Binali Selman

 

BINALI SELMAN 1

Harika, no date, 58

Binali Selman was a well known Turkish  zurna player. He was born in 1931 in Bayburt and started his musical career in 1954 after winning a competition organized by Radio Istanbul. He could play all sorts of tradtional instruments including the ney. He had been part of the folk orchestra in Radio Istanbul for thirty years. He worked with big names of Turkish folk/pop scene like Cem Karaca, Barış Manço and Okay Temiz. During the eighties he was awarded the title of world champion zurna player in India. He died in 1996.
This tape is one of many tapes and LPs he recorded; Some of the tunes are availbale on different albums. Seven tracks are mentionned on the cover but there are eight tunes on side A. Side B has nine tracks supposedly but there are eight tracks really. Hope you can find out by yourself what is what.
The davul player is anonymous.

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Berbères du Maroc

 

Berbères du Maroc - "ahwach"

Berbers of Morocco

collection C.N.R.S. Musée de l'Homme

Le Chant du Monde, 1979, LDX 74705

 Bernard Lortat-Jacob who made these recordings in 1972 and 1975 is a well known French ethnomusicologist who also worked on Sardinia.
This album is an impressive example of one of the most representative musical form of the Ayt Mgun Berbers, among others, in which the whole community is involved. Ahwach is a generic term for a great variety of dances though. Each side presents one type of ahwach in its entirety.
The booklet is quite complete and informative. 

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Muhammad Hamud al-Harithi

 

MUḤAMMAD ḤAMŪD AL-ḤARITHĪ / AL-SHAWQ AʽYᾹNĪ

LOVE HAS EXHAUSTED ME

Sawt al-Jazira, no date, GAZ. 11

Al-Harithi  is a great singer and ud player from Sana'a. This tape is a good example of his talents. There are six songs but the two first songs on side A are together; the same about the two last songs on side B.
He's backed mainly by a sahn player which is a large copper plate giving a special effect to the songs.
Al-Harithi was one of Jean Lambert's informants for his work on the music in Sana'a. He wrote ''la musique de l'âme'' with a CD included. Al-Harithi was also recorded on the volume 3 of ''Péninsule arabique : le sowt, musique des villes'' by the prestigious label VDE-Gallo based in Geneva.
I posted another tape of his in January 2022.

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Féerie Sud-Marocaine

 

FEERIE SUD-MAROCAINE

tout le folklore musical pré-saharien recueilli et présenté par JEAN MAZEL

SOUTH MOROCCAN  ENCHANTMENT

 all the pre-Saharan musical folklore collected and presented by JEAN MAZEL

Philips, 1955, N 76.048 R 

Jean Mazel was a French writer and cineaste who also recorded in the field especially in Morocco. This album was the first one he ever published and got an award ''le Grand Prix de l'Académie du Disque Français''. He reads his own text of introduction to the brief musical examples. In spite of their short duration the musical parts are interesting with predominance of singing.
I think that this kind of presentation was necessary at the time because this album was aimed at the general public with no knowledge of Moroccan musical culture. The text is quite literary at times but the music is quite authentic.
Text in French.
Side A : from ''Introduction'' to ''le grand Crescendo'' part of ''le Grand Haouache de Telouet''; the rest on side B.
The musical parts of this album are now part of a CD with other recordings by Mazel (free download on Bandcamp).

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CHANTS MONGOLS ET BOURIATES

 

CHANTS MONGOLS ET BOURIATES

Enregistrements de Roberte  Hamayon

COLLECTION MUSEE DE L'HOMME

MONGOLIAN AND BURYAT SONGS

Recordings by R. Hamayon

Vogue, 1973, LDM 30138

The French label Vogue was founded in 1947 by Léon Cabat and Charles Delaunay. A very eclectic label with Jazz music, popular music, opera, Soviet archives and some ethnic music like this album which was made in partnership with the Musée de l' Homme in Paris.
Roberte Hamayon was born in 1939 and is an anthropologist; her research focuses, among other things, on the shamanic model, the traditional religious substrate of the indigenous peoples of Siberia and Mongolia. After a first stay in Mongolia and  in the Republic of Buryatia in Eastern Siberia in 1967, she participated in the creation of the Centre for Mongolian and Siberian Studies in 1969, which she directed until 2007.
The present recordings were made in 1967, 1968 and 1970 in Central Mongolia and near the Lake Baikal in Buryatia.
Side A is about five solo songs and two songs with morin xuur : love song, in praise of the horse or the camel, hunting stories etc...
Side B has three more Mongolian types of vocal pieces, including an imitation of the flute ''with the nose'' and one flute solo. The six following tracks are Buryat songs (hunting song, archery song, ring dance song etc...). Two songs remind us that women are not always in good position in a former nomadic society (B8 and B9). The album ends with a ring dance ''jooxor'' rarely recorded.
The booklet is quite informative in French and English. A nice album for those who like the Mongolian ''long song'' captured in the steppe.

 

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Lee Saeng Kang

 대금 : 이성진 

 

DAEGEUM : LEE SAENG KANG

Dae Seong, 1985, DAS-0238 

 

This is another tape brought back by a friend of mine. The player is  Lee Saeng Kang one of the greatest masters of the Korean flute. He's backed by a changko player (Lee Song Jin ?) as usual for the sanjo style.
There are two pieces by side but I put them together in one track on each side.

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У HAC OЛEHБKA ДA ЦBETOЧEK

У HAC OЛEHЬKA ДA ЦBETOЧEK
CBAДEБHЫE ПECHИ ЛEHИHГPAДCKOЙ OБЛACTИ

OUR DEAR LITTLE OLGA IS LIKE A FLOWER
WEDDING SONGS FROM THE LENINGRAD OBLAST

Melodiya, 1981, S20 16721-2

This is another LP from the eighties I copied on tape first then from tape onto CD.
Two ensembles from the region of Leningrad  were recorded : the Folk Ensemble from the village of Rudna district of Slantsveskiy (tracks 1-5) and the Folk Ensemble from the village of Zagriv (same district near the Estonian border) (tracks 6-20).They are both  choirs of women with a local repertoire. Some of the melodies are beautiful and they sing as if they were in their villages and not in a studio.
An exceptional production by Melodiya.

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КAЗAKИ-НEKPACOBЦЫ HA KOHЦEPTE B MOCKOBCKOЙ KOHCEPBATOPИИ

 

КAЗAKИ-НEKPACOBЦЫ

HA KOHЦEPTE B MOCKOBCKOЙ KOHCEPBATOPИИ

THE NEKRASOV COSSACKS 

IN CONCERT AT THE MOSCOW CONSERVATOIRE

Melodiya, 1984, S20 20435 009

 

''Real'' Cossack music and singing is rare enough; although this is a ensemble called the Folklore Ensemble of the Stavropol Territory it sounds like authentic tradtional singing. No arrangements or fiddling only straight and lively way of delivering the songs. This ensemble is mainly a choir of women singing in Russian with one solo song (here in Turkish) and some instrumental on harmonica and ''concertina'' (in fact an accordion).
Stavropol is a city north of Caucasus founded as a fortress first by Potemkin to stabilize the conquest of the area over the Ottoman empire in 1774. Don Cossacks were settled there in order to defend the new borders. But that group Nekrasov had been in the region already since 1708 after their rebellion was defeated; they decided to flee toward Kuban under the lead of Ignat Nekrasov hence their name. They were Old Believers and persecuted by the Orthodox Russian Church. In 1737, probably when Nekrasov died, they settled in the Ottoman empire. A number of them choose to fight with the Germans during the Second World War. Then some prefered to go to Turkey, others emigrated to the USA and the rest stayed in the region.
This is a copy I made during the eighties and the cover I have is different from the one we can find on line now.

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An Bhanaltra

 

AN BHANALTRA
Songs in Irish Gaelic
CONAL O DONNELL & others

Folktracks, 1975, FSB-60-003

Folktracks was Peter Kennedy's label to commercialize his own recordings. He worked for the BBC. Here we have the original recordings of the songs selected for the book ''Folksongs of Britain and Ireland.

These singers are traditional singers from Donegal mainly, from the gaeltacht where Irish is spoken daily by everybody. It's a very nice collection with various ways of singing from men and women. Most of the songs are introduced in English. Conal O'Donnell sings ten songs out of nineteen. It's a pity the edition was so poor (just the one sheet of paper); a lack of means I suppose.

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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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