Old Tunes, Dusted Down (Arc Music, 2014)
The Arc Music release Old Tunes, Dusted Down by MANdolinMan is quaintly old world and oddly appealing. I’m being completely sincere about that. It’s a given that I’m going to be dazzled by the expert musicianship and the sound quality of an Arc release but who knew I could be drawn up short by a CD’s worth of traditional Flemish folk tunes on mandolin, mandola and mandocello.
I guess Germany’s Eelco Schilder from Folkworld.de is correct in calling Old Tunes, Dusted Down a “great album for both the mandolin freaks and those who love traditional music from Flanders.” While there may be a fair amount of mandolin freaks in the readership, I think I might be a little hard pressed to find the man-on-the-street traditional Flanders music buff. That should in no way take away from the delightful quality of Old Tunes, Dusted Down or the sheer musical prowess of Dirk Naessens, Maarten Decombel, Andries Boone or Peter-Jan Daems, the members of MANdolinMan.
Following up on their 2013 release Plays Bossa Nova, MANdolinMan’s latest return to the studio marks the crafting a series of sleekly sweet, tightly worked folk tunes that started as a 70th birthday surprise recording and concert for MANdolinMan founder Andries Boone’s father Hubert Boone, who had collected hundreds of Flemish traditional tunes during his lifetime.
While the mandolin is not a standard folk instrument in Flanders, these folk tunes possess an old world familiarity but revel in a modern freshness on Old Tunes, Dusted Down. Transforming these folk tunes by way of mandolin, mandola and mandocello, MANdolinMAn’s extraordinary skilled playing takes this unconventional repertoire to new heights with the vivacity of often found in Northumbrian or Appalachian folk.
Mandolin freaks get goodies like opening track “Polka Elewijt,” “Waltz Eppegem” and sharply worked “Contredanse Ghent.” “Mazurka Hofstade” is delicate loveliness while “Polka Hofstade” takes listeners on a wild ride.
Without an ounce of saccharine, Old Tunes, Dusted Down is a lush folk listen into the traditions from Brussels to Leuven. It’s hard to resist the charm of “Mazurka Winksele” or the liveliness of “Polka Hever.” With tracks like “Suite of Contredanses ‘La Rosalie’ & ‘La Charle Lorraine’” it’s easy to see how one might very well become a mandolin freak.
Buy Old Tunes, Dusted Down in North America
Buy Old Tunes, Dusted Down in Europe
Author: TJ Nelson
TJ Nelson is a regular CD reviewer and editor at World Music Central. She is also a fiction writer. Check out her latest book, Chasing Athena’s Shadow.
Set in Pineboro, North Carolina, Chasing Athena’s Shadow follows the adventures of Grace, an adult literacy teacher, as she seeks to solve a long forgotten family mystery. Her charmingly dysfunctional family is of little help in her quest. Along with her best friends, an attractive Mexican teacher and an amiable gay chef, Grace must find the one fading memory that holds the key to why Grace’s great-grandmother, Athena, shot her husband on the courthouse steps in 1931.
Traversing the line between the Old South and New South, Grace will have to dig into the past to uncover Athena’s true crime.
