Saturday 23 September 2017

Malicorne - Almanach (1976)


The fourth album from this French band.

Malicorne was a quartet on this album with a lineup of dulcimer, mandocello, guitars, violin, psaltery, zither, hurdy gurdy, mandolin, cello, keyboards, crummhorn, percussion, recorder, bass and vocals. Both male and female French vocals.
There was also some guest musicians contributing xtra strings.

I reviewed their third album Malicorne II (1975) for # 1 of this blog back in February 2014. The review is here. I liked that album a lot. But it took me three and a half years to follow up this band again and complete my reviews of their albums. Something I intend to complete very soon/you will find reviews of all their albums somewhere else in this blog.

Malicorne is again exploring the old age French folk music scene and tradition. Their material has been written by themselves. But they are based on old age traditions.

I do not speak any French and that is a bit of a problem on such vocals dominated songs like this. Songs also populated with acoustic guitars, violins and other acoustic instruments. Gabriel & Marie Yacoub's vocals are very good and haunting. There are some funeral dirge over their vocals. But most of the music is uplifting.

This is not the most interesting album when it comes to music. It is too vocals focused. But it is not a bad album at all. Hence my verdict....

2.5 points



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