BERT JANSCH / ACOUSTIC ROUTES AT THE ICA LONDON 01/03/2012

It will be 2 years next October since Folk Singer Songwriter (and masterful guitar player) Bert Jansch has passed away. This documentary first shown on British Television in 1992 is being re-released this year in DVD in a remastered version with extra footage. Prior to the DVD release, the new version is being shown in cinemas all around the UK and I managed to catch it at the Institute of Comtemporary Arts last Friday. Far from being a movie centered round Jansch's life, it is more about his peers and the way he was perceived by them. Almost all of the protagonists in the movie get a small humourous introduction by the narrator of the documentary : scottish comedian and musician Billy Connolly. Interviews are intersped with musical performances, either by Jansch just by himself or duetting with other musicians. The range of interviewees covers pretty much every period of Jansch's carreer. We get Jansch duetting with his teenage hero Brownie Mcghee, playing "Blackwater Side" with Ann Briggs while reminiscing his days at the Howff Folk in Edinburgh, writing songs with John Renbourn in his own kitchen... and the list goes on. The highlight for me was the visit of the former site of The Howff folk club in Edinburgh where Jansch first learned to play guitar. Overall a very good documentary with just the right amount of talking, playing and humour.