TINDRA and KROKE
Live in Førde
Talik 93

www.talik.no

On the face of it, this collaboration between the Norwegian folk trio Tindra and Kroke, one of Poland’s leading klezmer bands, seems unlikely. But, as this live album (recorded in 2010) shows, it works. This is mostly because Kroke are happy to step outside their own comfort zone and into Tindra’s world of traditional Norwegian music. Tindra has a pair of excellent singers, especially Åshild Vetrhus, who harmonize spectacularly well, and there’s real beauty to the arrangements, especially the slow “For Alt Du Gav,” which gives Kroke’s musicians a chance to shine on viola and accordion with some quiet, emotional brilliance (the whistling on “Fields Of Sorrow” is also gloriously atmospheric). So what seemed so unlikely turns out to be a marriage made in heaven. Kroke’s material does get a look in: not so much of the wild, explosive side they’ve shown on other CDs, but the klezmer influence is to the fore on “Jovano Jovanke,” for instance, and on “Eddie” there’s a taste of just where they can take the music, a showcase for Tomasz Kukurba’s virtuosic playing that takes off into neo-rock territory with electric viola towards the end. The culmination is the lengthy “Ajde Jan,” an atmospheric collections of poems set to music that grow in passion during the performance (and Kukurba proves to have an impressive voice himself). Deliciously amorphous, it grabs the heart and won’t let it go, resolving through the female voices to make a breathtaking conclusion. Some partnerships really do work.

— Chris Nickson