I have a somewhat erratic relationship to Cretan music: initially it was, next to rembetiko, the only form of Greek folk I liked - especially when sung in the spine-tingling voice of Crete's most famous singer Nikos Xylouris. But later it was all tainted by my experience of living at close quarters with a dozen young Cretan soldier-shepherds for a few weeks during my military service in Rethymnon. The boys were quite respectful to me (I was a good 7 years older, and a doctor, so I was spared the pranks new recruits are usually the victims of) but they spent the whole day blasting loud Cretan folk on the squad's portable stereo while playing with their service rifles (any child in the Cretan mountains knows how to dismantle and re-assemble a G3 in seconds, the region probably has a higher guns-to-inhabitant ratio than any in the US). Had they been playing someone like Psarantonis (Nikos Xylouris' younger brother and current Cretan folk paragon) it might have been OK - well it wouldn't have been, not at 18 hours per day, but it would have been preferable to what they were listening: bootleg cassettes, usually featuring a cousin or a synteknos, recorded at local festivals. I was always eager for the one slightly weird(er) boy's turn to come to choose music, because he constantly played the same cassette by Greek Black Metallers Rotting Christ. I mean, imagine that, black metal actually being a soothing aural experience.
Owing to that traumatic experience I stayed clear of Cretan music for the next 20 years, but this CD (a present from a very dear friend) reminded me why I used to like it. It's not purely traditional, yet in some ways it is ancient. And formless, as if the rulebook hadn't been invented yet. The band consists of Psarantonis' son Giorgos Xylouris and Australian percussionist Jim White, formerly of Dirty Three as well as collaborator to, among others, Nick Cave, P.J. Harvey and Marianne Faithfull. Opener "In Medias Res" is an avant-garde droning instrumental which didn't prepare me for the following "Only Love", a fast-paced rousing piece that rocks harder than The Rolling Stones have in the last 40 years. Xylouris' singing (in Greek) is soulful and unrestrained while White urges him on with his nimble playing. "Motorcycle Kondilies" is closer to the medieval origins of this music, with two exceptions: the production (by Guy Picciotto of Fugazi) which enhances the "alternative" character of the duo, and the absence of lyra - nominally the main solo instrument in Cretan music. Xylouris plays laouto, which is usually a rhythm instrument, but both players have the virtuosity and instinctive empathy that allows them to sound like a full band, albeit with a single mind. In "Spud's Garden", "Woman From Anogeia" and "Daphne" (especially the latter, with its emotive vocal and forceful drumming) the charming melodies prevail over the experimentalism creating a result that would easily win over anyone with an ear for Mediterranean or Near-Eastern music. "Achilles Heel" and "Call and Response" are low, improvised, songs that evoke the soundtrack to some mysterious atmospheric movie, while the closing "Lullaby" is a hushed ballad. This music is at once modern and ancient, traditional and experimental, rooted in a particular mountain village (Anogeia) and universal. You should check it out - and, while you're at it, there's also an affecting documentary on the Xylouris music family that's definitely worth seeing.
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*****for Only Love
**** for Spud’s Garden, Daphne, Woman From Anogeia
*** for In Medias Res, Motorcycle Kondilies, Achilles Heel, Call and Response, Lullaby
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