HRISANTHOS N°2

 

HRISANTHOS N°2 / SONGS OF PONTOS 

 ΧΡΥΣΑΝΘΟΣ No.2 / ΤΡΑΓΟΥΔΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΠΟΝΤΟΥ

Emi Regal/Emial, 1975, 2J  048-70360

Hrisanthos (or Chrysanthos, last name Theodoridis) is one of my favourite Pontic singers. He's very famous in Greece and appears on a number of recordings. Here is accompanied by a lyra player whose name is not mentionned but it is Georgoulis Kouyoumtzidis.the same player as on the N°1 album you can find on youtube.  A very authentic album with a nice voice and style. He died in 2005.

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Pingtan Xu Lixian

 

PINGTAN - XU LIXIAN

Monography on the art of traditional singing part 1

评弹 - 徐 丽 仙

  唱腔艺术专辑（一） 

China Record, 1984, HD-148

This is what seems to be the first tape of a series about traditional chinese singing.The style we can listen to here is the Pingtan also known as Suzhou Pingtan and typical of Southern China. It is said that it was created under the Song dynasty and it mixes different narrative musical traditions. There is a bit of acting, joking, talking provided by the musicians and singer. Xu Lixian on the cover has a tea mug in hand probably to remind us that tea houses are the places where you can listen to that style. But it is also broadcasted on radio and TV. String instruments dominate with the lutes pipa and sanxian. Pingtan is a lovely style with a sweet and relaxed way of singing as in other southern styles. There are 6 songs (titles in pinyin) : on side A ''xin mulan ci'', du shi niang shu zhuang'', ''xiao mama de fan nao'', side B ''dai yu zang hua'', ''wang kui fu gui ying'', ''luo han qian hui yi''.
Notes in Chinese included if you can read it.

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