Other CD Reviews
12. Various Artists. Album: Celebrating Subversion:The Anti-Capitalist Roadshow, Fatea Records, March 2013
Label: Fuse
Tracks: 30
Website: http://www.anticapitalistroadshow.co.uk
The ACR's united aim is to challenge the narrative that says "there is no alternative", and the two hours' worth of music (together with a visionary poem by Ian Saville, the aforementioned magician) on this pair of discs forms part of the resistance to insidious capitalism, and part of another way of looking at the world. The participants could not have been better chosen to voice these concerns with total conviction, all of them having proven (and mostly very much long-term, nay virtually lifelong) credentials in the field of musical agitprop and eminently sensible social and political commentary in song. All but a very few of the recordings here were made last summer, although a number of them serve as contemporary updates to, or timely revisits of, songs that have previously appeared on record (or tape! - some being now long-deleted).
The range and tone of the songwriting is, as you'd expect, extensive, from justifiably angry (Jim Woodland's The Grapes Of Wrath) and satirical (Janet Russell's lambasting of the arms trade in Guns And Bombs) to cheerily caustic music-hall-style (Robb Johnson's Why Not?) and sharply perceptive (Leon Rosselson's wry account of the 2011 riots, Looters, and his cheekily cautionary tale of fitness-for-work, Benefits), via the feistly anthemic (Robb Johnson's Be Reasonable and Peggy Seeger's adaptation Doggone, Occupation Is On). Roy Bailey contributes several key tracks including passionate, typically adept accounts of songs by Si Kahn; Frankie Armstrong brings her stentorian tones to powerful activist texts by Godoy, Biermann and Brecht; Reem Kelani delivers a stunning performance of a song from Tunisia expressing the pain of worker migration, also a riveting account of Leon Rosselson's celebrated Song Of The Olive Tree; and Sandra Kerr poses the still-all-too-relevant question Can We Afford The Doctor?
But perhaps the biggest discovery of the set for me was Grace Petrie, an impressive young Leicester-based singer-songwriter who, despite not having been born for the majority of Thatcher's reign, has a singularly acute grasp on the evils of the world she inherited - the world which Mrs T shaped. Grace's three contributions to the set are distinct highlights, and choice tracks certainly, but I could almost as easily turn the spotlight on the many more incomparable performances here which make the set thoroughly recommendable to any thinking listener with an ounce of humanity and political sensitivity. David Kidman
11. Celebrating Subversion by the Anti-Capitalist Roadshow, New Internationalist, March 2013
Brought together under the auspices of Socialist folkie and author Leon Rosselson, this splendid double CD is crammed with a lo-fi fury against the state we're in. Rosselson is aided and abetted in his righteous indignation by a mighty host that includes Palestinian-British singer Reem Kelani, Frankie Armstrong, Peggy Seeger, and socialist magician (apparently the only one) Ian Saville.
Arising from Occupy! and fuelled by a deep disquiet at the actions of Britain's coalition government, the Anti-Capitalist Roadshow's subversion is aimed at the arms trade, the dismantling of the welfare state and the 'delirium of consumerism'. There is a great, if nostalgic sense of political community that pervades the collection. Musicians guest on each others' tracks and sing, musically and metaphorically, in concert.
High points are Peggy Seeger's raucous arrangement of a Depression-era 'Doggone, Occupation is On' and Kelani and Rosselson's 'Song of the Olive Tree' - a lament for Palestine that should make one weep. It also has a pert buzuq (Levantine lute) section that will get feet going. Louise Gray
4 stars
10. Celebrating Subversion: the Anti-Capitalist Roadshow, Living Tradition, January 2013
The Anti-Capitalist Roadshow is a collective of singers and songwriters, comprising Frankie Armstrong, Roy Bailey, Robb Johnson, Reem Kelani, Sandra Kerr, Grace Petrie, Leon Rosselson, Janet Russell, Peggy Seeger and Jim Woodland; plus the only known socialist magician, Ian Saville. No, I'm not sure exactly how, but he uses magic tricks to illustrate Marxist theory - if he has a magic wand that makes politicians disappear, I could suggest a few names!
The roadshow is a response to the injustice felt by many to the way in which the Westminster government is imposing an austerity programme that victimises the poor, vulnerable and disabled. The roadshow's aim is to raise spirits and give hope and heart and a smile or two to those who are angry at this injustice.
This last point is a good one, and this double CD collection mixes a number of styles to get the messages across, including humour, as in Robb's Why Not? which has a music hall style and chorus, as an ability to laugh in times of adversity is an essential survival tool. Plenty of other approaches are here as well, from reflective to angry, from poignant to joyful statements of solidarity.
Topics cover, amongst others, the plight of would-be benefits claimants, trade unionism, occupation, police, pacifism, arms dealers, migration, and the roles of activists in general. Any of these could have a whole album dedicated to them, but this collection gives us lots of timely reminders of just what is going on out there.
In addition to specially written pieces, there are numbers from earlier hard times, and the whole thing is rounded off by Frankie and Leon performing To My Countrymen / Proletarian Lullaby by Berthold Brecht. Although written in the early 1930s, they still speak to us today of themes of deprivation and struggle.
Based on this release, the live event should not be missed. Gordon Potter
9. Celebrating Subversion: the Anti-Capitalist Roadshow, Folk Wales Online Magazine, January 2013
Leon Rosselson - I take my hat off to you in deep respect for this magnificent, intelligent and deeply funny double-CD which was born out of a need to resist and fight David Cameron, George Osborne and all the bullying Tory philosophy. There's a feature already on this page, about the folk artists and singer-songwriters who stood up and said: "Enough!" to the policies of capitalist greed, which really is doing nothing except clobbering the waged, the unwaged, the poor, the vulnerable and the disabled. Our own Frankie Armstrong, Peggy Seeger, Roy Bailey, Sandra Kerr, the Palestinian activist and respected singer Reem Kelani, Grace Petrie, Janet Russell, Jim Woodland and Ian Saville, the only socialist magician, have been invited to Roots Unearthed at the Level Three Lounge at Cardiff's St David's Hall on Tuesday January 15 - and I, for one, can't wait to see and hear them.
The roadshow powers into the first track, Be Reasonable, which has the belting, anthemic chorus: "Be reasonable - and demand the impossible now!" Grace Petrie sings of a middle-class worker brought to poverty levels by right-wing thinking (Maggie Thatcher's Dream) and Leon playfully sticks the knife in with his song (Benefits). Reem and Leon bring the show beautifully down to earth with Song Of The Olive Tree, a lament about Arab land rights being dashed to pieces by the brutality of invading Israeli soldiers. A Jew and a Palestinian harmonising together to make a protest - what a poignant, stunning gesture.
Looters is a valid comment on the August riots, with all the Tory venom meting out ultra-harsh sentences - four years for stealing a bottle of mineral water - while all the time the corporate banks and businesses are looting the nation by stealth, and getting away with it. I Didn't Raise My Son To Be A Soldier is a mother's First World War protest song, when to sing it was a treasonable offence. Guns And Bombs is Janet Russell's demolition job on the arms trade philosophy; it doesn't matter who they are, just sell 'em weapons!
Favourites are Rosa's Lovely Daughters, Farewell To Welfare, My Personal Revenge, I'm Going Where The Suits…, the exquisite Babour Zammar and the finisher, To My Countrymen. My opinion is that folk music has grown too slick and smooth as of now, and we all need the rough edges, the blunt and straight-to-the-point statements and the up-against-the-wall prose to really light the blue touchpaper (figuratively speaking.) This double-CD has got a lot of powerful balls, and will prove an absolute bargain and a fine souvenir of a fabulous concert night out. I fervently hope it will tip the Tory enemy over the highest cliff, but, in the words of Jim Woodland: "I don't believe in miracles…" Just see The Anti-Capitalist Roadshow when it comes to St David's Hall on January 15, 2013 - it'll be really worth it! Mick Tems
8. Celebrating Subversion: the Anti-Capitalist Roadshow, Irish Left Review, 18 Dec 2012
In 2009 the British National Party took to promoting English folk music on its website. One particularly favoured song was Steve Knightley's Roots:
…When the Indians, Asians, Afro-Celts
It's in their blood, below their belt
They're playing and dancing all night long
So what have they got right that we've got wrong?
Seed, bud, flower, fruit
They're never gonna grow without their roots
Branch, stem, shoot
They need roots…
Although Knightley was dismayed by this "betrayal" and "violation" of his "invention", he should have realised that such imagery is in perfect harmony with the discourse of fascism. In 1934 the Nazi musicologist Fritz Stein maintained that "as long as it remained undiluted and true to its German roots, folk music was an essential means of gaining respect abroad." Furthermore, the juxtaposition of "they" and "we" in Knightley's verse, although purportedly privileging the "Indians, Asians, Afro-Celts [sic]", is in fact a careless gesture of exclusion.
One consequence of the BNP's opportunistic advocacy of English folk music was the foundation of Folk Against Fascism (FAF). Describing itself as "neither left-of-centre nor right-of-centre", this organisation (which appears to be moribund at present) claimed to be "simply a coalition of people who care passionately about British folk culture and don't want to see it turned into something it's not: a marketing tool for extremist politics."
Both of these well-meaning responses leave something to be desired, and that something has now been provided by the Anti-Capitalist Roadshow , "a collective of singers and songwriters: Frankie Armstrong, Roy Bailey, Robb Johnson, Reem Kelani, Sandra Kerr, Grace Petrie, Leon Rosselson, Janet Russell, Peggy Seeger, Jim Woodland plus one socialist magician, Ian Saville." With no feeble nod to being "neither right nor left", this collective claims to be "part of the resistance to a capitalism that functions only on behalf of the wealthy, that aims to shrink the public sphere and privatise public services,… and that is destructive to the planet."
Many of the 30 tracks of the collective's new double album, Celebrating Subversion, deal forcefully with such specifically British issues as Thatcherism, Tory Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne's views on "the benefits lifestyle", the dismantling of the National Health Service, the occupation of St Paul's, the sinking of the Titanic (as metaphor for "the practical outcomes of capitalism"), looting during the 2011 London riots, British arms exports, the Peterloo Massacre, and the suffragette Emily Davison, martyred just a century ago.
However, Celebrating Subversion is not thereby celebrating another form of national navel-gazing, but places these issues in a firmly internationalist context. Robb Johnson's Be Reasonable adapts the May '68 slogan (itself adapted from Che Guevara) "Soyons réalistes - exigeons l'impossible!" ("Let's be realistic - demand the impossible!"). Frankie Armstrong's Encouragement translates a song by the former East German dissident (or former dissident) Wolf Biermann ("Don't let your strength die. / Don't let them make you bitter in these bitter times…"). Armstrong also sings My Personal Revenge by Nicaraguan songwriter Luis Godoy, based on words by the Sandanista leader Tomás Borge ("My personal revenge will be to show you / The kindness in the eyes of my people / Who have always fought relentlessly in battle / And been generous and firm in victory."). Leon Rosselson's classic Song of the Olive tree, sung here by the incomparable Manchester-born Palestinian Reem Kelani and introduced by a passionate buzuq solo from Tamer Abu Ghazaleh, pays homage to the living symbol of Palestinian sumud (steadfastness and resistance). Kelani sings in Arabic on the rousing Babour zammar (The Ship Sounded its Horn), a Tunisian "migration anthem" from the 1970s, here dedicated to the memory of Mohamed Bouazizi whose self-immolation instigated the Tunisian revolution and hence the so-called Arab Spring. Bread and Roses, a song by Dubliner Martin Whelan inspired by a 1911 poem by American James Oppenheim, is sung by Roy Bailey who also gives us They all sang Bread and Roses by the contemporary American civil rights, labour and community organiser Si Kahn. The collection ends with Proletarian Lullaby by Bertolt Brecht and Hanns Eisler: "And you, my son, and I and all our people / Must stand together to unite the human race / That unequal classes no more / Will divide the human race."
Rosselson was born in 1934, and both Roy Bailey and Peggy Seeger in 1935. The latter, daughter of the classical composer Ruth Crawford-Seeger, moved to Britain in 1956 to escape anti-communist hysteria in the USA, eventually marrying the socialist singer-songwriter Ewan McColl. Her contributions to this album are hard acts to follow; Doggone, Occupation is On is an adaptation (partly by Dave Lippman) of the dustbowl classic Doggone, the Panic is on by Hesekiah Jenkins, Progress Train (Seeger) is as fast and furious as the vehicle it evokes ("The human brain's an intelligent fool / Build you a hospital, build you a school / You wake up the very next day / The progress train took it all away."), while the unaccompanied Peacock Street, composed by "pistol-packin' momma" Aunt Molly Jackson, exudes a mixture of pathos, anger and droll humour (p)reminiscent of Janis Joplin's Mercedes Benz ("I was cold, I was hungry, it was late in the fall / I knocked down some old big shot, took his money, clothes and all.").
At the other end of the generational scale, feisty Leicester-born Grace Petrie found her voice in 2010 with the election of the Tory/Liberal coalition government. Her Protest Singer Blues asks "How many deaths will it take 'til we know / Too many people have died?", decides that "There's no answer blowin' in the wind", and concludes: "How many times can a man turn his head / And pretend he just doesn't see? / 'Cause I'm ashamed, the times they have a-changed / And a better world was not to be."
The parody of Dylan is cheeky, but surely to the point: "neither right-of-centre nor left-of-centre", his early songs modified his mentor Woody Guthrie's robust anti-fascism into a vague, undifferentiated protest that became the hallmark of a generation unwilling to translate that stance into overt political action. Petrie and the rest of her Anti-Capitalism Roadshow colleagues reach back to earlier traditions of activism, and reach across national and sectarian boundaries in a spirit of generous solidarity. The result would make an ideal Christmas or New Year's present for anyone willing to be provoked and inspired as well as entertained. Raymond Deane
Irish Left Review
7. Celebrating Subversion: the Anti-Capitalist Roadshow, The Guardian, 29 Nov 2012
Describing themselves as a "collective of singers and songwriters, plus one magician, opposed to the ideologically driven austerity programme imposed by this millionaire government", the Roadshow consists of 11 angry musicians from a remarkable variety of age groups. There's the impressive Grace Petrie from Leicester, who sounds like a young female version of Billy Bragg in both her lyrics and phrasing, and matches songs about austerity and the rich getting richer with the thoughtful and personal Protest Singer Blues. Then there's Robb Johnson with the singalong Be Reasonable ("and demand the impossible"), Reem Kelani with an oud-backed anthem from Tunisia, and - best of all - two distinguished folk-scene veterans. Leon Rosselson is now in his mid-70s, but still in fiery and witty form with Benefits and Looters, while Peggy Seeger reworks a swinging song from the 1930s with a rousing call of "Let's go to St Paul's and occupy!".Robin Denselow
6. Leon Rosselson, Reem Kelani & Janet Russell. "The Last Chance: 8 Songs from Israel / Palestine", Songlines Jan / Feb 2011
A long-term commitment from Leon
On this release, Rosselson seems resigned, however defiantly, to the downward spiral of the conflict. But that does not stop him from bearing witness to the inhumanity of what occurs. In such pessimistic times, perhaps the most consoling of all the tracks is Kelani's mournful qasidah (an Arabic singing tradition) to Jaffa. In its acknowledgement of pain and acceptance that we do not always find justice personally, it reveals how music can be a balm to the soul. Nathaniel Handy
5. Leon Rosselson with Reem Kelani & Janet Russell - "The Last Chance" (Fuse Records), Net Rhythms Nov 2010
The magnum-opus that is the heartfelt part-spoken title track remains the primary focus, with Leon's earlier narrative The Song Of Martin Fontasch forming an ideal starter to the disc and My Father's Jewish World the perfect introduction. Leon himself performs all but two of the disc's items; these append to the aforementioned classic Rosselsongs a pair of newly recorded offerings - the sardonic, jaunty Loyal Soldiers ("included in the interests of balance") and the predictive The Third Intifada - together with the passionate They Said… (taken from Leon's 2004 Turning Silence Into Song collection).
Janet Russell's unflinchingly superb 2005 recording of The Song Of The Olive Tree just had to be included, while Reem Kelani's intense composition Yafa! (Jaffa!) - powerfully sung by its writer in the time-honoured Arabic singing tradition of qasidah (an ornamental vocal improvisation, here rendered with a free-flowing, responsive taqasim-style piano accompaniment by Zoë Rahman) quite threatens to upstage Leon's own works in its visceral impact here (I must hasten to add, that doesn't happen!). The Last Chance may not be everybody's cup of tea, but this is intellectually and morally stimulating fare and pretty much essential. David Kidman
4. Leon Rosselson with Reem Kelani and Janet Russell "The Last Chance", July 2010
Getting the new album by Leon Rosselson is like a time travel for me. When I was a kid, my father got two cassettes with music from Leon Rosselson and Roy Bailey and after hearing the music many times my father took his guitar and started to play them himself. So some of Rosselson's songs are part of my life for over thirty years I think. My all time favorite is the record Love, loneliness, laundry, a record that I still love listening to. Although my father forced me to listen to all his albums from the past twenty years and some I did like, I find this new album one of the most impressive collection of songs in Rosselson's entire oeuvre. Eight songs, six by Rosselson, one beautiful Song of the olive tree by Janet Russell and the song Yafa by Reem Kelani taken from her beautiful album Sprinting Gazelle. They sing songs about Israel and Palestine and tell about their feelings in an intense, sometimes emotional and personal way. For many people this is a controversial theme but I think it's so important to keep standing up and share our feelings, our doubts, our thoughts and hope. These three artists did that in a wonderful way and hopefully they encourage people to keep the dialogue alive.Eelco Schilder
3. Leon Rosselson, Reem Kelani and Janet Russell: "The Last Chance" (Fuse Records), April 2010
Before The Last Chance, an anthology of eight songs about Israel and Palestine" on themes of Shoah and Nakbah - the 'Holocaust' and 'Catastrophe' of Jew and Palestinian - I regret to say that the Palestinian singer, musician and broadcaster, Reem Kelani's music had passed me by. As had her name. It also appears in some places as Riim Yusuf Kilani.
Yafa! ('Jaffa!' as in the ancient port) is her setting of words by the poet Mahmoud Salim al-Hout (1917-1998). It is a threnody for a bygone time in the city of the title, in a place that seems as if it was a paradise in comparison with the Hell it is now.
Zoe Rahman's piano accompaniment is languid and brooding. The pairing of voice and piano is powerful stuff. The track originally appeared on Reem Kelani's Sprinting Gazelle - Palestinian Songs from the Motherland and the Diaspora. From The Last Chance (Fuse Records CFCD 008, 2010). Kent Hunt
World Music (Ken Hunt & Petr Doruzka) Giant Donut Discs
2. Leon Rosselson with Reem Kelani & Janet Russell - "The Last Chance" (Fuse Records), Net Rhythms Nov 2010
The magnum-opus that is the heartfelt part-spoken title track remains the primary focus, with Leon's earlier narrative The Song Of Martin Fontasch forming an ideal starter to the disc and My Father's Jewish World the perfect introduction. Leon himself performs all but two of the disc's items; these append to the aforementioned classic Rosselsongs a pair of newly recorded offerings - the sardonic, jaunty Loyal Soldiers ("included in the interests of balance") and the predictive The Third Intifada - together with the passionate They Said… (taken from Leon's 2004 Turning Silence Into Song collection).
Janet Russell's unflinchingly superb 2005 recording of The Song Of The Olive Tree just had to be included, while Reem Kelani's intense composition Yafa! (Jaffa!) - powerfully sung by its writer in the time-honoured Arabic singing tradition of qasidah (an ornamental vocal improvisation, here rendered with a free-flowing, responsive taqasim-style piano accompaniment by Zoë Rahman) quite threatens to upstage Leon's own works in its visceral impact here (I must hasten to add, that doesn't happen!). The Last Chance may not be everybody's cup of tea, but this is intellectually and morally stimulating fare and pretty much essential. David Kidman
1. Garth Hewitt, Martyn Joseph, Reem Kelani - Gaza, Palestine, July 2009
Six track charity EP of folk ballads in aid of a Gazan hospital. An extended EP of songs for and about Bethlehem, in Garth’s acoustic-roots style. These songs, inspired by Garth’s travels and interviews with those living in this ‘little town’, together raise awareness and concern for what’s happening behind the wall. It follows the launch of Garth's book, Bethlehem Speaks: Voices From The Little Town Cry Out in August.
Following the huge interest in Garth’s song, They’ve Cancelled Christmas In Bethlehem (The Wall Must Fall) last year, this EP is a prayer for the people of Bethlehem who are suffering a devastating impact from the separation wall that now surrounds them. The song received an extraordinary 36,000 hits on internet video site YouTube.
*** These six songs are powerful folk ballads telling the stories of the 'Broken Heart of Gaza' and the tragic loss of multiple lives. It contrasts this Hell on earth with an accusation as to why the world is strangely silent accompanied with a prayer for the Prince of Peace to bring healing. These are anti-war songs in the vein of 1960's Vietnam protests typical of Neil Young; an acoustic guitar and a mouth organ at home in a peace camp. This is Garth Hewitt's follow up to his song "They've Cancelled Christmas in Bethlehem (The Wall Must Fall)" which portrays Angels singing behind the wall where the Palestinians are contained. Welsh troubadour Martin Joseph contributes a heartbreaking track about the death of a family of five sisters killed in a moment by a rocket while Reem Kelani contributes an Arabic inspired track that can transport a listener to the melancholy of a Gazan funeral or a life in continual suffering that fuels the ongoing hate. As a charity record in aid of a Gazan hospital, this powerful EP deserves wide circulation. Simon Eden
Music & Life: Cross Rhythms