# Music by Genre > Jazz/Blues Variants, Bossa, Choro, Klezmer >  Kepa Junkera + Melonious Quartet

## Mandopolis

The album is to be released very soon...

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## Paul Kotapish

Thanks for posting that.

Great sound! I love the combo of the mandolin and the accordion, and these are wonderful musicians. The French Melonious Quartet is one of the more adventurous mandolin ensembles out there, and I love (lead mandolinist) Patrick Vaillant's work with the Italian accordionist Ricardo Tesi.

Basque accordionist Kepa Junkera is always a mind blower. I've never heard him play with mandolins before--usually with more of a folk-rock band including guitar, electric bass, and percussion--but the mando quartet is a great fit.

I look forward to hearing the whole CD.

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## brunello97

Very very nice.  Thank you for the video link.  This is brilliant music. Please let us know when the new cd is available.

Mick

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## Mandopolis

Well, I'm now in Bilbao and I have a copy next to me  :Grin: 



Official presentation is tomorrow in the Guggenheim Museum, and the CD is released in the meantime. 

14 tracks, all acoustics, Kepa Junkera and Melonious Quartet, no other instrument.


Regards,



Céline

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## Mandopolis



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## brunello97

You are a tease, Celine.  Will this be available to those of us in the New World?  I like getting mail from France.

Mick

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## Paul Kotapish

It's not available yet, but I suspect stateside enthusiasts will be able to purchase it here:

http://www.cdroots.com/cgi/searchcds.cgi?s=melonious

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## Paul Hostetter

The video sounds great, can't wait for the album. I've been a bit underwhelmed by some of Vaillant's other recent projects, such as Bastian Contrari and Chin Na Na Poun.

But with this video, finally people can see what I've been trying to explain for some years about a mandolin quartet with a mandocello that is actually big enough to deliver the cello voice. The Gibson mandocello sounds more like a mandola, and the Gibson mandola sounds more like a slightly larger mandolin. And that's the American model that's usually copied. I like this Sakellerides version much better.

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## Mandopolis

> The video sounds great, can't wait for the album. I've been a bit underwhelmed by some of Vaillant's other recent projects, such as Bastian Contrari and Chin Na Na Poun.
> 
> But with this video, finally people can see what I've been trying to explain for some years about a mandolin quartet with a mandocello that is actually big enough to deliver the cello voice. The Gibson mandocello sounds more like a mandola, and the Gibson mandola sounds more like a slightly larger mandolin. And that's the American model that's usually copied. I like this Sakellerides version much better.


We do agree about the mandocello... We are always surprised that others are so small !

Some videos of the MQ without Kepa on my space (http://www.myspace.com/meloniousquartet) or on Mandopolis website.

Patrick has always various projects on... they are all so different... So I understand that people can be surprised by the changes from one to another.

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## Mandopolis

I've seen the CD is available from fnac.es and elkar.com...

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## mrmando

Is the mandola in this group an octave mandola or tenor mandola?

Maybe Sakellarides should try his hand at a mandobass...

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## brunello97

> I've seen the CD is available from fnac.es and elkar.com...


Great site, the elkar.com.  At least it is in Spanish, I mean Castilian. 

Uh, any Basque/Euskara speakers here at the MC?

Mick

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## Paul Kotapish

> Great site, the elkar.com.  At least it is in Spanish, I mean Castilian. Uh, any Basque/Euskara speakers here at the MC?
> Mick


There is an English-language version of the Elkar Bookstore site here.

They will ship to the U.S., but the prices and shipping are a tad steep. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed and hope for a U.S. distributor that can offer a better deal.

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## brunello97

Thanks, Paul, but this one seems to comes up mostly en Espanol on my browser, but I read and speak Spanish fairly well--I was just a bit pleasantly surprised to see the Basque site and wondered if we had any representation here.  I might spring for the extra shipping just to get the postage marks.  I haven't been up that way since a raucous trip in for San Fermin oogles of years ago.  I've been squeezing at the fisarmonica over the last few years and this disc seemed like an inspirational god-send.

Mick

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## Mandopolis

> Is the mandola in this group an octave mandola or tenor mandola?
> 
> Maybe Sakellarides should try his hand at a mandobass...


This one is the alto.
Melonious is playing quite regular quartet on this record... mandolin / mandolin / alto mandola / mandocello...

No oud, no electric mandolin, no slide, no guimbri, no saz, no banjo, no baglama, no tenor mandola, no distortion  :Wink:

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## Paul Hostetter

"Alto mandola" is better known in the US simply as a mandola, tuned CGDA.

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## mrmando

And in the UK it's known as tenor mandola, further confusing the issue. Makes sense that it's called alto mandola in France, "alto" being the French word for viola.

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## Paul Hostetter

I've always heard the viola referred to in France as "violon alto" - alto violin. It is indeed quite confusing, and doubly confounds the term "alto mandola" when logic would call it a "mandoline alto." I think of the octave mandolin being called a mandole in France, but even that term is used in conflicting ways. Let's call the whole thing off!

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## Dagger Gordon

I see Thomas Bienabe does not play the same mandolin he did on Au Sud de la Mandoline, but has now got a reddish coloured one with f-holes.  It seems to also be by Sakellarides.

PS I've ordered the Kepa CD from Ekbar.  It's apparently been despatched, so that's something to look forward to.

Dagger

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## Dagger Gordon

Good news, new CD has arrived!

Don't have time to listen much just now, but the first track is beautifully performed and recorded.  Nice sleeve photos as well.

Ekbar's service seems very good.  CD arrived no problem, well wrapped.

Wow, track two is tremendous!  I'd better get out of here otherwise I'm not going to get any work done.

22.90 Euros very well spent, I'd say.  (16.50 for CD,  6.40 for shipping).

I'm really looking forward to spending time with this.

Dagger

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## brunello97

Dagger, I second the positive feedback viz Ekbar.  Only 7.50e to the "Estatu Batuak".  I will never understand Old World shipping prices or practice.  

I have a hunch this will tip me over to getting a button accordion.  I've been wanting to get my head (and fingers) around one of those for awhile.

Mick

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## Paul Hostetter

Think of joining various buttonbox discussion groups and all the more work you won't get done thereby!

Jeez, I guess I have to order this online from Europe? I thought Barack was going to remedy this sort of thing.

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## brunello97

> Think of joining various buttonbox discussion groups and all the more work you won't get done thereby!


Busted.....But since it was my wife who lured me over to the squeezy side at least she won't be joining the chorus.  Paul, I turn back into a pumpkin in September so I'm going to max the music this summer.

Mick

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## Mandopolis

> I see Thomas Bienabe does not play the same mandolin he did on Au Sud de la Mandoline, but has now got a reddish coloured one with f-holes.  It seems to also be by Sakellarides.
> 
> PS I've ordered the Kepa CD from Ekbar.  It's apparently been despatched, so that's something to look forward to.
> 
> Dagger



Yes it is Sakellarides's job... The previous one was reddish too, but I think that on the picture in "Au Sud", there is only one mandolin on the photo...
And the mandocello has changed too...

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## brunello97

Thoughtful 'interview' with PV here:

http://www.mandozine.com/resources/CGOW/vaillant.php

I like the crack about a 'greater Provence'...... but I assumed that would include the Texas Hill Country.

Mick

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## Dagger Gordon

Yes, that's quite an old interview but well worth reading.  He really does have a very interesting perspective.

In the last few years I have been more and more drawn to musicians who often describe their music as Mediterranean, and who are interested in stuff from the Eastern Mediterranean.
Among these I would include Efren Lopez (formerly with wonderful Spanish band L'Ham de Foc), Stelios Petrakis from Crete (wonderful album called Orion) and the French guitar/oud/bouzouki player Titi Robin.  There are also a family of French/Iranian percussionists called the Chemiranis who turn up on all sorts of interesting things who are based in Marseille.

The Kepa/ Melonious CD is excellent.  So far as I can tell (no English notes) all the melodies are written by Kepa and have been previously been recorded on his various albums.  All the arrangements are by Patrick Vaillant.
It is very well put together.  It seems to be quite a big production.  A lot of people were involved in production, coordination, etc.  Not a lot of detail on each track, but some very nice photos.  

It seems to have been a very successful partnership.

Celine,  I've seen Kepa before at the Celtic Connections Festival on Glasgow, Scotland.  Ask his management about maybe getting a couple of gigs there.  The artistic director is Donald Shaw of the group Capercaillie, who I know quite well.

Dagger

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