Борис Гмиря

 

                                      УКРАИНСКИЕ ПЕСНИ В ИСПОЛНЕНИЙ Б. ГМЫРИ

UKRAINIAN SONGS SUNG BY B. GMYRIA

Melodiya, 1962, D 005254-55

These two albums are copies of discs I borrowed from a Soviet cultural center in Paris around 1986-87. I didn't think of copying covers then; the pictures here are on Discogs. 

Boris Gmiria (1903-1969) was a Ukrainian opera singer in the ''singing bass'' register. But he was also known for his rendition of Ukrainian folk songs with folk instrument orchestras or piano accompaniment. He studied at the same time civil engineering and classical singing at the Kharkov Conservatory, graduating in each field in 1935 and 1939 respectively. His father died during the great famine of 1932-33. Because of his participation in musical life during the German occupation in Poltava he was harassed in the opera house and was not allowed to travel abroad. Nevertheless, he was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR in 1951. Unesco nicknamed him "Boris the Great" because of the power and depth of his voice, natural and without effects.
He is accompanied here by the Ossipov Orchestra conducted by V. Smirnov.

A1 Ой гук, мати, гук                                     Arranged By – Н. Лысенко

A2 Така її доля                                     Arranged By – Ю. Чернов                                     Lyrics By – Т. Шевченко

B1 Ой із-за гори та буйний вітер                                     Arranged By – Н. Лысенко

B2 Ой дівчина горлица                            Arranged By – В. Дитель                                          B3 Задумав дідочок                                    Arranged By – В. Мироманов

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 Another 10'' album by Gmiria whose date of publication is unknown. Here he's accompanied by a small band of banduras under the direction of A. Minkovkii. The lyrics of the first song are the work of the greatest Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko. 

A1 Думи Моі                                                     Lyrics By – Т. Шевченко

                                                           A2 Iхав Козак На Війноньку

                                                                A3 Ой Чото Ти, Дубе

                                                                 B1 Ой Зійди, Зійди 

                                                                   B2 Чорніі Брови 

                                                             B3 Дивлюсь Я На Небо
                                                            Lyrics By – М. Петренко
                                                              Music By – В. Заремба

 

 

I don't know how Gmiria would have reacted to the Russian aggression against Ukraine but I think he would have been overwhelmed with sadness; for the moment let's listen to this incomparable artist while waiting for the end of this war and possibly the victory of Ukraine.

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Chants et danses de Tchécoslovaquie

 

CHANTS ET DANSES /  TCHECOSLOVAQUIE

SONGS AND DANCES / CZECHOSLOVAKIA 

Le Chant du Monde, ?, LDX 74380

This is the French edition (late seventies perhaps) of the LP ''Monitor presents Songs and Dances by the National Ballet of Czechoslovakia'' issued in 1959 by the American label Monitor.
It is part of a huge series called ''Chants et danses'' from different parts of the world like Morocco, China or Armenia. Most of the time the performers are national orchestras like this one here founded in 1948. It is folklore from the Soviet period played by a choir, two solo singers and the usual type of formation with plenty of violins, one double bass, a cymbalum and two clarinets.
The repertoire comes mostly from Moravia and Slovakia with some very nice melodies.
Texte in French only.

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Des & Mick Hurley

 

DES & MICK HURLEY / OVER THE WATER

Celtic Music, 1987, CMC 037

 The Hurley family was (and still is ?) a prominent musical family in the Irish community in Leeds. Here we have four brothers : Des on fiddle and button accordion, Mick and Kevin on flute, Andrew on bodhran.
I used to meet and play a lot with Des who was a regular visitor of the Big Bull's Head pub in Digbeth, Birmingham where I went regularly also. Ivan Miletitch who plays the bouzouki on the tape was a great guitar player and pionneer inIrish music in Paris at the turn of the eighties. He moved definitively to B'ham around 1985. Karen Tweed who was also a regular musician in B'ham plays the piano and the piano accordion here (one of the best I'd say).
This tape is one of many recorded by mainy long or short-lived bands in order to gain notoriety and concerts or gigs.
The sound is not perfect and the fiddle is often behind the flute but this is very stuff straight and effective.
Des is now Chief Executive and founder of the Irish Arts Foundation in 1998 in Leeds.

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La música folklórica de Venezuela

 MUSICA FOLKLORICA DE VENEZUELA

TRADITIONAL MUSIC OF VENEZUELA

INTERNATIONAL FOLK MUSIC COUNCIL

Ocora, ?, OCR 78

Another excellent Ocora album that was never reissued as far as I know; it's not even part of their catalogue. The recordings in the field made between 1958 and 1968  are the works of Isabel Aretz, Luis Felipe Ramon y Rivera and Alvaro Fernaud. I. Aretz (1909-2005) was an Argentinian ethnomusicologist who became Venezuelan in 1952 when she married Ramon y Rivera.
The LP is organized in a regional order : the states of Apure, Aragua, Barinas, Miranda, Yaracuy, Cojedes, Nueva Esparta, Sucre, Lara as well as Caracas and the Llanos. 
Music from Spanish origin (joropo, decima de tono, work songs) makes the main part of the album while the Afro-Venezuelan tradition with singing and drumming is present on a few tracks. 

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Folk Music from Lőrincréve

 

MUSIC FROM LŐRINCRÉVE

Arrangements by FERENC SEBŐ

Hungaroton, 1986, SLPX 18102

Ferenc Sebő  is one of the pioneers of the revivalist movement in Hungary (Táncház mozgalom). He worked on different subjects like traditional music in the Hungarian areas in Transylvania. This album is sub-titled ''Dance Music by the Maros Riverside'', a zone with  a very rich musical culture that was before conveyed by Gypsy musicians dynasties that disappeared to be replaced by less-skilled peasant musicians according to Sebő. Two of these musicians are Zgigmond Karsai and Zsigmond Székely who sing on this album.
The arrangements tried to give us an idea about what would have been the soundscape towards the end of the 18th century when music from cities and the upper society was brought to peasant communities probably thanks to the Gypsies.
The basis for dance music is the ubiquitous traditional string trio : fiddle, viola (kontra) and double bass. To this  Sebő added some non-traditional instruments such as the harp, the harpsichord, the horn or the classical flute but only at times to colorate the tunes differently without ever ''fiddling'' with them in their traditional consistency. The main fiddler is Levente Székely while Sebő provides the kontra. The track A1 is very nice with some ''oldish csardas''.
The songs are all a cappella including a vocal ensemble called Tátika.
Texts in Hungarian and English with lyrics. 

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Face the Hob

 

FACE THE HOB

Music For The Sets - Volume 6  

Na Píobairí Uilleann, 1987, NPU 007

Based in Dublin, NPU was founded in 1968 thanks to pipers such as Séamus Ennis, Leo Rowsome and Paddy Moloney on one hand and collector and writer Brendan Breathnach on the other hand. The idea was to promote the uilleann pipes through practice, reed making and pipe making.
This tape produced by NPU is about set dancing. Terry Moylan who started on the pipes in 1968 with Leo Rowsome was also a member of NPU. Later in 1982, also a dancer he co-founded the Brooks Academy devoted to set dancing; he published several collections of tunes and books about set dancing. He also a well-known lecturer.
In order to spread the gospel Irene Martin and Moylan of the Brooks produced this series of six tapes with many important musicians of the time. Here we have Séamus Meehan on piano accordion, Dermot McLaughlin on fiddle, Madonna Herron on flute, Sean O'Loinsigh on bouzouki, Sean Potts on uilleann pipes, Paul McGrattan on flute, Declan Masterson on uilleann pipes, Kevin Glackin on fiddle and Frank Hogan on mandola; they play in quartet or trios. Despite such a line up the result has been criticized for the speed of the playing giving the impression that the music was a bit rushed out compared to the traditional way of playing for dancing from traditional players. Speed is still a big debate among dancers and musicians. But this tape is good for listening with no less than forty reels, jigs, polkas, etc...

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Musique de Fushien

 

CHINE MUSIQUE DE FUSHIEN 

Musiques de l'Asie traditionnelle vol. 19

CHINA MUSIC OF FUJIAN

Music of traditional Asia vol. 19

Playa Sound, ?,  PS 33524

This album was also part of the CBS catalogue with the year 1973 mentionned. Playa Sound is said to have been founded in 1974. So this copy might be a reedition.
The recordings were made by Hubert de Frayssaix and the text in French was written by Georges Wên.
Side A is about the style called ''nanguan'' which originates from the Fujian province and is practised also in Taiwan off the coast of Fujian. Nanguan (''flute from the South'') is well documented in France with several compact discs published by Ocora Radio France. Let's say that it came from the area of Amoy the main harbour and might be the local version of court music going back to the Tang or Ming dynasties. It is not performed by professional musicians but by entlighted amateurs.
On the contrary the genre ''chao-chou'' (chaozhou) on side B is less documented; G. Wen says that this music was recorded for a foreign audience for the first time. Chaozhou is a city in the Guandong province at the border with Fujian. This instrumental music is performed on string instruments mainly like the lute  pipa, or the zither yangqin. This side B is highly enjoyable.
Unfortunately the musicians and singer are anonymous. 

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Music in Sweden 2

 

FOLK MUSIC  VOLKSMUSIK  MUSIQUE FOLKLORIQUE

Music in Sweden 2 - Musik in Schweden 2 - Musique en Suède 2

Caprice, 1977, CAP 1123

This is an excellent compilation made of mono recordings in the field between 1951 and 1976. This is the second volume of a series about different types of music in Sweden; the first volume deals with classical music, the third one jazz, etc...
There are twelve different categories, six on each side with a certain number of tracks for each category. Although I could have had the tracks separated I chose to follow the original presentation by category.
The album starts with a stunnig herding call by Karin Edvards Johansson and ends with some melodeon music. All the people have their names and location mentionned. Some names are quite famous as the name of Erik Sahlström one of the kings of the nyckelharpa or Gössa Anders Andersson the fiddler from Orsa.
Texts in English, German, Swedish and French. Only the English part is scanned. 

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Кыргыз Күүлөрүнүн Антологиясы 2

 

Кыргыз Күүлөрүнүн Антологиясы

Биринчи бөлүм

ANTHOLOGY OF KYRGYZ MELODIES (PART ONE)

Melodiya, 1974, M30 35581, 35582 

 This is the second album of this series (see my post 25/07/2022) about komuz music and repertoire.
Again, this is a copy of an album I borrowed around 1986 and I didn't copy the tracks where a text of presentation is read in Kyrgyz. This album is organized in three parts : tolgoolor, kairyktar and bekarstan-taichylar.
Track list in scan.

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Kan ha diskan en Pays vannetais

 

KAN HA DISKAN EN PAYS VANNETAIS

KAN HA DISKAN IN THE  COUNTRY  OF VANNES

Arfolk, ?, TH 704

Kan ha diskan is a Breton expression to designate the action of singing in pair. It could translate as ''call/singing and respond''. When two singers are involved the second singer (the diskaner) sings the end of a line with the leading singer; then the leading singer the kaner) sings the end of the line with the diskaner and so on. It is called ''tuilage'' in French (tiling) This is the way it is done generally in Brittany except in the country of Vannes. There that technique is not used; the two singers never sing together. Another characteristic of traditional way of singing around Vannes is that several singers repond to the leading singer as it is the case here.
The area where the local dialect is spoken( gwenedeg in Breton) is quite large. The repertoire perfomed here comes from the Southern part near the Bay of Quiberon (Carnac, Plouharnel).
These singers formed a band called An Trouzerion (meaning ''the noise-makers'') and recorded three albums, this one being the first. Five singers (all males) lead the dances each in turn. The oldest of them was Job Kerlagad. Others were quite young at the time. There were seven of them all together.
The dances are : laride, en dro (an dro), trikott which is a mix between en dro and hanter-dro, hanter-dro and kas-abarh another form of en dro. All were traditionally danced in circle with everybody who would like to join in. Now it is quite different in modern festoù-noz.
There is one song to listen to performed in the same way (A4).
Jorj Belz, one of the diskanerion, wrote the introductory text in Gwenedeg and French and he insisted on the fact that this language is in danger since nothing is done at state level to organize courses in primary schools and the fact that of course all the big media are in French. He says that a dance song sung in Breton in a non-Breton environment (meaning that doesn't understand it) is a dead song even though it is possible to dance to it. So he urged the young generation to pick it up before it is too late.  Gwenedeg is still alive but for how long ? (the same question applies to the other Breton dialects).
Arfolk was created in Lorient in 1967 but was bought by the Coop Breizh in 1985.

Lyrics in Breton with translation available.

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TZIGANE !

 

TZIGANE !

Songs and dances of the Balkan Gypsies

Monitor,  1972, MSF 747

 Monitor, American label, issued this LP with the Bulgarian label Balkanton. This is a good example of what was the mainstream Gypsy culture in Bulgaria before what is called ''wedding music" changed the musical scene in Bulgaria at the end of the eighties. But whatever the mode of expression Gypsies in Bulgaria always had complex and difficult relations to the socialist state and still are discriminated in post-communist Bulgaria. In the seventies the ethnic category ''gypsy'' was abolished and the word ''gypsy'' disappeared. There was also an attempt by the governement to force Gypsy citizen change their names when it was too obviously Turkish/Muslim for a more Bulgarian/Slavic one. 

The introductory text was written by Jan Yoors a Belgian who lived with Gypsies between the age of 12 and 22. He died in 1977 in New York; he published three books about Gypsy culture and  society. He spoke fluent Romani.
The singers and musicians here are Muslims based in Sofia. All the songs are in Romani.Four bands and six female and male singers perform urban Gypsy music with accordion, violin, trumpet, clarinet and darbuka. Among the musicians Ibro Lolov (accordion) and Hassan Chinchiry (violin and vocal) are the most famous.

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International Folk Music Festival-Szeged 1988

 

‘’A FELKELŐ NAP HÁZA’’

 Nemzetközi Népzenei Fesztivál * Szeged 1988

''THE HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN''

International Folk Music Festival * Szeged 1988

Hungaroton, 1989, SLPX 18157-58 

This double album was recorded live during the Szeged Festival. Only Hungarian bands and soloists are presented here all of them being part of the Hungarian revival also known as ''Táncház movement'' (Táncház mozgalom in Hungarian). Officially born on the 6th of May 1972 in Budapest, this revival went growing very quickly all over the country and beyond among Hungarian-speaking communities. By the eighties official support was given to folk events and venues hosting  folk dances evenings. It took  two years nevertheless to organize this first international folk music festival that was held on the 19-20th of August 1988.
Were present bands like Muzsikás, Téka, Méta, Ökrös etc... along with singers such as Márta Sebestyén, András Berecz, Irén Lovász, etc... Some formations were a mix of musicians from different bands as for the final set grouping no less than twenty-six musicians and singers.
All the lyrics in Hungarian are translated to English and available.

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Ալվարդ Միրզոյան (քանոն)

 

Ալվարդ Միրզոյան (քանոն)

Alvard Mirzoyan (kanon)

Melodiya, 1986, S 3u 23613 008

The kanon (or kanun, qanun ...) is a very old instrument in the Near East but I don't know exactly when it was used extensively by Armenian musicians although there are pictures dating from the Middle Ages showing this instrument. It seems that mostly men played it until the beginning of the XXth century when women became more numerous like Louisa Sedrakian or Angela Atabekian who is said to have been the first female kanun player trained by famous kanonist and composer Khachatour Avetissian among others. Knar (lyre) was an ancient name for the kanon. It replaced the santoor in modern folk orchestras.
A. Mirzoyan was born in 1956 but it's nearly impossible to get useful information about her training or career. I know that she played with Jivan Gasparyan's band.
Here we have a typical example of the Soviet idea about folk music whether Russian, Estonian or Armenian. Folk musicians were expected to get as close as they could to classical music (reading, virtuosity, harmonization, etc...). This is why, maybe, there are two classical-like pieces : the Venetian Carnival by Paganini and a sonata for kanon composed by Kh. Avetissian mentionned above. For this piece re-recording was used so that Mirzoyan could play three kanons. The ''classical'' aspect is also present on three other tracks where Mirzoyan is accompanied by forte-piano player Assia Gazaryan. These includes two pieces by Komitas who was himself a pioneer in the modernization of traditional Armenian music as well as a musicologist who saved or rediscovered old forms of liturgical chanting.
There is a composition by Sayat Nova of course as well as dances with dhol player Gagik Akhverdian.

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Bharata natyam songs

 

BHARATA NATYAM SONGS 

Sung by kalaimamani S. Rajeshwari
Nattuvangam : kalaimamani natyachelvam  K.N. Pakkiriswami Pillai

HMV, 1984, TPHVS 32511 

Bharata natyam is a major form of Tamil classical dance originating in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the oldest traditional Indian dances. A mixture of classical dance and martial arts, it has been linked to religious practices since its origin. The oldest description of this type of dance goes back to the second century CE. The practice of bharata natyam suffered in the 19th century from the devaluation of this art by the English colonisers for example by accusing the dancers of being mere prostitutes.The tradition was saved and then renewed during the 20th century, particularly after independence.There are different styles of bharata natyam. It is often a solo dance that is very difficult and long to learn. It is often taught today to young girls, but has remained open to boys. There are seven steps in a regular performance starting with a prayer to Ganesha and finishing with a mangalam a kind of blessing.

Here the singer is S. Rajeshwari, kalaimamani being the highest civilian award in the state of  Tamil Nadu. She is accompanied by a mridangam player and on some tracks by a flute player. No names mentionned. However another musician has his name on the cover : K.N. Pakkiriswami Pillai. This man is in charge of the nattuvangam without which dancing would be impossible. Nattuvangam is at the heart of the performance based on the thalam (taal) or rythmic cycle. He leads the dancer who must know perfectly the bases of her/his choregraphy. The nattuvanar is thus paramount and this is why his name is on the same level as that of the singer. He plays little cymbals and uses also syllables such as ''kita taka tari kita thom''.
Note that tracks A1 and A2 are one track so there are eight tracks instead of nine.

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