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Review: Ushti, Jam Jar – ‘A riotous celebration of life, laughter and activism’
“Dance as if no one is watching you.” That seemed to be the memo received by the soldout crowd at the Jam Jar for the launch of Ushti’s new album, Flora, Fauna, Fight & Feast.
The audience erupted as the seven-part band took to the stage for the much-anticipated launch. They opened with Pas de Passeport, a rollicking opener that set the tone for what was to come in a tight, uninterrupted 80-minute set.
The reposeful string intro was jolted to life by a burst of beatboxing from Jack Salt and the soaring violin cadences of Ursula Billington.
is needed now More than ever
The foot-tapping melody, laced with the unmistakable flair of klezmer and burnished with the vocals of Sam Ford, had the audience moving almost instantly.
But, like much of their work, Pas de Passeport and the rest of Flora, Fauna, Fight & Feast, goes far beyond sheer fun and frivolity. True to their creative DNA, Ushti delve into visceral and often controversial themes such as migration, animal rights, climate, the planet and social inequality.
Ursula Billington executing a cadence with dazzling virtuosity
Pas de Passeport is a reflection on how easily one’s humanity can be diminished by the accident of birth and, conversely, how music, a language long carried by migrants, reaffirms a shared, borderless humanity.
Ushti – formerly Ushti Baba – need little introduction as one of the leading lights of the modern folk scene, with raucous sets played at Glastonbury Festival and Shambala. Yet it’s at one’s peril to try to fit them into any genre. Their sound is a cornucopia of delights – a fusion of European folk, Jewish klezmer, hip hop, pop and Mexican mariachi, all woven into something unmistakably their own.
The set segued into an energetic rendition of Rootless, with Gerry Barnett swapping cello for the darbuka, a Middle Eastern hand drum, played with infectious vigour and affirmation.
They also revisited some of their evergreen hits, including Baba Yaga, and with little encouragement the audience drowned in a Dionysian ecstasy: arms linked, beer spilling, the floor sticky, and even some impromptu crowd surfing. Jassy Seagull’s piercing vocals, paired with her accordion, cut through the chaos like a shaft of light.
Sam Ford effortlessly shredding a passage
The Maiden was a haunting melody that began with a quiet lamentation, executed to a tee by Billington, before blossoming into an anthem.
The collective sound of the seven-piece band was as clean as a freshly minted coin, a kind of precision without pretence, brilliance beyond mere virtuoso pyrotechnics. It all looked ridiculously effortless out there. Yet every phrase, every subtle rallentando, is the product of years spent playing and breathing together as an ensemble.
The great conductor Zubin Mehta once said “you must conduct the rallentando” although it appears like fairy dust. But fairy dust, of course, is the result of hard graft. And Ushti has done more than its fair share of graft to achieve that kind of dazzling virtuosity, the sort that can turn a crowd gathered at St Jude into a sweaty club in Ibiza, as if flipping a switch.
Hauke Moxon-Riedlin provided the sonic canvas with a solid, grounding bass line, while Simon Alexander on trumpet seemed to have his own fan club — as the reviewer was gently informed by a friend standing nearby: “That’s Simon.”
The soldout crowd at the Jam Jar gave a resounding response to Ushti’s new album
Fight was an unambiguous battle cry — a call to stand up for everything one holds dear. The refrain, “The Devil wants to eat the world,” was sung in unison by the crowd as if it were an old favourite.
Other delights such as Foel Scawen and Sovay were included, before the band bookended the night with the aptly titled Hope. The rapturous applause that followed demanded not one but two encores.
If Ushti had come to test the waters for their new album’s reception, they needn’t have worried.
With little encouragement, the audience drowned in a Dionysian ecstasy
Flora, Fauna, Fight & Feast can be purchased at www.ushti-baba.bandcamp.com/album/flora-fauna-fight-feast
All photos: Inshot Media
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