rigidity of stereotypes and, through the explorative, free-spirited glow of creativity, leads the listener toward discovering a still-undiscovered world, represented by this extremely bold and successful bond, a unique dialogue between diatonic accordion and violin.
Lineup
Rok Kleva Ivančič – violin
Manuel Šavron – diatonic accordion
Production
Sašo Fajon
Track list
1. Belgium schottische
2. Jovano vranjanka
3. Maggie’s Pancakes
4. Ne ouir, ne sejaj / Tri sestrice
5. Little Istrian Suite
6. Tusen Tankar
7. Ethno Medley
8. Makedonsko devojče
9. Bourree’ de Mondford / Breton An dro
10. Zrejlo je žito
