This album is subtitled “Avant-garde Armenian folk music,” which is about as promising a subtitle as has come out on a CD yet this year. And while “avant-garde” doesn’t seem to mean much more than “rock-influenced” in this case, the combination of sturdy beats, keening violin, and lyrics that deal equally dispassionately with topics like gardening, dogs, and earthquakes certainly sounds like something new. Originally issued in 1999 in a very limited pressing on the band’s own Bambir label, Quake finds this folk-rock band from the town of Gyumri exploring terrain that feels somewhat similar in spirit to that of Fairport Convention, Malicorne and Oysterband, though with less optimism. The traditional “Bari Louso (Good Morning)/Goutani Yerkuh (Song of the Plow” lopes along sadly in triple meter, while guitarist Gagik Barseghyan and flutist Gourgen Hakopjanian sing in doleful harmony about having to work for no money; Barseghyan’s own “Dzghritner (Crickets)” is written in memory of his late mother; the four-part song suite that ends the album is titled “Yerkrasharzh (Earthquake)” and commemorates the victims of the earthquake that devastated Armenia in 1988. The twin instrumentals, “Komitas 1″ and “Komitas 2″ are more upbeat, and are entrancingly lovely. Highly recommended. – Rick Anderson
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