Bratsch - Urban Bratsch
François Castiello, accordion, vocal & whistle
Dan Gharibian, guitar & vocal
Bruno Girard, violin & vocal
Pierre Jacquet, bass
Nano Peylet, clarinet and vocal
Bratsch in the city? It's the suburbs of the weary, worn-out trains, the swarming human mass crossing Manhattan at dawn, the Berlin of Brecht and Weill mingled with the 18th century London of John Gay, the Paris when craftsmen still worked outside on the pavement in the 11th arrondissement, a street in Barcelona, a ringroad redolent of Bulgaria, political outbursts, social dreams... And now, after some fifteen studio albums, Bratsch is venturing into the myths of city life. Could this be a revolution? Yes and no. As violinist Bruno Girard remarked, "This kind of thing can be seen all over Eastern Europe. The music might be rural, but it its lyrics stem from an urban context. And even fado and tango are actually urban atmospheres created to go with different pieces of 'country' music." Bratsch fans will not be surprised at the group's new version of 'Scetate', a Neapolitan serenade. "We've always functioned like that", says accordionist François Castiello: "We don't change anything as regards the sound of the vocals and the instruments even if and when the repertoire and what's being expressed does change." And this time, "there was a real desire to move towards a new creative space, a different universe." This makes for less music of gypsy inspiration, as well as a few surprising songs in French such 'Dans le ciel de ma rue', a lovely daydream about some lace being blown away on the breeze, composed and sung by guitarist Dan Gharibian to words by Christophe Pagnon. "This song was written at least ten years ago", explains Dan. "It seemed absolutely right for this CD, even if there's never been a song like this on a Bratsch album before." For the words of 'RER C', clarinettist Nano Peylet looked around him and saw in his suburban train, "those ticket controllers sometimes coming down so heavily on poor travellers adrift in life"... And this is not the only compassionate and committed view of the world.