MAMER - Eagle (Realworld)

A gentle and intriguing album of modernised rural balladry from the grasslands of central Asia. Mamer is an ethnic Kazakh from Xinjiang in the west of China who once had a brief flirtation with world music fame when his alt-country group IZ drew the attention of former BBC broadcaster Andy Kershaw. Mamer's accomplished and reflective (if slightly patchy) new solo CD continues that folk feel. Centred around acoustic guitar and the dombra - a traditional Kazakh lute with two strings that possesses a harsh and earthy sound when strummed - the album is full of mild, undulating tunes bathed in a tastefully-configured arrangement of subtle studio effects, traditional instruments (jaw's harp ever-present, ghijek and kobuz fiddles probably under-used) and judicious electric guitar.
Mamer possesses a deep, even bass voice - often double-tracked - that rides tunes that owe more to bucolic Kazakhstan modes than that of high and plaintive Chinese folk. Highlights include Celebration, a dombra/banjo duet (or is that duel?) with Bela Fleck, and Proverbs, which is maybe a tad heavy on the programmed effects but rescued by a sonorous display of throat-singing by Hanggai's Ilchi. Best of all are the intertwining guitar and dombra and squawking jaw's harp on the title track, and Blackbird, a haunting sing-song Kazakh-folk sing-along with a nagging melody that feels like it's been around forever. You'll find yourself humming it for days after hearing it.
Elsewhere it gets slightly uneven, the production and 'modernising' approach perhaps having too much sheen for songs whose tunes and arrangements cry handle-with-care. A sparser, snappier approach to these nevertheless always-intriguing songs, with a stronger accent on the choppy sound of the dombra and subtleties of the fiddles, might have improved results slightly. A decent enough album - indeed excellent in place - but there's a lot more to come from this fascinating musician in future, one suspects.

HANGGAI/MAMER – Union Chapel, Saturday 16th May 2009

An absorbing evening of Chinese music with central Asian folk origins in London’s delightful Union Chapel to close The Barbican’s intriguing Beyond The Wall programme of new Chinese music. Headliners of an evening billed as ‘Voices from the Grasslands’ were Beijing-based ensemble Hanggai, who perform traditional Inner Mongolian music that is as evocative of its provenance as, say, the camel-gait drive of desert blues Tuareg bands. In Hanggai’s case, it’s in the form of verdant ballads and galloping up-tempo songs that propel towards the audience in waves of internal rhythm and overlapping overtone singing. The band released an intriguing album under the World Music Network Introducing imprint last year, allying their rustic sound with modern instrumentation and production effects. But for this performance we got the six-piece alone, and stripped of its studio sheen the music was far more earthily engaging and energetic. All-seated, dressed in traditional garb, with the imposing but gentle-natured Ilchi sat centre-stage – his side-shaved hairstyle perhaps a remnant of his punk days – they drive out rolling country songs for a Central Asian hoe down performed on morin khuur (a box horse-hair fiddle sawed away at with energy by rasping overtone throat singer Hugejiltu), tobshuur (a strummed two-string lute), acoustic guitar and drums. At one point the ever-playful Ilchi performed a slightly gauche Mongolian dance, but he can be serious too, when performing the ballads that punctuate proceedings. Hugejiltu’s morin khuur is beautifully expressive and mournful on these, the sharp, plangent notes making full use of this snug venue’s natural acoustics. Earlier, Mamer – an ethnic Kazakh from Xinjiang in the west of China - warmed the audience with his reflective rural balladry. He once had a brief flirtation with world music fame with his group IZ when he drew the attention of DJ Andy Kershaw, and his new solo CD, the accomplished Eagle, continues their folk feel, featuring acoustic guitar and dombra, a traditional Kazakh lute with two strings that possesses a pleasing earthy whine when strummed. His Union Chapel performance featured just one song featuring dombra alone – or rather, Mamer in a duet with colleague Ibrahim on a wonderful bucolic folksy romp that was all too brief in its thrilling cross-play. The rest of the time Mamer – seated, taciturn, almost hiding his boyish visage under a beige cap – was backed by electric guitar, bass and drums, with many of the songs starting with taped atmospheric backing and building on wailing guitar, bass and kit drum over his deep, undulating voice, jangling guitar and jaw’s harp, the highlight of which was Blackbird, one of those songs with a the kind of nagging melody that the audience takes with it into the post-gig night.