Search - Nord-Sud :: Nord-Sud, Fragments de Routes

French musicians Jean Pierre Yvert and Jaques Mayoud have crossed borders, from Indonesia to Burkina Faso and on into Norway, to create an album that is pretty much what defines world music. It is timeless and boundary-defiant as it roams from Swedish gangars and Sundanese folk on sanza (thumb piano), plays it straight with Norwegian fiddle "hallings," and cross-pollinates a folk song from Burkina Faso with an old French folk song. It could have been one of those murky "world fusions" that so many people are trying to pass off these days. Instead, by keeping it basic (duets and trios, mostly), by improvising around a solid traditional style or tune, and by using just a few instruments (sanzas, fiddles, a touch of accordion or percussion, and harmonic flutes), these artists have created an interesting, breezy, cross-cultural romp. --Louis Gibson