‘MUSIC IS ABOUT PEOPLE AND NOWADAYS WE TRAVEL AND MEET IN MANY DIFFERENT WAYS'
World ofa difference
What was once termed ‘folk’ is now unconcerned with music or geographical boundaries. Norman Chalmers speaks with a real forward thinker, ALE MOLLER.
f the prevailing fashion in (‘eltic (‘onnectedness is
to eschew the straight spirit in favour of mixers.
then Sweden's Ale .\loller is the cocktail harman par excellence. Back to (ilasgow with his World Heritage Orchestra. and set tip for gigs with old pal Aly Rain in the 'l‘ransatlantic Sessions and elsewhere. the multi-instrumentalist composer. improviser. teacher and general all-round musical enthusiast represents the ubiquitous and decades long return-to—roots by musicians and audiences across liurope. Moller made the long journey from his first loves of swing jazz and
be-hop to the deceptively simple folk idioms of Sweden. through an unlikely fascination with intisic of
Greece.
Though already fluent on trumpet and various wind instruments. .\loller fell in love with the sound and style of playing of the (ireek bouzouki and his championing of the instrument led to a new synthesis — the Swedish mandola.
‘I went back to the country iiddlers. and they would tell me. "That note's too sharp." And then when I played a fret down. the would say. "That’s too flat." They were playing quarter tones. Between the frets. The liddlers call these notes "hlue notes" — on mainly the third and the seventh. jtist like the hlues!’
So off he went to Iingland to get top mandolin/cittern maker Stefan Sohell to construct an instrument with in- hetween frets. and it really caught on back in Sweden. There are now four or five Swedish luthiers making these instruments. .\loller play ed for years (and still
does) in Swedish traditional hand l'rifot. but his other
passion. he says. is ‘crcating new things. from
56 THE LIST .im ./ in:
meetings. differences. There’s a great energy when people or musicians are put together from differing cultures. politics and styles. I formed the Stockholm Folk Big Band in l‘)%’. We've had rappers. out to the other extreme with operatic singers like Anne Sophie von ()tter. And it continues to evolve. The latest project is the big band with a symphony orchestra.’
Moller has little time for the old. folk police arguments. ‘National terms are not so useful any more. We are not so geographically stuck. Music is about people. and nowadays we travel and meet in many different ways. I play with friends in America or Japan. and we make our music. I know that we are losing our great older musicians. The old stylists are dying out. But I tell my young students that we have to create something of similar value. Not just with technical skill and dexterity and speed. It's very much harder. and takes more understanding. to play slow.‘ Moller sometimes takes his students — he teaches at Helsinki's Sibelius Academy — out to a place in the country.
'We have 16-hour days. and we use two rooms. One is for the head. and technique. In the other we work on heart. and feeling. I also have an idea that there are two types of audience. It works for (‘eltic Connections too. One listens because it is folk. The other listens despite it being folk.’
Ale Moller’s World Heritage Orchestra, The Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, Wed 25; Around the World in 80 Minutes, Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Fri 27 Jan; Transatlantic Sessions, Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Sun 29 Jan.
Five Night Stand Scotland‘s newest radio station launches with five big bands in painfully tiny venues - to further reinforce its already stellar indie credentials. Stereophonics at ABC and Primal Scream at Tut's are just the start of it. Our competition on page 7 is now the only way to get your hands on tickets for these special shows. Various venues, Glasgow and Edinburgh, Sun 22—Mon 30 Jan. (Rock 8 Pop)
Celtic Connections The festival continues at pace with Richard Thompson. Michael Marra. Gretchen Peters and Bellowhead among those on hand to excite. educate and motive. See previews. left. Various venues, Glasgow, until Sun 29 Jan. (Folk 8 World)
Brian Kellock and Sheila Jordan What better way to kick off the new season at the Lot than by reuniting Scotland's top pianist with one of the world‘s great jazz voices? Jazz Centre at the Lot. Edinburgh, Wed 25 Jan. (Jazzl
Bob Mould The one-time HUsker Oil and Sugar frontman — without who there would be no Pixies or Nirvana — is here with a full band and a set of new songs and rare classics. ABC, Glasgow. Thu 26 Jan. (Rock & Pop)
Save NEMIS Acute, Binary Zero, Firebrand Boy and lves are the kind of new talent that have benefited from the free advice from NEMIS. The organisation‘s days are numbered as Scottish Arts Council funding has been discontinued and this show is an attempt to remind the purse- holders of the benefits of such an organisation for Scottish music. Vox at the Vale, Glasgow, Fri 27 Jan. (Rock 8 Pop)
NME Tour Maximo Park, We Are Scientists, Mystery Jets and the ubiquitous Arctic Monkeys hop on board the good ship 'next big thing' and try and make us forget about our the Killers and Franz Ferdinand. See page 59 for Arctic Monkeys album review. Carling Academy, Glasgow, Fri 27 Jan; Corn Exchange, Edinburgh, Sat 28 Jan. (Rock & Pop)