Music / vocal
Review: Tryani Collective, Canteen
Given the ever-growing number and diversity of choirs across Bristol it was perhaps inevitable that something new and original in the way of vocal music would pop up in the city sometime. That said, big respect is due to Dan Tryani for coming up with the original musical concept behind his Collective – a seven piece all-singing, some-drumming ensemble of mostly familiar (and well-respected) faces.
Tryani Collective: Stevie Toddler, Harriet Riley, Heather Johnson, Suzi McGregor. (pic: Tony Benjamin)
Starting late after protracted sound checking Dan broke the ice with an ambitious (and successful) bit of audience participation before piling into the first number. It was torrential from the first, driven by the rhythmic repitition of the word ‘Animalistic’, punctuated by slamming sambista drumming outbursts from Harriet Riley and Jon Clark. While Dan conducted, all seven voices played their part in various permutations – sometimes tight contrapuntal arrangements, sometimes punchy Georgian-style open throat unisons, all woven with rapid-fire gabbling in an indefinable language. It was exuberance personified.
Tryani Collective: Dan Tryani (pic: Tony Benjamin)
Given the very basic musical resources of voice, drums, hand clapping and occasional droning synth monotones their repertoire had immense variation of sound both between and within the songs. The use of language was important: slightly arcane words and phrases like cumulo nimbus, catastrophising and entice a defilement gave both rhythmic patterns and an atmosphere. Occasionally clear lyrics emerged, such as the defiant unison of “I’m rejected/Reject/I’m rejected/I reject” with it’s echoes of Samuel Becket. That was part of the Cumulo Nimbus song which also featured a five part vocal canon and a big drop, dance music style, that got the increasingly packed Canteen crowd moving.
is needed now More than ever
Tryani Collective: Stevie Toddler, Harriet Riley, Heather Johnson, Suzi McGregor. (pic: Tony Benjamin)
Later numbers included Hierarchy with its precision drum interlude and percussive vocals over a sinuous undertow and Even This Will Change which had a traditional folk timbre, albeit over insistently Motorik drumming. The collective were perfectly disciplined, giving a crisp tightness to the often complex multi-part music and what was most impressive was how the groove of what might have been a contemporary chamber performance had a downtown crowd on its feet, dancing enthusiastically. It was a definite thing of itself, somehow making connections with samba, Georgian choral music, English folk and contemporary composers like David Lang or Caroline Shaw. Possibly the most direct parallel would be the much-lamented Zairian vocal group Zap Mama, WOMAD stars of the early 90s. They too were an energetic collective who seemed to be having as much fun performing as the audience had out front.
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