le monde secret de G. Zamfir

 

LE MONDE SECRET DE GHEORGHE ZAMFIR

documents inédits

THE SECRET WORLD OF G. ZAMFIR

unpublished documents

Déesse, ?, DDLX 75

This album is a bit of a mistery; there is no date but I believe it might date from the year 1974-1975; but the real question is where do these unpublished documents come from ? there are no information about the tunes and no names of musicians. There is a photo inside the album where we see Ion Dragoï on fiddle, Toni Iordache on cymbalum, Ion Laceanu on fluier plus clarinet and double bass players, Gheorghe Zamfir standing in the foreground. This picture is also on the album recorded by Ion Dragoï (see my post) dated 1972. So I think that what is on the present album was recorded during the same session with the same musicians and published later. 
G. Zamfir shares the tracks with his partners and plays solo on 1-b, 2-b and 2-d. Dumitru Farcaş on taragot is well present along with Dragoï; Ion Laceanu plays the cimpoi on 2-c. The highlight on this album is the over nine minutes solo by Zamfir which concludes it. Bocet is a traditional lament mostly performed by women when someone dies in a village. Here Zamfir is really crying with his panpipe showing his mastering of the instrument. 
There is a text in French by the poet Bernard Dimey who followed Zamfir's career actively. 

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Brij Narayan

 

BRIJ NARAYAN (sarod) 

RAGA LALIT

Suresh Talwalkar (tabla)

Stil,  1979, 2711 S 78

Hindustani music, one of the most sophisticated in the world, must be taught by masters (guru) although there are examples of self-taught musicians. To appreciate the quality and richness of this music here is a brief description of raag lalit with all its characteristics : 

Raag Lalit is a sweet mellifluous combination of both Madhyams (Shuddha and Teevra), requiring critical attention to the Komal Dhaivat employed. This note is a shruti in between Shuddha Dhaivat and commonly played Komal Dhaivat of Raag Todi. It is for this reason that its correct position should be rigorously practiced after learning it from the Guru (Gurumukh). Shuddha Madhyam (m) is very prominent in this Raag along with Gandhar. The use of Teevra Madhyam and Shuddha Madhyam, one after the other (M m) gives this Raag a unique character.

The following combinations help in fuller menifestation of its real character that is effective in producing Bhakti and Karuna Ras:

,N r G m M m ; G M d N d M m ; M d N S’ ; M d M S’ ; S’ r’ N d ; M d N M N d ; M d M m ; G m M m ; G ; M G r S ; d M d S’ ; S’ N r’ N d M m ; G r S ;

 from the site tanarang.com : https://tanarang.com/raag-index/

 

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Sur la Côte des Pirates

 

SUR LA CÔTE DES PIRATES / LES EMIRATS DU GOLFE ARABIQUE

documents recueillis et enregistrés par Karen et Alain Saint-Hilaire

ON THE PIRATES' COAST / THE EMIRATES OF THE ARABIAN GULF

documents collected and recorded by Karen and Alain Saint-Hilaire

Disques Alvarès, 1974, C.471 

I never had this album but I was looking for it when I found it on Discogs from an unknown provider. Like all albums published by the French label Alvarès this one was never reissued. At the time this could have been a good introduction to these musics from the Arabian gulf. Since then more discs have been published on prestigious label like VDE-Gallo or Ocora. 
I already mentionned French ''sound hunters'' like Kremer, Bitter or Barbaglia and here we have a couple I dindn't know. Alain St-Hilaire died in 2013; he was a filmmaker particularly attracted to the Near and Middle East although he also went to Africa and Canada. He went to the Emirates in 1964 where he managed to film the last pearl divers. I suppose the music on the album was part of his films.  He also published a book written with his wife Karen about their first trip in  1964. 

Different types of  music : classical and urban with nay, qanun and 'ud , country music with bagpipe or music of descendants of black slaves with tambura. Some pieces are shortened. 

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Trouzerion

 

TROUZERION / CHANTS POPULAIRES DE BRETAGNE

POPULAR SONG OF BRITTANY

VOLUME 3

Arfolk, ?, SB 410

This is the third and last album by these six singers from Morbihan. The publication date is unknown but I believe it goes back to the mid-eighties. After Jan er Meut and Job Kerlagad's death the band continued singing and recording with the remaining four. 
Here again dance tunes are the most numerous with side A focusing on the ''an dro'' and ''hanter dro'' and side B on ''laridé''. Three other songs (march and listening songs) are part of the programme.
Note that J. Kerlagad opens and concludes the album with a candy seller's cry in French.
The song on B1 is a mixture of French and Breton languages.

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УШШAK

 

 

ДВЕНАДЦАТЬ УЙГУРСКИХ МУКАМОВ 

MУKAM УШШAK

TWELVE UYGHUR MUKAMS : USHSHAK

Mélodiya, 1983, S30-18301-02

Another  album from this series with the Uyghur ensemble of mukam players of the Uzbek radio and television.
Side 1 starts with an 8'30'' introductory piece ''nachalo mukama'' sung by Sultan Mamedov with the tambur playing of  Arkin Yunusov. Then the full orchestra and choir come into play (first dastan-pesnya). The poem sung is again ''Gharib and Senem''. Side two follows with the second dastan-pesnya divided in three parts.

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