BELTINŠKA BANDA

 

BELTINŠKA BANDA

LJUDSKA GLASBA IZ PREKMURJA 

FOLK MUSIC FROM PREKMURJE

Druga Godba, 1987, DG ??

Another tape from the Slovenian label Druga Godba recorded live in March 1987 at Ljubljana. This time the musical tradition of north-eastern Slovenia is the topic of this production. The region called Prekmurje is at the borders of Austria and Hungary. It is ethnically a mixed area which we can guess from the music.
The band is said to be one of the oldest bands still in activity; so the musicians are traditional musicians led by primaš (first violin) Janči Kociper. There are three fiddles, two kontra, one clarinet, one double-bass and one concert cymbalum. This music is hardly known outside Prekmurje.
The notes are in Slovenian with a summary in English and German. Only the English text is posted but if you need the Slovenian part tell me.

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Jorge Velosa

 

EL QUE CANTA SUS PENAS ESPANTA
(HE WHO SINGS HIS SORROWS FRIGHTENS)

JORGE VELOSA Y LOS HERMANOS TORRES

Discos Fuentes, 1988, 201648

Discos Fuentes are a Colombian label founded in 1934 by Antonio Fuentes and located in Medellin.
Here we have a quartet led by Jorge Luis Velosa Ruiz born in 1949. He is a singer and plays the raspa or guacharaca in the band along with requinto and guitar; the solo instrument, held by Juan de Jesus Torres Camacho, is the tiple a typical Colombian stringed instrument also played in some parts of Ecuador. There were three different line-ups between 1984 and 1990. The present quartet is the first formation that was active between 1984 and 1988.
All the songs are in fact dance rhythms : merengue, rumba and paseo. Most of the lyrics are Velosa's works. 

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Irish-American dance music & songs

 

IRISH-AMERICAN DANCE MUSIC & SONGS

Early Recordings from the late 1920's

with :
Frank Quinn
Sullivan's Shamrock Band 
McKenna & Morrison
Pat White
John Griffin
The Flanagan Brothers
Patrick Killoran Orchestra

Folklyric Records, 1977, 9010

This is an interesting album about the importance of Irish-American recordings in the USA and in Ireland. This compilation gives a good picture of the kind of songs and music Irish artists used to offer to the public. The Irish market was bigger and bigger over the decades because of a huge immigration from the 1840's. The American recording companies were interested in this market; some of the production was more of the vaudeville type (track A7) but there is a good deal of more traditional music from musicians born in Ireland like P. Killoran or J. McKenna. The notes by Bill Healy are informative about all the bands and soloists presented here.
Folkyric Records are a branch of Arhoolie Records. 

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Curente della Val Vermenagna

 CURENTE DELLA VAL VERMENAGNA 1 & 2

COURANTES FROM THE VERMENAGNA VALLEY

Self-production, no dates, FA025, FA033

These tapes come from the North of Italy thanks to a friend who lives near Milan.
The Alps have plenty of valleys linking France and Italy inhabited by people who still speak an Occitan dialect close to the Provençal language. That valley lies in the province of Coni and is about 20 km long.
With the revival of traditional music in Italy since the seventies this area, which is part of Piemont, had also seen the emergence of numerous folk bands such as Lou Dalfin.
Here we can enjoy a great duet with Silvio Vallauri on clarinet and Franco Romana on fisarmonica (chromatic accordion) for a music that sounds more traditional (all tunes are traditional). There are no arrangements and each dance is played straight with a very good style by the clarinet well backed by the accordion which plays chords only (a bit the way the couple piffero-fisarmonica works in Piemont-Lombardia). The dances are the curenta (French courante) and the balet. I don't know whether the clarinet is used in other places; the violin and now the diatonic accordion being the main instruments in those valleys. There is some reverberation. 

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Première anthologie de la musique malienne/4

 

PREMIERE ANTHOLOGIE DE LA MUSIQUE MALIENNE

L'ENSEMBLE INSTRUMENTAL
Médaille d'or au festival culturel panafricain d'Alger

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FIRST ANTHOLOGY OF THE MUSIC OF MALI

THE ENSEMBLE INSTRUMENTAL
Gold medal at the pan-African Cultural Festival at Algiers

Musicaphon,  1971, BM 30 L 2504

Produced by the Malian Ministry of Information, this wonderful collection gathers six albums all recorded in mono. The number four features the Ensemble Instrumental of Mali whose role is to support different female singers : Nantenedie Kamissoko, Saranfing Kouyaté, Wandé Kouyaté, Mogontafé Sacko, Djelimadi Diabaté and Orakya Koiaté. The orchestra is big with four kora, six ngoni, three balafon and two drums. The Malian state had a real policy about the building of a malian nation after the independance in the sixties. A lot of groups were set up and used to participate in contests in Mali or elsewhere.
Musicaphon had a superb catalogue and this anthology well-known to the connoisseurs is one of its gems. Texts in English, with translation of the lyrics (+ French and German).

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Navâ

 

MOHAMMAD REZA SHAJARIAN / NAVÂ

 

This tape comes directly from Iran thanks to a friend of mine. Obviously produced for the Iranian market only, the card is entirely in Persian.  I know that the singer is the master Shajarian and the dastgâh is navâ because I asked an Iranian guy to help me with it. But he had no time for a full translation. So any new information are welcome.
Shajarian sings with a small band made of santur, ney, tar etc.. There is a lot of reverberation as is often the case in Oriental productions.
M.R. Shajarian died in October 2020 at the age of 80. 

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Zeybekler 2

 

DAVUL ZURNA ILE / ZEYBEKLER 2

TURKISH FOLK MUSIC FROM ANATOLIA

Emir Müzik, no date, 021

Turkey is the place where the couple davul-zurna is still very strong in almost every part of the country.
Here the band (grubu) with several davuls and zurnas is led by Üstad Nacı on zurna and kabak zurna. The repertoire comes from the West coast of Anatolia (the list of towns is on the cover) and is totally traditional.
The cover says as well : ''our authentic folklore from the past to the present''.
The zeybek is typical of the Egean area and has four different slow or fast forms based on a 9 beats rhythmic cycle. Usually danced by one man it is sometimes danced by 4 or 5 men in a circle; this dance is said to underline the bravery, power and integrity a man could display.
The kabak zurna is really powerful and the whole music is very exciting.

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