Chronique Le Cri de L'Ormeau Juin 2012 

 Sylvain Barou
C’est à un voyage riche de sons et rythmes multiples que nous convie le premier album solo du flûtiste Sylvain Barou, jusque là essentiellement sideman très recherché sur la planète trad. Bretagne, Asturies, Irlande et Ecosse bien sûr, mais l’interceltisme ne constitue pas la seule porte de cet enregistrement. La caravane passe par les Balkans pour se rendre en Orient, terminus en Afghanistan. Et avec ça, un générique à faire pâlir est venu donner le coup de main au maître d’œuvre…. Dans chacun des territoires qu’il explore, ses accompagnateurs lui tissent un beau tapis rythmique et harmonique sur lequel il n’a plus qu’à poser ses notes. Son gros son de flûte dégage des harmoniques puissantes, il joue volontiers du chromatisme, chose plutôt rare dans les musiques populaires et cela donne une personnalité musicale qui en fait l’égal d’un Jean-Michel Veillon, référence pionnière de la flûte en Bretagne. Il va sans dire que Sylvain Barou fait preuve d’une maturité qui l’autorise à se lancer dans des envolées hors partitions, spectaculaires en diable mais qui ne sacrifient rien à la virtuosité gratuite. Au total, un flûtiste accompli qui a su attendre pour ce premier opus, bien lui en a pris ! (Karr-Nij - juin 2012) - www.albumtrad.com


Le Telegramme - 10 Mai 2012 

 Grandiose de virtuosité et de couleurs musicales, l'album éponyme du surdoué Sylvain Barou est en tous points sublime. Le flûtiste ayant mis à son générique instrumental hyper créatif, le gotha de nos meilleures pointures pour douze titres d'inspiration celtique, mais également afghane avec l'étonnant morceau «Shah Koko Jaan».

THE JOURNAL OF MUSIC- Ireland 

 Guidewires flautist, Sylvain Barou, has a new album, his first solo one, coming out later this month. Self-titled, it features a long list of guest musicians, some traditional Irish, some Breton and some from further afield; namely, Dónal Lunny, Jacques Pellen, Ronan Pellen, Julien Stevenin, Keyvan Chemirani, Prabhu Edouard, Gilles Le Bigot, Youenn Le Bihan, John Doyle, Liz Carroll, Ed Boyd, Stelios Petrakis, Hamid Reza Khabbazi, Florian Baron, Rubén Bada, Alain Genty, Pádraig Rynne, and Méabh O’Hare.

Based in Rennes in Brittany, Barou has spent a good bit of time in Ireland, and describes this album as being ‘like a log book of the work of the last ten years’, including Breton, Irish, Indian, Eastern European, Greek and Middle Eastern elements. With all the variety of influences, Barou explains that he didn’t want the album to ‘feel like you are changing CDs on every track’, and so paid particular attention to ‘keeping some homogeneity to the sound’.

About half of the tracks are traditional (including a good few Irish tunes, such as the jigs ‘Grier’s’ and ‘Bold Doherty’, and the reels the ‘Humours of Carrigaholt’ and the ‘Squares Of Crossmaglen’), mostly from old tapes and recordings Barou has been collecting over the years, but also some he has learned along the way from friends. The more exotic material includes a famous 7/8 traditional Afghan song, ‘Shah Koko Jaan’, adapted as a tune, and some Greek and Bulgarian pieces. The rest are compositions by Barou and by friends like Ronan Pellen, the cittern player, who happens to be a neighbour, and Keyvan Chemirani (the French-Iranian percussionist).

Lunny, who has been playing with Barou and Padraig Rynne in a trio of late, has this to say of Barou: ‘I think of him as a mountaineer. Not only is he avidly interested in music from every corner of the world, but he also seeks out challenges; peaks of musical achievement which can normally only be accessed by musicians who have been born into their particular culture… Reaching these heights demands a degree of musicality one encounters only occasionally.’

Barou himself shared some interesting thoughts on the traditional music scene in Ireland with The Journal of Music:

‘From the external view that I have here, it would seem that Ireland is more conservative than Scotland, for example. We see many examples of groundbreaking and extremely innovative traditional music coming from there lately, and the same goes for the new Breton music scene. But on the other hand, I heard some absolutely gorgeous ‘pure drop’ trad music played by really young Irish musicians recently which really impressed me, and which is fantastic too.

I think the music we are going to hear from Ireland in the coming years is going to be fascinating. Musicians and also the audiences are much more open-minded now than they used to be, even ten years ago. I feel that Irish musicians are protecting their tradition very well while also bringing it to new places thanks to some interesting crossover work that we can see happening more often.

I just hope that the public will continue to support Irish music. I was a bit shocked to realise that it’s very hard even for some of the most famous Irish acts to sell out a venue. People don’t go out to gigs as much as they used to. It’s sad. Trad music needs to be supported more, by the population and by the policy makers.’

PAUL O'CONNOR - the Journal Of Music

CHRONIQUE DE L'ALBUM/CD REVIEW - RKB 

 SYLVAIN BAROU: SYLVAIN BAROU 1er album ****
Exceptionnel ! Virtuose et sensible, l'horizon de ce surdoué de la flute traversière en bois n'a pas de limites. Bretonne, celtique, orientale, sa musique est avant tout respectueuse des traditions. Son exigence instrumentale est celle des plus grands, elle est faite d'une véritable et profonde connaissance et de capacité à l'échange. On ne saurait rêver de plus belles participations. La palette de musiciens invités en atteste. Quelquefois démonstratif, Sylvain Barou nous fait partager son monde musical sans frontières : Avec cet album Sylvain BAROU confirme sa place naturelle parmi les Instrumentistes majeurs du monde celtique et de la world music Européenne.
Gaby Kerdoncuff-RKB

ITALIAN CD REVIEW by BLOGFOOLK 

 Sylvain Barou – Sylvain Barou (Aremorica Records/Albumtrad)
Noto per essere uno dei componenti dei Guidewires nonché di un nuovo trio insieme a due leggende della musica tradizionale irlandese come Donal Lunny e Padraig Rynne, Sylvain Barou è senza dubbio uno dei più talentuosi flautisti bretoni della nuova generazione. Sebbene abbia solo trentadue anni, il suo curriculum presenta una lunghissima lista di collaborazioni prestigiose tanto in studio con artisti come Denez Prigent, Dan Ar Braz, Soig Siberil, Gilles Le Bigot, Liz Carroll, Yvan Cassar, Alain Genty, Erik Marchand, Keyvan Chemirani, e Prabhu Edouard quanto
sul palco con Celtic Procession, Jean-Charles Guichen, David Pasquet. A questo va aggiunto anche il fatto che il suo eclettismo e il suo percorso di ricerca lo hanno condotto negli anni ha superare i confini della musica bretone e celtica, per studiare da vicino anche sonorità provenienti da altre zone del mondo come l’India, la Turchia, la Grecia, l’Iran e la tradizione sufi. Non è un caso dunque che oltre al suo strumento di elezione il flauto, Barou suoni con disinvoltura anche le uilleann pipes, la cornamusa Kozh, il flauto bansuri, e il duduk. Recentissimo è il suo disco di debutto omonimo, registrato in un lungo periodo di tempo che va dal 2005 al 2011 approfittando dei pochi momenti liberi che caratterizzano la sua vita. Interamente strumentale, il disco di compone di tredici tracce equamente divise tra inediti e brani tradizionali, tratti da vecchi nastri o registrazioni sul campo effettuate dallo stesso Barou, compongono una sorta di affascinante diario di viaggio che compendia tutto il suo percorso artistico. Non a caso al suo fianco ha voluto molti dei suoi già citati amici e collaboratori con i quali in questi anni ha lavorato in studio e sul palco. Durante l’ascolto infatti si spazia dalla musica irlandese delle gighe The Naga Jigs, e The Windy Set al reel di JD’s Reel al 7/8 della tradizione afgana Shah Koko Jaan fino a lambire la musica greca e balcanica nella splendida Mare Nostrum. Non mancano alcune piccole gemme come la piccola suite che si compone dell’intro Margaretig e della fascinosa Ton Doubl Plinn, o la sinuosa Esfahan nella quale traspare tutto il suo amore per la musica orientale, e da ultimo l’intesa Melodie Kozh. Considerare questo primo disco solista di Sylvain Barou come un debutto sarebbe assolutamente riduttivo, è piuttosto un opera di alto profilo artistico che non mancherà di suscitare grande interesse e curiosità tanto da parte degli appassionati quanto da quella degli addetti ai lavori.