Customer Reviews

Clychau Dibon

I was dismayed to find one review describing this album as ideal background music for a dinner party. It requires careful, fully attentive listening on a very high quality system to appreciate just what these two brilliant musicians are doing. Their unity is quite astonishing and transports you to a different sphere. This is music with the power to transform.

Two people from different old races of people, meet and jam on, "ancient instruments".
They move from Welsh folk tunes to Senegalese tunes with ease and beauty.
Some are tunes from the 1600s Robert ap Huw manuscript, the African kora is believed to have been around since the 1500s and tunes have been handed down from Father to Son for generations
A brlliant album.
Buy it and relax to it, be moved.
Regards,
Bresail.

If you like traditional welsh folk harp music in the Catrin Finch style and the sound of the kora (African plucked string instrument) played by Seckou Keita you will love this CD. What makes this special is how Catrin and Seckou have assimilated each others musical tradition to produce a unique musical sound.

The liner notes quite rightly make the point that this is not a "relaxation tape". I find the interplay between the two instruments so exciting that I find I can't relax at all while listening - but in a good way! One of the best musical "fusions" I think I've ever come across. Beautiful!

The blend of instruments and the complexity and subtlety of the playing are simply staggering. Although it could be used as pleasant background music, it deserves attentive listening in order to fully appreciate the magic and beauty of this unusual pairing. Hard to believe that anyone would not be delighted with this album!

I think it is unusual for a classically trained musician to play folk or “ethnic” music with passion and conviction. The only other collaboration involving the kora and a traditional “Western” instrument I have listened to is that between Ballake Sissoko (kora) and Vincent Segal (cello). While their album Chamber Music is interesting and enjoyable, I find Clychau Dibon utterly captivating. The rhythmical repetitions and slow, ornamented melodies are hypnotically absorbing.

This music can be put on as relaxing sonic wallpaper, but that does not do it justice. I had the good fortune to see these two great musicians perform live at Folk By The Oak yesterday. Many, many people came down to the stage and stood in motionless and captivated silence as they watched the interplay and listened to waves of pure music. This is joyful music, yet it can be as demanding as you want it to be, depending on how deeply you let yourself be lost inside it.

Buy. Now!

Excellent cd one of my favourites, it is beautifully produced, the 2 instruments compliment each other really well, nice one.

I had the good fortune to attend their concert last year, a truly magical evening. Often concerts are better than cd's, but this is a wonderful cd capturing a live performance of two masters of their instruments totally in tune with each other. If you love beautiful happy music, buy this.

This is an extraordinary collaboration - unlikely perhaps on the face of it but the mutual respect and love for their music and their cultures that they share shines through. It is quite simply beautiful and made me smile right from the beginning with its lyrical beauty and rhythm.

As others have commented, this is not background elevator music - it has tremendous, toe-tapping energy as well as dazzling musicianship. Great stuff.

I would advise this to anyone who wants to be amazed or relax in the sunshine, very soothing and a perfect present for someone revising or interested in the harp