Snakes alive

 

SNAKES ALIVE

St PATRICK'S NIGHT IN PARIS

Irish Association, 1988, IA 3301

 This album was produced in a limited number by the Irish Association in Paris founded in 1984 by Irish and French people. As far as I know this is the only album ever issued by the association.
The eighties were a time when Irish music was well roouted in Paris thanks to pubs, musicians, dancers and teachers. This album was partly financed by three pubs including Tigh Johnny's which was the best place for Irish sessions at the time.
A concert was organized for Patrick's Day in a college called Lycée Autogéré were many concerts were held over the years. 
French and Irish musicians were invited to perform; an Irish band based in Dublin came over, Killera which had a cassette out the year before. Strangely they don't have their names mentionned so I remember Maire Breathnach on fiddle and keyboard, Cian O'Sullivan on flutes, Frank Spiers (of Scottish origin) on vocals and percussion, ? Foley on bouzouki and maybe another flute player Cormac Breathnach. Niamh Parsons was the singer who is now well known in Ireland and beyond.The band didn't last long I think. 

Another Irish band based in Paris the Boozy Groovers,was there too for some blues music. 

On the French side we had three singers and guitar players : Catherine Drapier, Didier Matherat and Patrick Chauche; uilleann piper Marc Guilloux who died last year; fiddle player Olivier Darras who played with Irish concertina player Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin and piano plyer Ann Molloy. 
Jim Armstrong was there too as singer and guitar player. He was living in Paris with his wife Avril and now lives in Brittany.

This recording is live with the little usual trouble with the balancing between the instruments but we can feel the atmosphere of that night.

Tunes and songs are introduced briefly in English or French and all the lyrics are avalaible.  

Snakes alive is a reference to St Patrick who is said to have chased all the snakes out of Ireland, snakes symbolizing paganism crushed by Christianity. The choice for that kind of title expresses the change of mind occuring in Irish society among younger people who rejected the power of the Catholic Church and all its  misdeeds and scandals which were beginning to be brought to light.

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LES MUSIQUES DE CELEBES

 

LES MUSIQUES DE CELEBES / INDONESIE
MUSIQUES TORADJA ET BUGIS

 MUSIC OF THE CELEBES / INDONESIA
TORAJA AND BUGIS MUSIC

Anthologie de la Musique des Peuples, 1976, AMP 7  2906

 I'm glad to post here the last album issued by Bernard Dupaigne and his label. This collection is now completed on this blog because I really enjoyed all these recordings and the information with them; I have always thought that this kind of work is essential to understanding other peoples and, consequently, to the respect we owe them. Dupaigne was born in 1943 and is still alive. He was a expert on Afghanistan, worked for the Musée de l'Homme in Paris, wrote a book about the Afghan fiasco from a French perspective and was the founder of this label. 

Celebes is an island  east of Borneo  in Indonesia but is better known by its indonesian name Sulawesi meaning ''the Iron Trident'' due to its shape. The island  is home to indigenous peoples, (114 different languages are spoken there), some of whom are Muslim or Christians , but whose ancient customs were still very much alive at the time of the recordings especially funeral rites. 
Sulawesi was colonized by Dutch people mainly but Portuguese and English traders were present as well. We can hear the influence of Western type of songs on tracks A8 and B8. On B3 the violin is used but the music is more local; also Islamic influences are quite present in parts of the island like on B5 where Yusuf Landong plays a local lute similar to lutes found in Borneo or the Philippines but sings in a Yemeni way to my ears. The use of circular breath is also a middle east way of playing reed-instruments like on B6 and B7. 

These recordings were the work of Jeannine Koubiç and Christian Peiras during three ethnographic fieldwork between 1967 and 1975 on behalf of the Centre for Documentation and Research on South-East Asia and the Indonesian World. They wrote an interesting text which covers several aspects of this music and culture. 
This second-hand album is not in perfect condition and some of the recordings have some distorsion. But it's a very interesting production ending with a lovely song by children, lute and spoons on B10.
Text in (French) and English.  

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Pays Sounda

 

JAVA PAYS SOUNDA
MUSIQUE ET CHANTS TRADITIONNELS
ENREGISTREMENTS REALISES A BANDUNG PAR MERRY OTTIN 

JAVA SUNDA COUNTRY 
TRADITIONAL MUSIC AND SONGS
RECORDINGS MADE IN BANDUNG BY MERRY OTTIN

Alvarès, 1969, LD 110

 Merry Ottin (1929-2003) was a writer, explorer and photograph who worked in Turkey to study the Hittite civilization but mostly in Indonesia for years. He made the most of his stays to record musicians here in Bandung the main city in Sunda country. But as often like other explorers he was not a specialist of the local music and here he got helped by Viviane Sukanda research fellow at the CNRS who analysed the recordings and wrote the text as well as the lyrics and their translation into French. So back then in 1969 it was important to have some references especially since this album was maybe the first one to present Sundanese music to a French audience as Sukanda says. Gamelan music was already known and has been since the time of Debussy in France at least among a circle of intellectuals and artists. 
Sunda music is based on the suling flute and different types of zithers the flute being the leading instrument which gives the tone to the singers. V. Sukanda highlights the fact that there are no professional musicians so all the musicians here are amateur ones although the flute player Oyo Suwardi is considered as a  master as track 7 shows. There are one female singer Imas Permas and two male singers. Three zithers provide the base  on which the suling and voices build the melodies. Two musical scales are used : ''pelog'' which is known elsewhere in Indonesia and ''sorog'' specific to Sunda.
A great type of music immediately distinctive.
Text in French.

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