Barb Jungr - laying bare the beauty and pain of some absolutely exceptional songwriting
Barb Jungr: The Men I Love - Forest Arts, New Milton
BARB Jungr is a performer of rare quality. A cabaret singer with an ear for exceptional lyrical artistry and the voice and intelligence to hone in on the absolute essence of a song.
Accompanied by her regular pianist/collaborator Simon Wallace, her latest show highlights the works of the men that she has loved as songwriters.
Mainly Americans, though there was one Canadian (Leonard Cohen) and a Scotsman (Mike Scott), these are writers who’s works have become part of the very foundations of popular music.
Using simple arrangements and an unerring emotional understanding of the songs in her set, Jungr set about laying bare the beauty and pain of some absolutely exceptional writing.
Dylan’s You Ain’t Going Nowhere reworked in all its flippant lyrical genius, Diamond’s I’m A Believer delivered as a poignant slow-burning ballad, Springsteen’s The River fully exposed as an agonising tale of lost dreams, misery and death in blue collar America.
It was a wondrous performance that examined hopes, failure and redemption through songs whose true power is all too often lost amidst over-ambitious production values.
Paul Simon’s My Little Town and Cohen’s The Night Comes In were among those that brought tears of recognition to the eye.
Jeremy Miles
Bournemouth Daily Echo, October 18, 2010