Lo-Landers

A musical fraternity of high- and low-landers.

Bagpipes and penny whistles are not frequent visitors to the world of improvised music. But don’t tell that to viola player Oene van Geel: being the free spirited musical omnivore that he is, he’ll immediately smell an opportunity. A meeting between him and Scottish folk musician Fraser Fifield led to the birth of Lo-Landers.

Both men were already familiar with musical border traffic. Van Geel broadened his horizon with balkan music, jazz, Celtic folk, and excursions to Turkey and India. Accompanying him on this new exploration are bass guitar player Mark Haanstra and master percussionist Udo Demandt. Joining Fifield in Lo-Landers’s Scottish squadron are jazz guitarist Graeme Stephen and tabla player Hardip Deerhe, musicians he’s been crossing paths with for years. In spite of Fifield’s prominently featured whistle and pipes, Scottish tradition isn’t the first thing that comes to mind listening to Lo-Landers’s music.

Exciting, funky grooves and light-footed swing are interspersed with retiring musical reveries. There’s ample room for improvisation, but listeners also get a regular dose of delicious and tight ensemble play. One moment the guys are indulging their love of rough rock, the next they transform into a kind of chamber orchestra – albeit one with a peculiar cast.

Formation

Oene van Geel – viola
Fraser Fifield – bagpipes, pennywhistle
Mark Haanstra – bass guitar
Graeme Stephen– electric guitar
Udo Demandt – percussion
Hardip Deerhe – tabla