Wes Phillips

Semper Dowland; Semper Sting

Wes Phillips  |  Oct 23, 2006

Sting's recording of Dowland lute songs has certainly generated a lot of hooey—ranging from accusations of Sting making commercial move (yeah, recording a disc of lute songs is sooo calculated to run up the charts) to complaints about Sting's "inauthentic" performance.

Goodness gracious, Mr. Sumner—how dare you!

The folks I know in the lute mafia mostly give Sting his props for his effort. I like the disc myself, although I agree with Dial "M" For Musicology that its biggest sin is probably caution. Compared to the egregious crapulousness of most rock crossovers committed by, say, classical tenors, Songs From the Labyrinth comes across as respectful and sincere.

"Fine Knacks for Ladies," indeed.

COMMENTS
Pavle's picture
Submitted by Pavle (not verified) on October 24, 2006 - 4:09pm

I like the album. I am a Sting fan for decades and I picked it up out of curiosity. Personally," I think he did a ""lute mafia"" a favor by exposing this kind of music to wider audience.Saw a TV documentary about Edin Karamazov (lute player accompanying Sting) the other day. This guy lives for lute. As authentic as one can get.

Pavle's picture
Submitted by Pavle (not verified) on October 28, 2006 - 10:54am

:-) and I thought it was me being shocked by Elizabethan version of Sting. All the time it was him being ... well ... out of balance. It's nice to see him putting himself in this position, although I don't see this as any kind of risk for his career.There's an interesting thing he says in his defense in the BBC Music"" interview ... that in Dowland's time Bel Canto style of singing was not yet invented as a singing style. Basically", lack of formal singing education works in his favor :-)

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