SHE SINGS IN BEAUTY
Richard Todd

Ottawa Citizen
September 27, 2008
Canada

Songs from Armenia? You don’t run across them every day and that’s
a pity if this CD is any indication. Soprano superstar Isabel
Bayrakdarian was born in Lebanon and moved to Canada in her teens. But
her ancestry is Armenian.

In her latest CD, she presents music of Gomidas, a priest and
ethnomusicologist active in the years before the First World War. He
was not so much a composer as a distiller of Armenia’s musical
heritage.

There are 18 songs and two dances in the collection. Only one item,
the song Call to the Sea, displays any influence of the musical
currents of the time. The rest seem to have inferred their entire
spirit from the folk material from which they are derived. They are
clear of texture, melodic and subtly exotic.

Bayrakdarian’s voice is a marvel. Songs for children, songs of nature,
of love, of humour, of yearning, she finds exactly the right mode of
expression for each one. You have to wonder if there’s another singer
anywhere in the world who could do them equal justice.

Two dances for piano are played with spirit by Serouj Kradjian,
who also did the orchestral arrangements for the songs.

Bayrakdarian brings a manifest love to the material on this CD. So
does everyone else involved, from arranger Kradjian to conductor
Eduard Topchjan and the Chamber Players of the Armenian Philharmonic
Orchestra. Nothing is overstated or hammed up. The focus is on the
beauty and dignity of the music.

There is almost a sense of sacredness to the enterprise and that sense
is perhaps the strongest in the achingly beautiful love song Chinar
es (Tall as the Poplar Tree). It ends with words that must resonate
with everyone of Armenian background "My love, for the love of God,
don’t forget me, even though you are far away."

POP & ROCK

Only by the Night Rating 3 1/2

Kings of Leon (RCA)

The Kings of Leon have another go at the epic sweep that showed up
on their third disc, Because of the Times, in place of the Southern
stomp-and-yelp of their great second disc, Aha Shake Heartbreak. The
new disc won’t define their sound as did the earlier two, but it’s
a solid outing from the best band in America that America largely
ignores (the Tennessee band of brothers sell millions in Britain,
far less at home).

The strongest tracks come first in a blast of spacey guitar (Closer),
raw, distorted bass (Crawl, like Death from Above 1979 reborn),
and Sex on Fire (No. 1 in Britain for two weeks running.) The
preternaturally ragged voice of Caleb Followill wails throughout,
at times indecipherable, but always compelling.

Peter Simpson

Versus Rating 3

The Haunted (Century Media)

Melodic death metal was spawned in Sweden’s vast wilderness, a tuneful
genre spiked with intense vocal outbursts and tasteful twin guitar
fireworks. The Haunted define the oeuvre and, though they stumble on
this disc, the overall tone is effective.

Crusher is an exercise in rampaging death, where Peter Dolving’s
tortured utterances shine through the mix. He can yell with the best
without resorting to trendy pig squeals or Cookie Monster guttural
posturing. Pieces drips venom, Dolving’s rage balanced by an axe attack
that gives Lamb Of God reason to quake in their Converses. Skuld,
a dark ambient passage, should have been dropped, but Iron Mask may
be the best tune Tool never wrote.

What the Haunted may lack in innovation they recoup in history. Welcome
to the old school. Class dismissed.

Shawn Jam Hill

Delivered Rating 3 1/2

Mark Erelli (Signature Sounds)

Faced with the costs of making his newest album a quality venture,
American singer/songwriter Mark Erelli e-mailed his fans asking
for financial support. He got $10,0000; his fans got early,
autographed copies of a CD that, no doubt, confirmed their investment
know-how. Erelli — sometimes reminiscent of Dylan, sometimes of
Springsteen, but mostly just his own man — delivers a solid mix of
public and private stories. The war in Iraq, a blue collar life, love
and death: Erelli treats them all with appropriate degrees of fury,
compassion and directness. Accompaniment ranges from stark acoustic
guitar to full orchestration.

Despite his detailing of his country’s horrific missteps, he is
ultimately a hopeful man and his music affirming.

Patrick Langston

JAZZ

Runaway Rating 3 1/2

George Colligan (Sunnyside)

There’s more to George Colligan than what the New York pianist
presented at his Ottawa concert last April.

Apart from making fine contemporary piano-trio jazz as he did at
the National Arts Centre’s Fourth Stage, AC, Colligan has a taste for
getting funky, with the best 1970s fusion as his point of departure. He
plays more than a bit of trumpet too, and dabbles in lyric-writing.

Runaway presents all of Colligan’s interests in one package. End of
a Dynasty, the opener, and Ghostland are heavy-hitting acoustic trio
tunes that bring McCoy Tyner to mind. The Righteous is an electrified
groover, like a more modest Return to Forever offering. When I Go
is a dreamy waltz featuring Kerry Politzer’s airy singing. Innocent
Truth shows off Colligan’s straight-ahead trumpet chops.

>From this diverse set, the funkier tunes seem strongest. But all of
them do Colligan proud.

Peter Hum

RATINGS

Rating 5 A classic of the genre

Rating 4 Excellent

Rating 3 Good

Rating 2 Fair

Rating 1 If your host puts this on, leave.

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