STEPHEN BALDWIN

 STEPHEN BALDWIN ENGLISH VILLAGE FIDDLER

Leader, 1976, LED 2068

S. Baldwin was a fiddler from Bishop Upton, Herefordshire. He was recorded on 22 June 1954 by Russell Worley at the local primary school because there was no electricity in Baldwin's house. It is possible to hear children play and other noises from the people taking part to the session.
Baldwin was born at the beginning of the 1870's and died in 1955 so shortly after those recordings. He was old enough in 1954 and his playing was somehow impared for this reason. But we can hear that his bowing was still very good; he used to play for dancers in his youth and the tempo and rhythm are very important to them. All the tunes are played one after the other without any real break so I had to make tracks out of it.
The repertoire is typical I guess of any English fiddler of the time with a lot of hornpipes and jigs, waltz, scottisches, polkas etc ... Some of these tunes or settings are probably local so this album is interesting for that reason too. Note that B11 and B12 are on the same track.  Finally, records of English fiddle music before the revival is not that common.
Leader was a very good label founded by Bill Leader in 1969 along with the label Trailer. He was very instrumental in the British revival in the 60's and 70's with the publication of the works of Woody Guthrie, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Pentangle, The Dubliners, etc ...

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DANCES AND SONGS FROM PONTOS

  DANCES AND SONGS FROM PONTOS/ANGEIOU (TOULOUM)

ΠΟΝΤΙΑΚΟI XOPOI KAI TPAГOΥΔΙΑ

AГГEIOΥ (TOΥΛΟΥΜ)

Vasipap, 1975, TC-LVAS 206

 This is one the many tapes produced in Greece for the Pontic community by Pontic Greeks whose parents or grandparents came from Anatolia in 1923 when the war between Greeks and Turks led to the formation of the Republic of Turkey. According to a nationalistic vision (coming from the Western world !) Atatürk decided to expulse all the Greek people who were on the Egean coast, in Cappadocia and on the Black Sea coast in order to have a homogeneous country. The refugees from the Pont were settled by the Greek gouvernement mostly in Macedonia to replace Slavic and Muslim people who had to leave the area as well. Since then the Pontic Greeks became part of the Greek nation but kept some of their traditions especially music. This music could be very old knowing that Greek settlements could be found 7 or 8 centuries before our era on the Black Sea. But I suppose that what is sung and played today couldn't be older than the Ottoman period. Some tunes and rhythms remind me of Thracian music (mostly modern Bulgaria and Northern Greece). This kind of music is still alive in Turkey played by Laz/Turkish people on the same instruments.
Here due to a lack of information I suppose that the singer is also the bagpipe player : Ioannis Kalpatsinidis. All the tracks have some drumming from a darbuka-like percussion. Note the term ''angeiou'' for the bagpipe while ''touloum'' is the Turkish name.
I'm very fond of that kind of music and solo touloum tapes and LPs are rare enough.  

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THE GREAT GAELIC SOUND OF NA H-OGANAICH

 THE GREAT GAELIC SOUND OF NA H-OGANAICH
(ALL GAELIC ALL VOCAL)

Beltona Sword, 1973, SBE 145

This vocal trio was formed early in 1971 by Margaret MacLeod, Noel Eadie and Donnie MacLeod in Glasgow. They won the Celtavision Song Contest during the Pan -Celtic Week in Killarney in 1971. Then they recorded 3 albums for Beltona Sword a division of Decca.
This is the first LP including mi le m'uilinn composed by Murdo MacFarlane with which they won the competition mentionned. They sing and play guitars, double bass and add occasionnally some drumming.
Out of 12 songs, only 3 are traditional but the other songs sound traditional, musically at least.
This show the great vitality of Gaelic-speaking people until now for the number of bands and composers is big compared to the small population of Gaelic Scotland.
This band is one of my favourite Scottish folk revival groups with their nice balance between tradition and modernity (at the time) and their excellent rendering of these beautiful melodies so typical of Gaelic Scotland. 

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RUHI SU

RUHI SU 

VOLKSLIEDER ÜBER DEN KRIEG/EPOS AUF DEN BEFREIUNGSKAMPF

FOLK SONGS ABOUT THE WAR/EPIC ON THE FIGHT FOR LIBERTY

Pläne, 1986, 88508

Mehmet Ruhi Su (1912-1985) was one of Turkey's most famous voices. He was born in Van in Eastern Anatolia in Armenian country just before the genocide. Stories go that he was born in fact to Armenian parents but after his parents died in 1915 he was raised as a Muslim.in an orphanage.
He was known for his support to the Communist Party and was jailed between 1952 and 1957. He worked for the opera and the radio in Ankara. After his release he started to sing on his own in the Sixties and recorded his first album in 1972. Some people say that it was he who brought the traditional repertoire to the attention of the intellectuals of the time. After the coup in 1980 by the army he fell ill but coudn't go abroad for appropriate care and died because of it.

This LP was issued in Germany and it seems it has never been reissued on CD while most of his records are available on line.
All the lyrics of the songs are either traditional or composed by N. Hikmet. One is attributed to Pir Sultan Abdal. The music was composed by Ruhi Su. The lyrics in Turkish are translated in German.
Theses songs are about different wars (the First World War, the war against the Greeks in 1922) but also about other kinds of wars (the Song of Change by Pir Sultan Abdal) against social and politcal oppression, poverty, , etc...
All the songs are sung one after the other without any break. 

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AIGA LINDA

 AIGA LINDA/CANT E MUSICA EN CEVENAS

Singing and music in the Cevennes

no label, 1985, NUM 48067

The Cevennes are a range of mountains on the south-east edge of the Massif Central. The area is known for having still a strong party of Protestants called Huguenots in French who were persecuted by Louis XIV at the beginning of the 18th century. Those people who tried to resist were called the Camisards.
The country is not heavily populated and has few little towns as Alès, St-Jean-du-Gard or Anduze. 

The band Aiga Linda was a very good example of what was the revival in Occitania. It started in 1979 as a duet with René Huré and Hervé Robert who sing and play popular oboe, fiddle, flutes etc.. Then Alain Griotto, Claude Pisaneschi joined them for the recording of this album. From the beginning they focused on local culture thanks to works and articles by Jean-Noël Pelen and Daniel Travier. They mentionned the publication  Le Temps Cévenol ou la Conscience d'une Terre by Jean-Paul Bonnecaze (3 volumes) in which they found songs and tunes collected over the years. So the repertoire is quite unique and well interpreted. Hurdy-gurdy, mandolin, diatonic accordion, bagpipe, etc.. are used on this LP. They sing in Occitan and the dance tunes are polkas, bourrées, mazurkas etc... 

The name of the band means ''clear water''. The lyrics in Occitan are available with French translation and some notes on the tunes. They recorded another LP in 1989. 

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UNDER THE CLIFFS OF MOHER

 MICHO RUSSEL/UNDER THE CLIFFS OF MOHER 

Xeric Records Limerick, 1990

Micho Russell recorded several tapes all of them being reissued now but this one it seems.
He was one of the most respected musicians in Clare and in Ireland for his knowledge of local folklore and whistle and flute playing. He died in 1994.
Here we have the same approach to songs and tunes he had on other records meaning he liked to introduce each tune/song with a story or some recollection about his youth, his family etc... For me it was important to listen to him as an Irish traditional musician and I'm still under his spell... The repertoire here is very local (North Clare) with tunes/songs about the land and people some of these tunes going back to the 18th century. As usual he's on his own without any backing.
I don't think his accent to be too difficult to understand but if it is the case carry on listening until you get most of it for it is interesting to link tunes to places and people.

Click on the text below in order to read it

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AFTANDIL ISRAFILOV

AFTANDIL ISRAFILOV PLAYS 

ИГРАЕТ АВТАНДИЛ ИСРАФИЛОВ

Melodiya, no date,  M30-35933-34

In spite of an ugly and uninformative cover the LP inside is a great recording by one of the masters of azeri garmon playing : Aftandil Israfilov. He's been a big star until now in Azerbaijan. Here he's backed by a duduk for the drone played by Alimukhtar Aliev and Zakraï Mamedov on nagara (or dohol).
The garmon is an accordion with piano keyboard introduced into the Caucasus from Russia during the 19th century. It is played also in the Iranian Azerbaijan, in Turkey and among some peoples like the Cherkess, Adyghes, etc... The sound and style are typical and immediately recognizable. The songs and dances are based on the mugam (maqam) that the accordion is able to render although it is a Western instrument but partially reconditionned by local artists.

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KONI COUMARE

 KONI COUMARE/FOLKLORE BAMBARA

F. DIABATE guitar player

Fiesta, 1960, 360.059

Koni Coumare (according to the spelling of the time) was a fantastic singer from Mali and supposed to be the first singer to record an album in the 1950s. Here she was recorded by the French label Fiesta which was a sub-label of Fonior founded in 1947. Its goal was primarily to specialize in North African artists and then added some artists from Sub-Saharan French colonies and Belgian Congo.
The ''guitar player'' was her husband Fotigui Diabaté who played the n'goni. At that time everything that was a lute-like instrument was systematically called ''guitar''. He plays on all tracks except for 2 of them. On tracks A5 and A6 Coumare is backed by anonymous female singers and some drumming.
All the songs may be extracts I think for each track lasts between 2'30 and 3'.

I would say that in order to listen to this LP  as it should be it would be better to know a bit about traditional Malian music and especially singing with very tense voices which can sound too piercing to some ears... To the connoisseurs I would say enjoy !

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THE HUMOURS OF CLARE

 THE HUMOURS OF CLARE

MUSIC AND SONG FROM CLARE FM

CLARE FM 1991

Clare FM has been one of the leading radios on Irish traditional music in Ireland. Here we have recordings made between September 1989 and October 1991 for Clare FM. Mary McNamara, Kevin Crawford or Martin Hayes are present among others. Track B5 with M. Hayes on solo fiddle is really good. Singers like Séan Tyrell and Robbie McMahon are on the list too. You can check the full content below.

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TRADITIONAL MUSIC FROM ETHIOPIA

TRADITIONAL MUSIC FROM ETHIOPIA

recorded in Ethiopia by Jean L. Jenkins, Horniman Museum, London

 ETHIOPIE MUSIQUE TRADITIONNELLE
Enregistrements de Jean L. Jenkins

disques Vogue, 1967, collection Musée de l'Homme, CLVLX - 164

Jean Jenkins (1922-1990) was an American ethnomusicologist who worked mostly in England. She travelled a lot especially in Ethiopia where she recorded extensively. The music of this LP was recorded in 1964 and 1966. She is known (among other publications) for a very good series called ''The Music of Islam'' with 6 LP made of field recordings in company of Olsen Poul Rovsing and published by Tangent in 1976.
Here we have a good (although partial) image of the musical diversity in Ethiopia. Apart from the people in Center Ethiopia who speak Semitic languages and are the majority of the inhabitants there are many other populations speaking Cushitic languages and other types of languages. Singing is the main way of expression for Christians, Muslims, Jews and Animists. We can hear also the big lyre called bagana (played by King David on the cover), the masinqo and washint. The sanza-like toum is played by the Anouak people near Sudan (track A7). Track A5 is a surprising love song from Harar sung by 2 young girls reminding me of the way some Bulgarian women sing. Jenkins says that this kind of singing is unique to the Adare people. Track B1 is also a surprise with an ensemble of 14 players each of them blowing one tube; that way of playing preceded probably the panpipes played by one musician and is still in use in other countries like Tchad.

After listening to this record I think you would ask for more; so check Topic where you can get CDs with some of Jenkins' work.

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