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TEN TRACKS PRESENTS :: A HAWK AND A HACKSAW
A Hawk and A Hacksaw - Cervantine
"So ebullient and full of character that by the time it's over you feel like you've caught a glimpse of the type of joyful festivity that always feels most rewarding after a long journey"
- Pitchfork
Joined by an ever expanding and contracting line-up of musicians, A Hawk and A Hacksaw seeks to create and document an ecstatic sound much like the village bands of old, with the communal aspect of folk tradition and musicianship the key factor.
Started as a solo project in 2000 by accordionist and drummer Jeremy Barnes (former member of Neutral Milk Hotel) and named after a line in Cervantes' Don Quixote, A Hawk and a Hacksaw became a duo in 2004 when Barnes met violinist Heather Trost.
The pair began an adventure that took them to Budapest, Hungary where they lived for two years and met/toured with some of the country's finest folk musicians, as well as countless US & European tours both on their own and with big names including Portishead, Calexico and fellow New Mexico resident Beirut (whose Gulag Orkestar album they performed on and helped bring to wider attention).
"But underneath all the noise and frenetic cross-fertilising of old and new, East and West, an obvious musical intelligence is at work. Happily, it also clearly recognises the value of fun. As riots go, this is one you'll enjoy finding yourself caught in the middle of." - BBC
"more than mere dalliance or faux goulash - it only takes about ten seconds of exposure to the opening track to be overwhelmed by the evocative, aromatic, lovingly and closely simulated delights of this album." - The Wire
That was praise for their last album, Délivrance.
Now, from their home in deepest Albuquerque, New Mexico, A Hawk and A Hacksaw present Cervantine, a brand new album out now on on their new self-run label L.M Dupli-cation. Cervantine was Rough Trade's album of the week as soon as it was released.
We are very lucky to be presenting A Hawk and a Hacksaw live in Edinburgh as part of their tour promoting the album.
Cervantine is the finest document of this band's roving spirit yet: the record that gloriously connects their fascination with the folk and gypsy groups of former Yugoslavia, Greece and Romania to their original base in the desert plains of the American Southwest.
There is a tone and a swagger about these recordings that points to the band's total fluency within their own special, self-carved musical language: the vibrant sound of an American band whose geographical and cultural travels have come to bear on their already distinctive music, to unique and dazzling effect. Cervantine is where A Hawk and A Hacksaw really take fight.
The album follows a series of rapturously greeted albums, tours and collaborations in which the core AHAAH duo of Jeremy Barnes (accordion, percussion) and Heather Trost (violin) have intrepidly explored their love of Eastern European musics, including recording in remote Romanian villages and basing themselves in Budapest (where they put together all-star Hungarian folk group Hun Hangár Ensemble for a limited-edition EP and tour), as well as touring the world finely balancing raucous shows at folk clubs and Turkish restaurants with grand blow-outs alongside Wilco, Portishead and Beirut among others.
Upon moving back to the US after their adventures, AHAAH recorded Cervantine live at their studio in Albuquerque between two domestic tours.
With the 20th century having brought the influence of Spanish and Mexican music to Eastern European gypsy folk, Cervantine celebrates the reflected resonance of this influence in modern-day New Mexico: guest spots from a score of local musicians (see CD credits) augment this feeling of the band's music returning home to roost. There are also key contributions from Chris Papalazerscu Hladowski and his sister Stephanie, immensely talented siblings from Bradford, UK via Poland, who have both figured prominently in the renewal of the AHAAH sound.
Chris (who plays bouzouki with raucous psychedelic relish) featured on previous album Deliverance , and spent time with Barnes and Trost in Budapest, wowing them with Youtube clips of saz players from Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, while Stephanie's singular voice colours album standouts Mana Thelo Enan Andra, Cervantine and the Turkish classic Uskudar, bringing shades of Bulgarian choral music as well as Turkish and Greek folk styles. Meanwhile, original composition Espanola Kolo probably best represents the Spanish/Mexican impression on Serbian brass music that A Hawk and A Hacksaw have embraced - an homage to the extraordinary New Mexico town of Espanola and a Yugoslav Kolo dance, designed for long nights of drinking and dancing.
Handpressed in the West.
NEW LABEL INFO
A Hawk and A Hacksaw have started their own label L.M. Dupli-cation - a decision taken out of choice, not necessity.
In the lineage of passionate ethnomusicological foragers from Alan Lomax to Sublime Frequencies, their goal is to release folk music from the regions they love (as well as the occasional curve ball), by way of delighting and confusing serious listeners worldwide, reflecting the boundless sense of discovery endemic in their music. Stay tuned for announcements on exciting new releases very soon...
MORE PRAISE FOR THE DELIVRANCE ALBUM (2009)
"A cheerfully exuberant fusion based around Hungarian instrumental style, but including a bit of everything,
from a Greek melody to echoes of Mexican Mariachi brass and what sounds like a rhythmic of-kilter funeral
march that would impress Tom Waits."
- Guardian
"The band increasingly resemble modern-day musicologists as they travel across cultural frontiers tapping
into grassroots folk."
- Metro UK
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LocationThe Caves
8-12 Niddry Street South
Edinburgh EH1 1NS
United Kingdom
Categories
| Minimum Age: 18 |
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: No |
| Wheelchair Accessible: No |
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