Bali : musique et théâtre

 

BALI MUSIQUE ET THEATRE

BALI MUSIC AND THEATRE

Ocora, 1971, OCR 60
 

This is the second album made of recordings by G. Fresnais in Bali for Ocora.

Born in Paris Fresnais was not a musicologist but a sound engineer; He worked with the French film maker Alain Robbe-Grillet. He also composed an album called ''des sons de la nature'' (sounds of nature). I don't know why he was part of a recording mission but he was certainly fascinated by the Balinese culture, a culture he studied so that he could write the presentation text. Note that three other albums were issued by EMAC-Butterfly with parts of the recordings made in Denpasar.
The text is detailed enough; the first track sounds quite hypnotic  and close to trance music but is the accompaniment provided for the wayang kulit, the shadow theatre.
Side B about what is called ''gamelan gambuh'' is parted in three different phases of the same spectacle.
Text in French and English.

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Pays Sunda

 INDONESIE SUNDA
MUSIQUES DE L'ASIE TRADITIONNELLE vol. 11

TRADITIONAL ASIAN MUSIC volume 11

Playa Sound, 1972 ?, PS 33515

Jacques Brunet who made these recordings in Java in 1972 was first a concert piano player before becoming one of best if not the best French  connoisseur of traditional and art music from southeast Asia. Between 1963 and 1982 he spent a lot of time in Cambodia, Burma, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Indonesia recording a huge variety of music. All his productions are well presented with lots of details about the musical forms, history of the places concerned and singers and players he recorded. He was present enough on French radios especially France Culture in the eighties; I discovered and got an interest in these musics through  his passionate and exciting radio programmes and albums.
Java was one of his main interests; Sunda is western Java and lies over a third of the island. There was the ancient kingdom of Pajajaran which was very powerful between the fifth and the fifteenth centuries. Hinduism was quite dominant from an early period before competing with Islam from the fifteenth century.
Sunda is known for its very refined music based on suling flute and kacapi zither. Ono Sukarna the suling player was considered as the best flute player in the country. There are also two great singers.
There are seven tracks but during copying track seven was cut into two parts by mistake.
Text in French by J. Brunet. 

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Cheikh Imam : les Yeux des Mots

 

LE CHEIKH IMAM  CHANTE NEGM
الشيخ إمام, أحمد فؤاد نجم

LES YEUX DES MOTS
عيون الكلام

SHEIKH IMAM SINGS NAJM
THE EYES OF WORDS  

Le Chant du Monde, 1976,  LDX 74543

The series ''le nouveau chansonnier international'' was created to introduce French audiences to a range of politically committed singers, in keeping with the spirit of the founders of Le Chant du Monde. Among them Atahualpa Yupanqui, Joan Manuel Serrat or Jose Afonso. Some of these singers have had their work republished but not all as this record shows.
Sheikh Imam (real name : Imam Mohammed Ahmed Issa) has been one of the most powerful voices in the Arab world. Born in 1918 in Egypt he became blind at the age of one. There is lots of information about him in English.
The thing to remember is that he was a kind of moral and political conscience in the Arab world criticising Arab governments on their lack of help to the  Palestinians or their submission to the American imperialism. This has landed him in prison more than once.  He died in 1995.
All the lyrics are by Ahmed Fouad Najm (1929-2013) who spent eighteen years in jail also in Egypt for his attacks on Egyptian and other political leaders.
The first song of this album (when the sun drowns in a sea of mist) was used as a starter by Sheikh Imam for all his concerts from 1973 onwards.
The recordings were not made in studio but in public although the location is not mentionned.
The presentation text in in French only but the lyrics are also in Arabic. 

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Bali divertissements musicaux

 BALI 

divertissements musicaux et danses de transe

musical entertainments and trance dances

Ocora, 1983, OCR 72 

Recorded in the field in 1971 by Gilles Fresnais (with the help of the ORTF Musical Research Group) this album features some traditional Balinese music both profane and sacred. We can listen to gamelan Semar Peguligan with the usual type of instruments but the primary interest of this album is the orchestra called geng gong based on eight  bamboo jew's-harps (geng gong), a small flute, two zithers made also made of bamboo (a similar instrument can be found in Madagascar) and percussions. This orchestra is used to provide some entertainment during banquets. The other interest is the trance ceremony presented on side B.
The text in English is reasonably detailed to understand the progress and significance of such dances.
Ocora has an outstanding catalog of Balinese music but only a small number of these LPs has been reissued on CD so far.

 

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