"In 2023, she begged for time in Smith's shuttered archives, discovering hours of non-American music, before learning to perform and share it. Marisa Anderson: The Anthology of UnAmerican Folk Music Vol 1 Here, Anderson interprets nine of these tunes, pointedly taken from regions shaped by major US conflicts since her birth in 1970. While her fascinating liner notes track what is lost and found when trying to translate these compositions, their universal musicality still cuts through."
"Opener Quodlibet is beautiful: an intricate, minor-key medley of Uzbek tunes originally performed on the dambura (a fretless lute), on which Anderson adds bluegrass techniques to counter her inability to play quarter-tones on her guitar. Her take on a qawwali vocal tune, Hamd, is also a highlight, her stacked guitar layers ringing with warmth and emotion."
"Gisela Rodriguez Fernandez adds violin to Sarvi Simin, a shimmering tune from Soviet-era Afghanistan, while a Yemeni tune, Zar, intended to exorcise evil spirits from the sick, sees Anderson and Fernandez constantly rearranging five notes without repetition. Dark ambient moods are also conjured in Pair of Duduk, on which Anderson shifts the drones of Armenian woodwinds on to reverb-heavy guitar and bassy synths, while in Vietnamese tune Whistle Song, transferred from bamboo flutes to electric piano, the composition's closeness to minimalism sings out."
Marisa Anderson draws on Harry Smith’s 1952 Anthology of American Folk Music archives to perform nine non-American tunes from regions shaped by major US conflicts. She spent time in Smith’s shuttered archives in 2023, discovering hours of music and learning to perform and share it. Her interpretations combine traditional elements with bluegrass techniques, layered guitar harmonies, and experimental instrumentation. Quodlibet presents Uzbek dambura tunes in a minor-key medley, with Anderson adding bluegrass approaches to address quarter-tone limitations. Hamd adapts a qawwali vocal tune through stacked guitar layers. Sarvi Simin features violin over a Soviet-era Afghan melody, while Zar rearranges a five-note pattern to evoke exorcism. Pair of Duduk creates dark ambient moods by translating Armenian woodwind drones into reverb-heavy guitar and synths, and Whistle Song shifts a Vietnamese bamboo-flute piece to electric piano with minimalism-like clarity.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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