11/25/2012
Penn Gollo/Skeud an Amzer/Coop Breizh/2002
Personnel:
Gérard COSQUER: Basse fretless
Julien DREO: Accordéon diatonique
Jean Claude PETIT: Hautbois
Claude ZIEGLER: Guitare acoustique
Invités:
Jean-Marc ROTH: Batterie
Odile Ribeyre: Violon
A brand-new review of a recording that is a decade old? The discerning reader may well wonder why this is the case, but the answer is simple. Skeud An Amzer (Season of Shadows, The Shadow Season) is one of the great classics of Breton music, easily as fresh and inspiring as any new recording that will be released in the coming year.
Skeud An Amzer was the second recording from Penn Gollo, and marked a substantial change in personnel from their first, moderately successful release splamb!. The most notable arrival was the talented accordionist Julien Dreo, who would become a mainstay of the new ensemble. The most notable departure was the duo of Malo Carvou and Bernard Bizien, who have continued to perform together elsewhere to this day ( see the 2012 review of their An Amzer Gwechall ). This duo’s role was taken over by new guitarist Claude Ziegler, whose rhythmic accompaniment added a nice upper end to the bass of Gérard Cosquer. Cosquer is one of the finest bass players in the Fest Noz genre with a fat, deep bass sound and highly creative lines that are always appropriate, intriguing and satisfying. Skeud An Amzer continued to benefit from the talents of the departed Marvou, however, with a number of tracks being credited to his pen.
A unique sound emerges right from the opening notes of track number one, a 6-temps titled Les trois étangs. Les trois étangs starts with a sonic landscape that is full, muscular, rhythmically driving and harmonically rich with just accordion, bass, and guitar. This trio eventually unfolds into a quartet with the dramatic arrival of the signature ‘piston’ oboe of Jean-Claude Petit, who must be considered one of the great masters of this uniquely Breton instrument. Petit’s piston playing is less sweet than that of the better-known Youenn Le Bihan but is much more powerful, capable of playing long rapid-fire melodic passages that can propel a tune with enormous intensity.
Whereas Le Bihan and his group Skolvan have developed a sound that is tender and very jazzy, and a group such as Forzh Penaos uses aggressive rock music elements to deliver their music with tremendous impact, on Skeud An Amzer Penn Gollo subsumes both approaches into an experience that is simultaneously contemporary, innovative and unmistakably and profoundly Breton. That is quite an accomplishment, and the result is a great recording that is both tasteful, powerful, and worthy of endless repeated listening.
- Fañch
