Soundguardian...April 2009

Singer and harpist Paul Karapiperis with his band called the Small Blues Trap has created a very personal album which he solely produced himself. The title of the album is Fifteen Raindrops In An Ocean Of Blues Tales. Admit it. Do you think you have heard it all? Well, keep on reading this text.

Paul Karapiperis as well as the rest of the band, comes from Greece. In 2004, they formed the Small Blues Trap. Certainly, there are bands and musicians from all over Europe who care about the blues. Although I hadn’t the opportunity to listen to their previous releases, I did listen to their latest work titled “ Fifteen Raindrops In An Ocean Of Blues Tales” and it is indeed a very good work with elegance and richness full of elegance and concerning the traditional blues music. It is unquestionably a treasure trove of traditional blues.

Although thousands of kilometers away from the roots of that old specific music style, Karapiperis and his band will surely be a pleasant surprise to everyone who listens to that album since it is a very expressive, sensitive and luxurious in terms of playing styles, work. Furthermore, it clearly depicts the bands wide affiliation with traditional blues values which is something rather difficult and demanding.

Yes, I know that many are not very much inclined to listen to traditional blues saying that it is a genre that is quite difficult to listen to but I personally had no such problem since I happen to be fond of traditional blues expressions. In addition, it is rather clear that the band worked with great enthusiasm and passion for this CD.

RECOMMENDATION:

In the abundance of many different music styles, a small number of some very unique productions such as this one, are definitely worth of our attention. My opinion is that this particular album is far beyond the European standards and should be a trademark of blues achievement produced in our continent.

Undoubtedly, there is plenty of space for such music and my purpose for writing this article is not to play the role of a critic wishing to pinpoint weaknesses and faults in this work but instead, to encourage other gifted artists as well to follow the example of Paul Karapiperis and produce similar Cds.

So, the only thing that remains is to check out this album for yourselves and enjoy the music that is “trapped” inside.

Mladen Lončar