Description
Telenn Tri are Christine Morphett, harp and fiddle and Peter Franche, piano accordion, guitar, bouzouki, bass guitar. This duo combines its wealth of various musical backgrounds and influences, to provide the basis for an exploration of Celtic music. Both traditional and contemporary tunes are interwoven with original compositions.
Telenn Tri – The Boat Man
CD review by Tony Smith – TN178
TN2513-52 – $20
‘Telenn’ is Breton for the Celtic harp.
Christine Morphett on harp and fiddle and Peter Franche on piano accordion, guitars, bass guitar and bouzouki, and Gavin O’Loghlen on whistles and percussion make up Telenn Tri.
O’Loghlen recorded, mixed and mastered this album at Locrian Records.
This Adelaide ensemble produced another fine album ‘Macquarie Street’ which included a good balance between originals and traditional tunes, mainly Irish.
While the tunes on The Boat Man are a collection of ‘Scottish harp music in the 21st century’ and all tracks have their final arrangement by Telenn Tri, several other arrangers are acknowledged.
These are Corrina Hewat, Isbel Pendlebury, Ailie Robertson, Rachel Newton and E. Tiffany-Castiglioni.
The colourful cover showing an antique map of a voyage between Scotland and New Holland was designed by De’arne Cavaiuolo and printing was by Arte Grafica.
In Aidan O’Rourke’s ‘Waves of Rush’ you almost feel the ocean swelling.
In ‘Lost in Oberlin’ (Hewat) and ‘I’m Not Fed Up with the Pacific Ocean’ by Ola Backstrom, the harp produces a slick, almost jazz like vibraphone effect.
The ‘cool’ sound skips along for these memorable carefree tunes with strong melody lines.
In Emma Donald’s ‘The Barnacle’ and Donald Macleod’s ‘The Seagull’, the harp ranges freely around some arpeggio patterns.
Guitar and percussion lead in to Michael Ferrie’s ‘On the Wings o’ a Skorje’.
The harp then responds and the interaction is very enjoyable.
‘Skorje’ refers to a young seagull in Shetland dialect.
The guitar leads into John Somerville’s ‘McKechnie’s Farewell’.
This is a slower tune and close to a ballad style.
It certainly has a traditional Scots atmosphere to it.
The pipes seem to be looming.
‘Swerving for Bunnies’ (Robertson) and the traditional ‘Brose and Butter’ are brief tunes.
The latter has a sweet minor flavour.
In ‘The Eggshell Brewery’ (Newton), there are virtuosic glides on the harp and the accordion makes a nice blend.
In the traditional ‘Sleep Sound Ida Mornin’’, the clear separation of notes makes this slightly unusual tune easy to appreciate.
It is bright and quick but otherwise could be a lullaby.
Award winning harpist Catriona McKay’s ‘The Swan LK243’ refers to a restored Fifie fishing boat.
The accordion provides a dreamy background and a calming interlude.
Whistle adds to the enjoyment of the traditional ‘Fhear a’Bhata (The Boatman)’.
Morphett’s ‘Collaboration Jig’ and Liz Carroll’s ‘Rose and Kathleen’s Slip Jig’ make this triple time set a real toe tapper.
The traditional ‘Ho ro mo bhoban an dram (The Favourite Dram)’ is a gentle tune which shows off the harpist’s skill in glides.
‘Neil Gow’s Lament for the Death of His Second Wife’ is a famous fiddle tune but one which suits the harp very well.
In particular, the Scots ‘snap’ is clear here.
While these tunes are all very different in style, it is likely that this one will be appreciated most by lovers of Caledonian music.
Some observers, definitely in the minority, think Gow, also spelt Niel, wrote the air for his fiddle, which he dropped.
The majority opinion is that he wrote it for his second wife.
Both were named Margaret.
Whatever the background, it sounds beautiful here.
This Telenn Tri album is yet another feast for lovers of harp music, Scottish music and music in general.
Ed. Telenn Tri have two albums available for sale from the Trad&Now website.
Tracks from both of the albums may be heard from time to time on Trad&NowLive!
