A Hawk and a Hacksaw @ 32 Old Bailey London 4-12-07 (live review)
A Hawk and a Hacksaw are Jeremy Barnes (accordion, percussion) and Heather Trost (violin). Albuquerque’s music scene has produced the ridiculously talented and rightly lauded Beirut, who along with AHAAH (and Gogol Bodello amongst others) has helped bring eastern European music to the forefront of the alternative scene. It comes as no surprise that Jeremy and Heather have worked closely with Zach Condon (Beirut) and Jeremy has also played with notable Albuquerque exports, Neutral Milk hotel.
32, Old Bailey is a Romanian Restaurant around the corner and down some stairs from St. Paul’s cathedral - a definite diamond in the bland milieu of city bars of central London. The restaurant itself is exactly how you’d expect it to be - one large room for restaurant, bar and band - tiled floors, ornate alcoves and Romanian stew (tochitura) on the menu... As the room filled up to almost bursting, Aidan of The Forty Thieves warmed up the crowd on the decks with a set of gypsy folk and Balkan brass – hooray for Markovic and Bregovic!
If the crowd were expecting the lilting, nostalgic charm of Beirut, they were mistaken. More loyal to traditional Balkan music and certainly far less lyrical than Beirut, their show is largely instrumental punctuated with occasional shouts. That they were accompanied by a deft Romanian cimbalom player (a rare treasure over here, and whose name I regrettably forgot) indicates their dedication to authenticity, and their appearance at the restuarant is testament to the respect they have won from their Eastern European peers. ***N.B. a full sized cimbalom is roughly like an open topped baby grand but the strings are stroked and tapped with sticks.
No support, no stage and no OTT lighting, the gig was stripped back to the bare music. A violinist myself, I was in awe of Heather, whose technical brilliance was simply stunning. That's not to undermine Jeremy, who simultaneously played accordion and percussion, driving the music through its peaks and troughs. They toyed with mimicry and harmony, reacting to each other and changing tempo with instinctive precision.
Gradually becoming more and more frantic, the band wove in and out through the pulsating crowds bringing the carnival to St Paul’s. It's that familial feel (restaurant, no stage, audience participation ) that's so appealing about AHAAH - far away from the bizarre 'pretentious' label they seem to have picked up from some critics. It's complex, intruiging, accessible and has your feet dancing and heart racing. Escapism at it's finest - if only more bands were as adventurous and talented as A Hawk and a Hacksaw.
By Tamsin McLarty
www.myspace.com/ahawkandahacksaw
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32, Old Bailey is a Romanian Restaurant around the corner and down some stairs from St. Paul’s cathedral - a definite diamond in the bland milieu of city bars of central London. The restaurant itself is exactly how you’d expect it to be - one large room for restaurant, bar and band - tiled floors, ornate alcoves and Romanian stew (tochitura) on the menu... As the room filled up to almost bursting, Aidan of The Forty Thieves warmed up the crowd on the decks with a set of gypsy folk and Balkan brass – hooray for Markovic and Bregovic!
If the crowd were expecting the lilting, nostalgic charm of Beirut, they were mistaken. More loyal to traditional Balkan music and certainly far less lyrical than Beirut, their show is largely instrumental punctuated with occasional shouts. That they were accompanied by a deft Romanian cimbalom player (a rare treasure over here, and whose name I regrettably forgot) indicates their dedication to authenticity, and their appearance at the restuarant is testament to the respect they have won from their Eastern European peers. ***N.B. a full sized cimbalom is roughly like an open topped baby grand but the strings are stroked and tapped with sticks.
No support, no stage and no OTT lighting, the gig was stripped back to the bare music. A violinist myself, I was in awe of Heather, whose technical brilliance was simply stunning. That's not to undermine Jeremy, who simultaneously played accordion and percussion, driving the music through its peaks and troughs. They toyed with mimicry and harmony, reacting to each other and changing tempo with instinctive precision.
Gradually becoming more and more frantic, the band wove in and out through the pulsating crowds bringing the carnival to St Paul’s. It's that familial feel (restaurant, no stage, audience participation ) that's so appealing about AHAAH - far away from the bizarre 'pretentious' label they seem to have picked up from some critics. It's complex, intruiging, accessible and has your feet dancing and heart racing. Escapism at it's finest - if only more bands were as adventurous and talented as A Hawk and a Hacksaw.
By Tamsin McLarty
www.myspace.com/ahawkandahacksaw
Discuss this with the noize community - Sign in or Sign up! (click here)
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