Iran / Vol.2

 

IRAN/Vol.2

Anthologie de la musique traditionnelle

Santur par Majid Kiâni
Musiques traditionnelles vivantes
III. Musiques savantes

Ocora, 1980,  558550

As far as I know, Ocora never reissued these albums of the series called ''Iran'' and subtitled ''Anthology of traditonal music''. There are six albums all under the artistic direction of Jean During.
The santur almost diasppeared in Iran around the 1930s because masters of this instruments were rare enough. The last of them was Somâ'i son of Somâ Hozur who never designated a successor worthy of continuing his tradition. So a more modern style has established itself. But Kiâni wanted to retrieve the old playing technique. So he spent hours listening to old recordings and talking to former Somâ'i's pupils. Thus Kiâni could stick again to the deepest tradition which conveys aesthetic and spiritual values. More details from the text.
Text in (French) and English

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Rais Lhoucine Amentague

 

 الرايس الحسين أمنتاݣ

RAIS LHOUCINE AMENTAGUE

La Voix El Maarif, ?, LVEM 63

This is the last tape out of four that a friend of mine brought back from Morocco between 1985 and 1989. Once again I asked Tim Abdellah for his help since he knows how to read the cover. It is the same style as the other Moroccan tapes posted here, tachelhit or Berber songs and music. Not much is known about Amentague. Tim knows another Amentague (Ahmed) but doesn't know about possible connections between the two. Rais is a ''title''of respect used by many singers.
Side A has only one track so I suppose several songs are performed in one go. Side B has two tracks.
El Maarif was based in Agadir.
You can visit Tim's site; it's really something ! https://moroccantapestash.blogspot.com/

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Long Acre

 

LONG ACRE

Traditional music from Ireland Scotland & Brittany

no label,  1986, SE 16

This a demo tape with only eight tracks (unfortunately) made by some young musicians in Birmingham. People of Irish descent are still quite numerous in Britain and Birmingham is one of the places with a strong Irish community with pubs, cultural centers, shops etc...
Long Acre was a band that included five talented musicians and singer. Three of them are now widely known.
Kevin Crawford on flute and bodhran is now Lunasa's flute player with a rich career behind him with Moving Cloud and several solo albums with great other musicians in Ireland or the US. Kevin is the most famous of the three. He lives in the US.
A bit less known by the general public but highly respected by fellow musicians Joe Molloy was born in a musical family; his father Paddy from county Galway was a fiddle player and very active in the community. I consider Joe to be one of the five best banjo players; he used to perform with the Furey Brothers but he never recorded under his name. He lives in Dublin.
The fiddler Mick Conneely was from Bedford between Birmingham and London and born also in a musical family. His father was also a fiddle player. Mick's sisters Kathleen and Pauline recorded albums; he has one album released under his name and takes part in numerous other albums as a bouzouki or fiddle player.
Ivan Miletitch came from Paris at the beginning of the eighties for short periods before he decided to stay for good in Birmingham around 1985. He was quite famous in Paris as a guitar player.
Bernadette Davis sings in English and Irish.
There is one Breton dance (plinn), three songs and four sets of reels and jigs.
They came over to France at least once.

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The Gathering

 

THE GATHERING

paul brady peter browne andy irvine donal lunny matt molloy tommy potts

Sruthán, 1981, GR 705

This is a very peculiar album not because of the line up but because of the context. It was recorded in 1977 and according to Irvine ''it was a favour for Diane Meek who was something of a patron of traditional music in Dublin at the time. She formed a small record company called ‘’Sruthán‘’ that she intended to release this album on but for some reason didn’t get round to it till she was back in the States some years later.''So it was released later by Greenhays (GR).
Of course all these musicians and singers don't play together but in duets or trios. So we can enjoy P. Brady's and A. Irvine's talent together or separately; Matt Molly is backed by D. Lunny on bouzouki (on one track only). Peter Browne is from a musical family in Dublin and is currently a producer for the RTE. A very good piper like his cousin Ronan Browne.
Rare enough are Lunny's compositions ''the Last Time'' and ''Fairfield Mirage'' with some synthetizer by Lunny.
From Dublin also was Tommy Potts (another musical family) with his unique style on fiddle and his way of ''deconstructing'' a tune. He might have composed the superb tune ''the Butterfly'' (not everybody agrees on that) and was admired by some fiddlers like Gavin or Martin Hayes but others wouldn't want to follow Potts in his musical adventures.  He died in 1988.
Additional musicians are : Triona Ni Dhomhnaill on harpsichord, Paul McAteer on drums and Arty McGlynn on guitar
Sruthán means ''stream'' in Irish.
A very rich album indeed but never reissued on CD.

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Stefan Georgiev

STEFAN GEORGIEV/ACCORDION

HOROS AND RUCHENITSAS FROM DOBROUDJA

Balkanton, 1989, VNA 12491

S. Georgiev was one of many Bulgarian accordion players who recorded for Balkanton. This is folklore-like music with a soloist accompanied by a full orchestra with traditional instruments (kaval, gadulka, etc) here  the Tolbouhin State Ensemble for Folk Songs and Dances. Georgiev had the usual career for a soloist in Bulgaria; there are some information about that in the notes.
The Dobroudja is in fact divided between Romania, Ukraine and Bulgaria. The biggest part of the region is now in Romania.
Text in English and Bulgarian.

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Raise the Rafters

 

RAISE THE RAFTERS

KEVIN CRAWFORD  P.J. KING  MARTIN O'MALLEY

Celtic Prime Leisure Records, 1995, CCC002

This tape was reissued as a CD but in small quantities and it seems nearly impossible to get one. So I'll make an exception this time and post it.
These three musicians were then regular ones at Cruise's Pub a very ancient public house in Ennis County Clare. P.J. and Kevin were members of another band Grianan which recorded an album that was badly promoted; when the band stopped P.J. and Kevin wanted to carry on and after meeting O'Malley formed this trio.
P.J. as a solid style on the box as Kevin's flute playing matches it with great power. Kevin had a solo album the previous year (1994) called ''D flute album''. He is a good example of musicians of Irish extraction born outside Ireland (Birmingham for Kevin) who managed to settle in Ireland and earn a living from music. He used to go to Ireland every year until the day he decided to stay after a wedding party in Clare. He has been leading a great career since and he now lives in the US.
There are four songs out of fourteen tracks full of energy. The  cassette title is a reel composed by P.J. King.

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Чукотская и Эскимосская Музыка

 

Чукотская и Эскимосская Музыка 

CHUKCHI AND INUIT MUSIC 

Melodiya, 1974, 33D035505-6 

This album was published as part of a series entitled ''the singing soul of Russia''. Side A is about ''Eskimo national music'' as the Russians said and side B about Chukchi national music.

The Inuit in Siberia never were very numerous and live near the Bering Strait. The census of 1979 listed 1200 Inuit and 400 Aleuts who are very close to the Inuit. Here only men were recorded singing alone or in duet with a drum. Most of the songs refer to hunting and animals but there is one song to the glory (I suppose) of the Soviet cosmonauts.

The Chukchi people are Paleosiberian people living in the Chukotka (Nort Eastern Siberia); their name means ''reindeer owners''. Part of them is sedentary hunting and fishing while the other part was nomadic at least at the end of the Soviet period. Russians managed to colonized them during the 19th century and then the Communist Party was successful in controlling them through their shamans who were declared local chiefs.
It is thought that this population stayed in Alaska a long time ago before returning to Siberia.
Female and male singers were recorded; there are several ''personal songs'' a custom that is also known among the Inuit and some Amerindian people. We can listen to the rhomb on one track.
Text in Russian

Here the tracklist in Russian and local languages. I translated the Russian titles in the audio file.

A1		Песня О Дружбе = Илякулъыкиляган
A2		Полет Чайки Против Ветра = Нагуйяк Айгульгэ
A3		Праздник Кита = Агвыквувалъя
A4		Такын Большая Птица = Такын Какулюк
A5		Олыми
A6		Итаюнвон Утренняя Заря = Мтаюнвон Силямени Камароми
A7		Штукатур = Штукатура
A8		Космонавты = Космонавтыт
A9		Вольный Танец = Тухумин
A10		Игра С Мячами = Анкалгит
A11		Охота На Медведя = Нанугнэльгэ
A12		Охота На Каяке = Каяхтульгэ
A13		Чайка = Нагуя
A14		Танец Медвежонка = Нанурагак
A15		Шитье = Минкыльгэ
A16		Праздничный Танец = Кырысмам Саютна
A17		Лампочка Ильича = Лампочка Ильичам
B1		Олененок = Кэюкэй
B2		Морские Охотники = Анкакэнат Гыннинныттыльыт
B3		Личная Песня Лидии Актемировой = Актемировын Лидиян Чиниткин Гырэп
B4		Девушки С Голубых Озер = Вытыра Гытгык Кача Нымытвальыт Нэвыскэтты
B5		Личная Песня Етигина = Етигынын Чиниткин Гырэп
B6		Личная Песня Атчин = Атчинын Чиниткин Гырэп
B7		Личная Песня Гиункеу = Гиункеунын Чиниткин Гырэп
B8		Личная Песня Тнагыргына = Тнагыргынын Чиниткин Гырэп
B9		Два Наигрыша На Тэльытэле = 2 Талеткогыргыт
B10		Личная Песня Рультынэут = Рультынэутын Чиниткин Гырэп
B11		Приход весны = Кыткытръогъэ

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АЛА-TOO КҮҮЛѲРҮ 3

 

АЛА-TOO КҮҮЛѲРҮ 3/ MEЛOДИИ АЛА-TOO 3

ALA-TOO MELODIES 3

Melodiya,1984, M90 46035-36

Third volume of a series of five albums with this title. Side A is about popular music with some solos on ooz komuz (jew's harp), choor (flute), kyiak (bowed instrument), komuz (lute) and songs with komuz. Side B is entitled ''creators of popular music'' with compositions of songs accompanied by komuz, mostly. The last track is a tune by Sh Sherkulov played by an orchestra with kyrgyz instruments.
Recordings made between 1930 and 1970.

МЕЛОДИИ АЛА-TOO (album 3)

Первая пластинка: Киргизская нар. музыка –

1. Кукушка;

 2. Бекташ;

3. Керме too;

4. Скачка;

5. Кет бука;

6. Бекбекей;

7. Карагул ботом, нар. поэма (отрывок);

8. Текучая вода;

9. Просыпаюсь;

10. Лунный луч. Творцы нар. музыки –

11. Токтогулу (музыка и сл. К. Акиева);

12. Мой киргизский народ (музыка и сл. А. Усембаева);

13. Отчизна (музыка и сл. А. Болобалаева);

14. Маруся (музыка и сл. Ш. Тер-мечикова);

15. Счастливый наш народ, песня-состязание;

 16. Наперсник (С. Бекмуратов);

17. Сестренка (М. Омурканова - К. Кумушалиев);

18. Сердце ликует (Ш. Шеркулов).

 

Ашыралы Айталиев - пение, комуз (7), Калык Акиев - пение, комуз (11), Муса Баетов - пение, комуз (9), Сайд Бекмуратов - кыяк (16), Осмонкул Болоболаев - пение, комуз (10, 17), Райымберди Сакеев - чоор (2), Жумаш Саркебенова - ооз комуз (3), Шаршен Термечиков - пение, комуз (14), Алымкул Усенбаев - пение, комуз (12), Токтонаалы Шабданбаев, Ысмаил Борончиев - пение, комузы (15), Шекербек Шеркулов - комуз (5), женский вокальный ансамбль (6), орк. киргизских нар. инстр. им. К. Орозова п/у Э. Жумабаева (18). Записи 1930-х - 1970-х гг.


 

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