Борис Гмиря

 

                                      УКРАИНСКИЕ ПЕСНИ В ИСПОЛНЕНИЙ Б. ГМЫРИ

UKRAINIAN SONGS SUNG BY B. GMYRIA

Melodiya, 1962, D 005254-55

These two albums are copies of discs I borrowed from a Soviet cultural center in Paris around 1986-87. I didn't think of copying covers then; the pictures here are on Discogs. 

Boris Gmiria (1903-1969) was a Ukrainian opera singer in the ''singing bass'' register. But he was also known for his rendition of Ukrainian folk songs with folk instrument orchestras or piano accompaniment. He studied at the same time civil engineering and classical singing at the Kharkov Conservatory, graduating in each field in 1935 and 1939 respectively. His father died during the great famine of 1932-33. Because of his participation in musical life during the German occupation in Poltava he was harassed in the opera house and was not allowed to travel abroad. Nevertheless, he was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR in 1951. Unesco nicknamed him "Boris the Great" because of the power and depth of his voice, natural and without effects.
He is accompanied here by the Ossipov Orchestra conducted by V. Smirnov.

A1 Ой гук, мати, гук                                     Arranged By – Н. Лысенко

A2 Така її доля                                     Arranged By – Ю. Чернов                                     Lyrics By – Т. Шевченко

B1 Ой із-за гори та буйний вітер                                     Arranged By – Н. Лысенко

B2 Ой дівчина горлица                            Arranged By – В. Дитель                                          B3 Задумав дідочок                                    Arranged By – В. Мироманов

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 Another 10'' album by Gmiria whose date of publication is unknown. Here he's accompanied by a small band of banduras under the direction of A. Minkovkii. The lyrics of the first song are the work of the greatest Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko. 

A1 Думи Моі                                                     Lyrics By – Т. Шевченко

                                                           A2 Iхав Козак На Війноньку

                                                                A3 Ой Чото Ти, Дубе

                                                                 B1 Ой Зійди, Зійди 

                                                                   B2 Чорніі Брови 

                                                             B3 Дивлюсь Я На Небо
                                                            Lyrics By – М. Петренко
                                                              Music By – В. Заремба

 

 

I don't know how Gmiria would have reacted to the Russian aggression against Ukraine but I think he would have been overwhelmed with sadness; for the moment let's listen to this incomparable artist while waiting for the end of this war and possibly the victory of Ukraine.

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Chants et danses de Tchécoslovaquie

 

CHANTS ET DANSES /  TCHECOSLOVAQUIE

SONGS AND DANCES / CZECHOSLOVAKIA 

Le Chant du Monde, ?, LDX 74380

This is the French edition (late seventies perhaps) of the LP ''Monitor presents Songs and Dances by the National Ballet of Czechoslovakia'' issued in 1959 by the American label Monitor.
It is part of a huge series called ''Chants et danses'' from different parts of the world like Morocco, China or Armenia. Most of the time the performers are national orchestras like this one here founded in 1948. It is folklore from the Soviet period played by a choir, two solo singers and the usual type of formation with plenty of violins, one double bass, a cymbalum and two clarinets.
The repertoire comes mostly from Moravia and Slovakia with some very nice melodies.
Texte in French only.

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Des & Mick Hurley

 

DES & MICK HURLEY / OVER THE WATER

Celtic Music, 1987, CMC 037

 The Hurley family was (and still is ?) a prominent musical family in the Irish community in Leeds. Here we have four brothers : Des on fiddle and button accordion, Mick and Kevin on flute, Andrew on bodhran.
I used to meet and play a lot with Des who was a regular visitor of the Big Bull's Head pub in Digbeth, Birmingham where I went regularly also. Ivan Miletitch who plays the bouzouki on the tape was a great guitar player and pionneer inIrish music in Paris at the turn of the eighties. He moved definitively to B'ham around 1985. Karen Tweed who was also a regular musician in B'ham plays the piano and the piano accordion here (one of the best I'd say).
This tape is one of many recorded by mainy long or short-lived bands in order to gain notoriety and concerts or gigs.
The sound is not perfect and the fiddle is often behind the flute but this is very stuff straight and effective.
Des is now Chief Executive and founder of the Irish Arts Foundation in 1998 in Leeds.

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La música folklórica de Venezuela

 MUSICA FOLKLORICA DE VENEZUELA

TRADITIONAL MUSIC OF VENEZUELA

INTERNATIONAL FOLK MUSIC COUNCIL

Ocora, ?, OCR 78

Another excellent Ocora album that was never reissued as far as I know; it's not even part of their catalogue. The recordings in the field made between 1958 and 1968  are the works of Isabel Aretz, Luis Felipe Ramon y Rivera and Alvaro Fernaud. I. Aretz (1909-2005) was an Argentinian ethnomusicologist who became Venezuelan in 1952 when she married Ramon y Rivera.
The LP is organized in a regional order : the states of Apure, Aragua, Barinas, Miranda, Yaracuy, Cojedes, Nueva Esparta, Sucre, Lara as well as Caracas and the Llanos. 
Music from Spanish origin (joropo, decima de tono, work songs) makes the main part of the album while the Afro-Venezuelan tradition with singing and drumming is present on a few tracks. 

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Folk Music from Lőrincréve

 

MUSIC FROM LŐRINCRÉVE

Arrangements by FERENC SEBŐ

Hungaroton, 1986, SLPX 18102

Ferenc Sebő  is one of the pioneers of the revivalist movement in Hungary (Táncház mozgalom). He worked on different subjects like traditional music in the Hungarian areas in Transylvania. This album is sub-titled ''Dance Music by the Maros Riverside'', a zone with  a very rich musical culture that was before conveyed by Gypsy musicians dynasties that disappeared to be replaced by less-skilled peasant musicians according to Sebő. Two of these musicians are Zgigmond Karsai and Zsigmond Székely who sing on this album.
The arrangements tried to give us an idea about what would have been the soundscape towards the end of the 18th century when music from cities and the upper society was brought to peasant communities probably thanks to the Gypsies.
The basis for dance music is the ubiquitous traditional string trio : fiddle, viola (kontra) and double bass. To this  Sebő added some non-traditional instruments such as the harp, the harpsichord, the horn or the classical flute but only at times to colorate the tunes differently without ever ''fiddling'' with them in their traditional consistency. The main fiddler is Levente Székely while Sebő provides the kontra. The track A1 is very nice with some ''oldish csardas''.
The songs are all a cappella including a vocal ensemble called Tátika.
Texts in Hungarian and English with lyrics. 

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