The photo on the back of the jacket provides a strong indication of what this collaboration between Rhiannon Giddens and Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi sounds like. The two are encircled by an array of string instruments and various types of frame drums; three different types of banjoes, for example. The drums trace to Italy, Morocco, and Greece, pointing to how roots music from Africa and the Arabic countries influenced European and American music. Just as jazz artist Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah is drawing those connections in his latest release Ancestral Recall, Giddens and Turrisi are painting their own version of the universality of roots music on There is No Other.
Aside from cellist/violaist Kate Ellis, who contributes on four selections, all instruments are played by either Giddens (minstrel banjo, octave violin, and viola) and Turrisi, who plays ten different instruments ranging from piano and accordion to strings and percussion. Giddens sings magnificently throughout as producer Joe Henry and engineer Ryan Freeland gave the two ample freedom to create this gorgeous set of music in a Dublin, Ireland studio.
Giddens explains in the liners, ”Francesco and I went into the studio with Joe and Ryan last August without any concrete idea of what was going to happen – all we knew is that we were gonna make something cool. Something that was a combination of all the sounds we have each been building and working on over the course of our lives – something that revealed how similar those sounds are, and how well they work together, despite the seemingly insurmountable distance separating America and the Mediterranean. For five days our two partnerships worked eerily in tandem-myself and Francesco finding arrangements and vibes and performances that made the absolute most of what we do together, and Joe and Ryan creating the space and energy that allowed us to do it without any thought as to how it was all going to work – which, given the number of instrument combinations we had going, was an incredible gift.”
What she didn’t say, which also incredible given the number of instruments, is that it was recorded with little editing or overdubbing. The album comprises a mix of original songs penned by Giddens and a wide-ranging set of interpretations from Ola Belle Reed’s “I’m Gonna Write Me a Letter” and Oscar Brown Jr.’s “Brown Baby” to traditional fare like “Wayfaring Stranger” and “Little Margaret” to the Italian traditional “pizzica di San Vito” to the aria “Black Swan” by Gian-Carlo Menotti. The title track, penned by Giddens, is an instrumental as is Thomas Briggs’ “Briggs’ Forro”. Turrisi is amazing throughout whether it be on a lute (or version thereof), percussion, or especially on accordion which is heard on the Briggs piece as well as on “Wayfaring Stranger.” Few, if any, can coax the tone out of the instrument as he does. It’s an album that demands to be heard from beginning to end as no two tracks have the same instrumentation nor rhythmic pattern.
The two will be on tour together for the summer festival circuit, with Giddens appearing separately in some venues as well. They have already debuted some of this material at Knoxville’s Big Ears Festival in March where they also performed the score they composed for the ballet, Lucy Negro Redux, widely hailed by the New York Times. The tireless Giddens released the brilliant collaborative in February, will be featured in Ken Burns’ Country Music Series coming to PBS this fall, and perform shows in relation to that series in Nashville and New York. When and if schedules free up for Keyla McCalla, Allison Russell, Amythyst Kiah, and Giddens, expect to see some limited touring behind Songs of Our Native Daughters.
You may be wondering why this album was recorded in Dublin given the backgrounds of the principals and the lack of Irish instruments or songs. Turrisi, is Italian-born but resides in Dublin. Obviously, he crosses cultures, musical boundaries and has a knack for forming powerful musical alliances. He’s worked with Bobby McFerrin, jazz icon Dave Liebman, early music group l’Arpeggiata, contemporary ensemble Bang on a Can, Irish sean-nos singer Roisin El Safety, and tarantella specialist Lucilla Galeazzi.
Many of the songs on There Is No Other are structurally simple but most of the arrangements are compellingly imaginative. This is a magical listen from as tight a partnership as you’ll hear. As the title implies, it’s incomparable.
One Response
That was an awesome piece of music. Very powerful and moving.