Omnia calls their music ‘neo-celtic pagan folk band’. Perhaps then you would not expect a performance of this Dutch group in a church. But nevertheless they did, in de Janskerk in Utrecht during the Summer Darkness festival in August 2004. And this acoustic concert, which I attended, is now available on a cd in a nice looking digipack. As a special feature the album contains three tracks which they performed together with the German group Faun. If this isn’t enough, there also is a cd-rom part with two videoclips recorded in Rotterdam (also in a church) as well as photos and wallpapers.
The three musicians play a micture of folk, medieval, celtic and other traditional styles. At concerts Omnia treats you to romantic tranquil harp and didgeridoo pieces, but also to percussive eruptions with wild shouting. It’s nice that the booklet contains background info about the songs, for instance you can read that that ‘Odi et Amo’ is a “first century AD poem by Gaivs Valervs Catvllys, a Roman proto-Goth”. You have to believe them on their words. Speaking of words, frontman Sic has the habit of talking and joking a lot between the songs. Entertaining at concerts, but when listening to this album for the fifth time it becomes a little tiring…
Though the concert was taped with a simple portable recorder, the sound quality is pretty clear, perhaps due to the impressive acoustics of the church. If you liked the previous albums of Omnia, you won’t be disappointed by this concert registration. The musicians are in good shape and enjoy playing. The collaboration with Faun makes everything extra special. My favourite tracks: ‘Efrezomp-ni Kelted’ and ‘Du’lamán’. The videoclips, in which Oliver of Faun also particpates, are nice to watch, partly due to the enthousiastic audience.
