Self-released
Release year: 2012
Production: Janez Zega
Album length: 37.32 min
Genre: Folk / A Cappella
Tminski madrigalisti are a vocal-instrumental outfit that has been around since 1996. These five sturdy, upstanding lads hadn’t put out a single studio record until this year, with only the songs Grajska and Lejdih Stan appearing on the compilation CD »Upitje izpod Migovca« (2001). After that many years in the game you become almost legendary, and then, once you’re almost a legend, along comes your first CD.
This band is unbelievable! It actually started out as a parody, taking folk songs mostly from the Tolmin area and turning them upside down in a cheeky way, true to the authentic Tolmin folk tradition. That’s how it all began! Later they started composing their own songs and writing their own lyrics, in the old-school Tolmin dialect, backed by nothing but bare acoustics: flute and folk guitar.
At last, we can say it! »Inspiration is in the wine«, as the lads’ rosy cheeks testify. The whole booklet reads like a manual for growing grapevines. Joking aside, »Tminski madrigalisti« is an album packed with a full dose of humor that can even make you laugh till you cry, provided you manage to really get into the whole thing. The lovable Tolmin dialect can’t and won’t disappoint.
The guys wrote almost all the songs on the album themselves, both the lyrics and the melodies of the main tunes. Only for the song Abriblni did they borrow the folk tune »Dekle je po vodo šlo«. »Klinta, koka, kanabis«, a proper abbreviation for the infamous »KKK«, comes pretty close in its main melody to The Stranglers hit All Day And All Of The Night – maybe that fact will stir up more interest in this CD among rockers too.
The choral singing on the CD is brought as close to the listener as possible in all its authenticity, meaning in a single take, with no corrections and no overdubs. While listening, you’ll also breathe in some alcohol fumes as a special dessert and proof of authenticity. Tabul and the track right after it, Madrigalisti, have completely different atmospheres. The quintet wholeheartedly adapts to the message of each individual number, so it’s not hard to tell the different moods across the album’s tracks apart.
The tunes can even smell medieval-madrigal, as in the opener Grajska, and that feel is deepened by the added flute and acoustic guitar arrangements. A melody can be in a minor key and still keep the fun nature of the verses, as in the aforementioned Grajska. The lead melodies do recall the well-worn tunes of individual folk songs (Tabul, Franc, Lejdih stan,…), which is perfectly natural for the kind of choral folklore Tminski madrigalisti cultivate. But this is offset by a distinctive vocal harmonization that tips the scales so decisively that even someone half-deaf couldn’t miss the realization that on this album they’re listening to Tminski madrigalisti and nobody else. The record doesn’t lack authenticity. Just how deadly seriously Tminski madrigalisti defend the wine to the last drop of blood is best illustrated by the song Klintica. The verses in this song hit like love at first sight, the kind that not even the hottest filly from your wildest night dreams could stir up in you.
The album »Tminski madrigalisti« keeps the folk tradition alive for the new millennium. This record is »twisted in its own way«, so it comes across as more accessible even to a wider crowd, which it can win over with its sparkling clowning and sharp-witted mockery in the poetry, since there’s no room here for the sniffling of old grannies. It will be interesting to see what the band does next, on future releases. Will they bring in some additional instruments of traditional origin, or invite another guest or two? There’s no end in sight to the silliness and tomfoolery of this miniature troupe of tipsy merrymakers. Let’s hope we won’t have to wait more than a decade again for the follow-up to this album, which is dedicated to Valter Jelinčič, the band’s late member.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
rating: 9.0 / 10
Tracklist:
1. Grajska
2. Bje Čeča
3. Tebul
4. Madrigalisti
5. Ta pagrebna
6. Franc
7. Lejdih stan
8. Klintica
9. Matec
10. Žjefa
11. Kamercjalisti
12. Zlatolaska
13. Klinta, koka, kanabis
14. Abriblni
15. Fajn pobi
Lineup:
Domen Jeriha Perinčič – vocals
Damir Mrak – vocals
Marko Magajne – vocals
Rok Cuder – vocals, flute
Nikola Rutar – vocals, acoustic guitar
