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Sample Track 1:
"To You Kasiunia" from People's Spring
Sample Track 2:
"Chassidic Dance" from People's Spring
Sample Track 3:
"Who is Getting Married" from People's Spring
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People's Spring
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Layer 2
CD Review

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Dr. Rhythm, CD Review >>

Folks have told me how great the Warsaw Village Band is. It sounds like medieval liturgical music to me. Particularly the vocals which have a lot of churchly echo on them. (When you use the same reverb setting on your mikes for all the tracks it becomes monotonous.) The hurdy-gurdy and old style fiddles lend to the air of antiquity. Percussion is to the fore with lots of energetic drumming. As far as modernised folk goes it seems to be the bees knees of the genre. The best  tracks are adapted from tunes learned from old timers and given a little zest. According to the liner notes the rediscovered 16th-century fiddle is plucked with the fingers so it has a strident quality like the deconstruction of the fiddle in Taraf de Haidouks' set. The singing is called 'white voice' style, adapted from shepherds' screaming! There's the obligatory remixed tracks at the end. These are particularly mournful, with sitar and bits of backwardness reminiscent of George Harrison's Beatle-work. The final cut is generic disco and served to disconnect me from the tradition. But it is worth hearing, so check it out for yourself and let me know what you think of it. Maybe you'll convince me to give it another listen.

 03/01/04
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