I'll readily admit that while driving into Central London on a cold, wet evening to view a cabaret event, I often wonder if the rigours of the journey are going to be compensated for by the quality of the impending performance. In retrospect, I'd cheerfully have made the trip to Barb Jungr's opening night at Larry' Room, Pizza on the Park with the four horsemen of the apocalypse pressing hard on my back bumper. This was an artistic tour de force; an evening of such ravishing musical pleasure that I'd rate it as among the most satisfying of any I've spent at the venue over the last decade.
Jungr's chosen métier is the classic French chanson; those elegant compositions that act as a medium for social comment, politics and the vagaries of life and most especially, love. All too often the translation of their lyrics into English leaves much to be desired, but she has selected adaptations by Des de Moor and Robb Johnson which beautifully encapsulate the spirit of the original compositions. With pianist Simon Wallace, Julie Walkington's rock-solid bass, and Kim Burton's exquisitely delicate accordion accompaniment behind her, Barb's strong yet controlled voice deftly wove its magic over a rapt audience. Jacques Brel's "Ne me quitte pas" and "La chanson des vieux amants", along with Léo Ferré's "Quartier Latin", were especially pleasing interpretations, but the highlight of her two sets came with Johnson's evocative and imaginative hymn to prostitution "Sunday Morning St. Denis", which fairly fizzed with passion. It's no surprise that her recent album for Linn Records "The Space in Between" (AKD129), and from which much of her repertoire was selected, should have been chosen by the Sunday Times as one of the outstanding CD's of 2000. If you haven't yet added it to your collection, and particularly if you missed her week-long season in Knightsbridge, get it now!
Taken from "Boz" magazine - May 2001 - Text by Keith Howell |
