Seyli in love

 

SEYLI IN LOVE

ϹEЙЛИ ХАЛАН / ВЛЮБЛЁННЫЙ ϹEЙЛИ

Folk instruments ensemble
Turkmen folk melodies

Melodiya, 1985, S30 22275 004

Recorded in 1982 and released in 1985 this is an album about the instrumental aspect of the Turkmen  tradition. The musicians whose names are not mentionned were state employees at the Turkmen Radio-Television. Were they traditional musicians or were they the product of the Turkmen School of Music ? I think there are three of them here: one ghijak and two dutars but the sound quality is not great.
This music may sound difficult to follow with long and complex melodies but as for other musical traditions it is worth listening to it several times and then find some pleasure and excitement in it.

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A BOGYISZLÓI ZENEKAR

 

A BOGYISZLÓI ZENEKAR

THE BOGYISZLÓ FOLK ORCHESTRA (HUNGARY)

Edited by Ferenc Sebő

Hungaroton, 1984, SLPX 18095

Another good example of  Sebő's work about the Hungarian peasant culture. Here he focused on the village of Bogyiszló on the banks of the Danube in Southern Hungary, region of Kalocsa. The musicians were born between 1921 and 1935 and were traditional musicians playing for the village band of dancers. This group is still active with the younger generation. The repertoire reflects upon the previous composition of the population with Hungarians, Germans and Slavs. Fiddles, bracs and double bass are the principal formation along with the equivalent on tamburas. There is some singing as well.
It is not surprising to hear a lot of tunes we know already thanks to revivalist bands.
F. Sebő a revivalist himself thought rightly that it would be useful and honest to present the original music played by villagers as it should be locally.  The text in Hungarian and English gives some information about the culture of the area as well as the lyrics of the songs.
Once again I wonder why this LP has never been released on CD by Hungaroton or another label.
So enjoy this fresh and lively music from the past.

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Toni Iordache

 

L'EBLOUISSANT VIRTUOSE DU CYMBALUM

THE OUTSTANDING VIRTUOSO ON THE CYMBALUM

TONI IORDACHE

Orchestre Gheorghe Zamfir

Another excellent album released by that French label Déesse  under Electrecord licence. T. Iordache (1942-1988) was and is perhaps still considered as the king of cymbalum players. From Romani extraction  he came from Southern Rumania near Bucarest and the tunes chosen for this album show that but he used to play tunes from the whole country as it is the mark of any modern Rumanian folk musician. He worked a lot with G. Zamfir. As a virtuoso he was able to hit his cymbalum 25 times per seconds, play complex but well built solos or develop two melodic lines at,the same time.
The text in French at the back gives some information on the instrument and Iordache.

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Musique berbère du Haut-Atlas

 

MUSIQUE BERBERE DU HAUT-ATLAS
Enregistrements de B. Lortat-Jacob et G. Rouget

BERBER MUSIC FROM THE HIGH ATLAS Mts
Recordings by B. Lortat-Jacob and G. Rouget

Disques Vogue, 1971, LD 786

Bernard Lortat-Jacob and Gilbert Rouget were two French ethnomusicologists. Lortat-Jacob has spent time in Morocco and produced wonderful albums for the CNRS. Rouget died in 2017 and wrote an important book in French ''la Musique et la Transe''. His field of interest was mostly black African music from Dahomey/Bénin and Guinea.
This recording is dedicated to the Ayt Mgun and Ayt Bugmmaz in the region of Demnate. They live in the upper valley of the river Tasawt at more than 2000 meters high.
What we hear is the expression of how Berber people are organised socially : the community as a single entity gathered around some values. Of course Islam brought some changes (about music making for example) but the ahwach is the time when they stick to original values of their culture.
The booklet in English is very detailed and informative. The tracks where nearly the whole village is involved are long enough and allow us to understand a bit better what social cohesion means for them. Other types of singing are lmsaq', tamghra and wedding songs.

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