Ma Lianliang

 

中国戏曲艺术家唱腔选(二): 京剧――马连良

            Chinese Opera Artists Singing Selections (II): Beijing Opera - Ma Lianliang 

 China Record Co., 1983, DM 6229

Ma Lianliang was famous for his roles as ''old men with a beard''; I already posted a double cassette about him in November 2021. Most of the actors used to specialize in certain characters; ''laosheng'' is the name of that character of the old man with a black or white beard in Beijing opera. It is said that Ma based his style of singing on Tan Xinpei's (1847-1917).
This is a compilation of recordings made in the 50s and 60s with extracts from 6 operas.

On side A :

track 1 : 借东风 (taking advantage of the East wind recorded in 1959)

tracks 2 and 3 : 四进士 (the four masters in 1963)

track 4 : 赵氏孤儿 (the orphan of the Zhao in 1961)

Side B : 

track 1 : 甘露寺 (Ganlu Temple in 1961)

tracks 2 and 3 : 打登州 (Playing Dengzhou in  1955)

tracks 4 and 5 : 空城计 (The  Empty City ruse in 1962)

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Chez les Esquimaux Netsiligmiout

 

CHEZ LES ESQUIMAUX NETSILIGMIOUT

Arctique Central Canadien

enregistrement réalisé par Jean-Noël Malaurie
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  AMONG THE NETSILIGMIOUT ESKIMOS

Central Canadian Arctic

recordings made by J.N Malaurie

Le Chant du Monde,  1965, LDZ.S 4284

This is an excellent example of what some French labels were careful to publish during the 60s at a time when Inuit culture was completely ignored by the Western public. 
J.-N. Malaurie born in 1922 conducted 31 missions in the Inuit world (Greenland, Canada, Alaska and USSR) from 1948. He wrote a book, now a best seller, ''Les Derniers Rois de Thulé'' published by Plon in 1955; it was probably the first time that French people could read and discover the life and all the problems faced by the Inuit since their first contacts with Westerners.
Here we can listen to a story about Kivioq a legendary hero, some incantatory chants, hunting songs and some accordion music. The album starts with the cries of dogs at night. Most of the recordings were made at Igloolik near Baffin Island between 1962 and 1963.
As it is said in the French text the Inuk society has attempted to integrate into the modern world since World War II but is still facing problems of heavy drinking, drug consumption, loss of its language and traditions by the younger generations etc... Now this territory is part of Nunavut an autonomous region created in 1999 where a local government can act in favor of the Inuit.
We know that Inuit have lived there for at least 4000 years despite terrible weather conditions developing a unique culture in the world.  Cultural diversity is as much paramount as the biological diversity and the present situation in the Arctic should really alert us and  push us to change our lifestyles. But can we really ??

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БӘҺPAM MӘHCУPOB

 

БӘҺPAM MӘHCУPOB  TAP

BAHRAM MANSUROV  TAR

Melodiya, 1986, M30 47331 005/47333 001

 B. Mansurov (1911-1985) was unanimously recognised as the best tar player in Azerbaijan at that time.
In fact he was considered as the only one able to pass on the whole corpus of the Azeri mugam in a trusty manner.
This double album was copied for me on tapes by a pen-friend in Leningrad, Sasha. It looks like it's made of two different previous single albums; one of them was reissued on CD in Iran.
The three tracks on album 1 side A were recorded in 1959, 1967, 1983 respectively; the two tracks on side B were recorded in 1967; the three tracks on album 2 side A were recorded in 1959; the other three tracks on side B in 1983.
Text in Russian.

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''Two Champions''

 

''TWO CHAMPIONS''

SEAN McGUIRE & JOE BURKE

Outlet, 1971, SOLP 1014

As it is the case with the vast majority of Outlet production the sound of this album is ''crude''. But I suppose this wouldn't deter real fans of those two great musicians. McGuire fiddle is at the forefront while Burke's box and Josephine Keegan's piano are too far back to my taste. Is that the result of a bad mixing or is it done on purpose ? At least  we can listen to  the fierce fiddling of S. McGuire quite well with all the variations he could think of during that session. The general picture of this album is that the production might have been a bit too rushed (there are technical anomalies at the end of two tracks) but  it's full of energy based on a steady repertoire of standards.
McGuire and Burke were All-Ireland Champions several times hence the title of the album. McGuire died in 2005 while Burke must be 83 years old now. 

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SKYLARK

 

SKYLARK

Len Graham Gerry O'Connor Andrew McNamara Garry O'Briain

Claddagh Records, 1987, CC46

 This is the first album of the band Skylark with a brilliant line up : L. Graham (vocal), G. O'Connor (fiddle), A. McNamara (box), G. O'Briain (mandocello, guitar, piano). They were all very well known beforehand each one in their musical field. They recorded four albums between 1987 and 1996 for Claddagh but this album has not been reissued yet.
Due to the different origins of the musicians (county Clare, Louth and Antrim) the repertoire is large enough. Most of the songs come from Ulster (Eddie Butcher, Robert Cinnamond, ...) and the tunes from S. Maguire, C. McConnell, B. O'Malley, T. Gunn, ... with an Ulster flavour as well.
Twelve tracks altogether introduced with useful information.

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