ALL ARTISTS

Europe  > Denmark > Gudrun Holck

// Gudrun Holck

VIDEOSPORTRAITREVIEWSINTERVIEWSREPORTSMP3PHOTOSAGENDA

Muse

This is an audacious and troubling album that reveals the range of Gudrun Holck’s musical explorations. Her music is described by her Mild Records label as a “journey through the straying (sic.) universe of the human voice”. It reflects the huge ambition of this striking artist. Holck has avoided the easy paths of commercialism that her high-perched vocal chords might have opened up. She prefers honing her vocal gymnastics around ancient musical traditions from Australia, North America, India and West Africa.

The result is 12 stripped-down songs underscored by the resounding percussions of Marilyn Mazur and haunting didgeridoo of Robert Davis. The former is at her best in the gripping tune “Coming out of the bush”, while the title track “Muse” allows the latter the space to interplay tellingly with Holck’s lilting voice. At times like this there is a Maddy Prior quality to Holck’s singing which ranges from a dreamy calm to the windswept ferocity of the Swedish “lockrop” folk music. This dexterity also allows the 34-year-old to interpret the complex Bulgarian folksong “Lele Raine” with unerring ease. Such diversity in a first solo album reflects Holck’s audacity and confidence.

It is therefore of little surprise that Holck’s baptismal album is dedicated to the memory of Nigerian giant Fela Anikulapo Kuti. The Danish singer-composer spent several years in the Nineties studying Afro-beat music in his self-styled Kalakuti republic in Lagos - although there are few hints on this album of the driving rhythms Fela bequeathed to us. It is more the Nigerian’s spirit - his “music is the weapon of the future” - that inspired Holck to create a world she describes as the following: “My universe starts with singing. Hence comes my music. Everything starts with song.”

When I met her in the steamy music cauldron of Lagos back in 1995 there were few hints at which life path she was to take. But for a tall and beautiful blond woman to survive four years in the dog-eat-dog atmosphere of this metropolis, it needed the intelligence, courage and determination that are reflected in “Muse”. Along the way, she was assisted by a plethora of artists she thanks in the sleeve notes. These go from the Kuti family to Tomani Diabaté and Habib Koité. This self-produced album was nominated for the 2004 Danish World awards, but deserves an international audience as well as critical applause to encourage Holck on her singular path.

January 2006

Daniel Brown

Comments  

// ALSO

• « Kalimba »
• Seun Kuti
• New Awards for World Music
• Vusi Mahlasela
• WOMAD at the TOWER OF LONDON 19 & 20 September 2009 - win tickets!
• Black Music Centre
• Tony Allen, Afrobeat ace
• Khaled, Liberté
• Baaba Maal, Baaba Maal - Voice of the people




---




// ALL GUDRUN HOLCK'S REVIEWS


Muse
18/01/2006




---





// LINKS




RELATED ARTISTS

>> Gudrun Holck
>> The Great Nordic Band


REPORTS






// POST A COMMENT





Nickname *


Your comment (2000 char. max) *


Security code   





---


>> comment it on the forum>>

The Center for Black Music
The Center for Black Music in Salvador, Bahia, and the International Exhibition of Black Music in...

Charlie Gillett
Charlie Gillett was one of the UK's leading World Music journalists. For years he presented a wee...

see all blogs

Podcast
Mondomix podcasts selection.


Rich Mix
Rich Mix celebrates cultural diversity in the arts with a packed programme of music, film, theatre, dance and more.

discover more