Review | Songlines

Fa

Rating: ★★★★

View album and artist details

Album and Artist Details

Artist/band:

Susana Seivane

Label:

Nakra

Jan/Feb/2019

Images of Galician piper Susana Seivane's son, born during an eight-year absence from the studio, litter the thick little booklet that accompanies her latest release. Fortunately, her lullabies are tender but not especially twee and her soundscapes are full of hills to climb as well as cosy cradles. Even ‘Durmíndote’ – which even with my limited Galego I know means ‘Laying You Down to Sleep’ – has a reflective, almost querulous, quality. Seivane's gaita is strident but never sharp-edged, tuneful but not tiresome. ‘Iná’ has a jolly martial quality, not unlike a hurdy-gurdy or well-tuned barrel organ at a village fair. ‘Momentos’ is a lonely summons to dream, building its story in organic melodies. ‘Revolución’ is hillbilly country music. ‘Papá Pum Pum’, a single from the album, is funkier than the other numbers, with a Latin vibe and a bit of Riverdance thrown in too. New Galician music is beguiling – it has so much in common with several British traditions, and yet, thanks to innovators like Seivane, Cristina Pato and Mercedes Peón, has grown its own powerful voice. An all-instrumental pipe album is unlikely to shift lots of copies, but this is a highly original ode to motherhood.

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