Celtophilia

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Battlefield Band is one of the most iconic Celtic bands in existence. In various incarnations they have been writing and performing for over thirty years. The discography page on their website is longer than my arm and includes more than twenty albums, not counting solo projects by members. Battlefield Band was a group of innovative musical pioneers in 1969 when the band was formed, and they are not content to rest on their past laurels today. Their latest CD, Zama Zama … Try Your Luck, is one of the sharpest and most cohesive albums that I’ve ever listened to, in any genre. Inspired by gold and humankind’s obsession with obtaining it, Zama Zama … Try Your Luck narrates a tale of greed, necessity, and consequences that spans from the legendary Golkonda diamond mines to the Klondike gold rush to the current global financial crises. Don’t let the serious subject matter fool you, this album is far from being a dry political treatise set to song. The music matters here, and the music is passionate, relevant, and not to be missed.

Ku’ula-kai is a bloody amazing instrumental, featuring straight up kickass whistle, bagpipe, fiddle, guitar, and accordion playing. Immediately after playing it the first time, I played it again. Leaning back in my chair with my eyes closed, I found myself smiling and happier than I had any right to be.

Three Brothers is an original song written by Alan Reid, who is a founding member of Battlefield Band. Alan plays accordion and provides lead vocals on this track, which tells the story of (you guessed it) three fictional brothers caught up in the Alaskan Gold Rush. This is balladeering at it’s best, and one of my favorite songs from the album. I used to dislike the accordion, before I figured out that I was incredibly close minded and wrong. Accordions are awesome, if you don’t believe me, give this song a listen and it might just convince you.

I almost always listen to albums in order, because I think that artists put a lot of thought into the arrangement of songs so that there is a progression, and I want to experience the music in the context that was intended. That was a lot of waffle just so I could say in this case I didn’t do it. I had to skip straight to Plain Gold Ring. I am a rabid Nina Simone fan, and I couldn’t wait to hear Battlefield Band’s interpretation of a song I’ve listened to Simone sing hundreds of times. I wasn’t disappointed. While there is a distinct traditional Scottish flavor to the Zama Zama rendition, particularly Alasdair White’s excellent fiddling, it retains the plaintively soulful quality of the original. This is my favorite type of cover, one that stays true to the spirit of the song while also making it sound like something straight out of the band’s own repertoire.

If I have any criticism of the album, it’s that I’m not the biggest fan of instrumentals, and they do represent about half of the songs on the CD. have been thoroughly scolded for my preferences in that department, yet I remain addicted to lyrics. It’s a weak attempt at criticism anyway, as the instrumentals are among the best I’ve heard and I enjoyed some of them immensely.

Zama Zama … Try Your Luck is a remarkable album - musically, lyrically, and in every way. I wanted to write about every last song on the CD, and the only reason I didn’t is because I decided that none of ya’ll would want to read “Zama Zama … Try Your Luck: Bonnie’s Exhaustive Analysis With A Twinge Of Fangirl Enthusiasm” when you could be listening to the album instead. So, do that! Really, do, and then come back here and we can talk one another’s ears off about it - sounds like an incredible good time to me.

* Zama zama is a South African term for illegal gold miners. I highly recommend this article, Dying For Gold, for background on the dangerous and often fatal process of illegal gold mining in South Africa.

** Battlefield band’s current line up consists of Alan Reid, Mike Katz, Sean
O’Donnell, and Alasdair White.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at 7:55 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.