Aşιk Nesimi

 

LE CHANT DES TROUBADOURS DE TURQUIE

ACHIK NESIMI

THE SINGING OF THE TURKISH TROUBADOURS

Anthologie de la musique des peuples, 1979, AMP 7 2905

 Aşιk Nesimi Çimen (1931-1993) was what we call in French a bard, somebody who can sing old texts as well as his own compositions set on traditional or composed tunes. Nesimi was an Alevi and heir of a long tradition of singers politically concerned by the place of poor and oppressed people in the Ottoman and Turkish society. There are information in English about Nesimi's life and all the songs are translated.
The number of Alevi people is estimated at 25% of the total population but because they don't go to the mosque or fast during the ramadan, they are not considered as good muslims by the Sunnites. Women are not confined to domestic chores only but are active in the ceremonies with men. Nesimi sings a love poem by Latife Bacι.
The death of Nesimi on the 2nd of July 1993 is an example of that situation. Some Alevis went to Sivas to celebrate Pir Sultan Abdal, Nesimi among them. When the inhabitants of Sivas knew about this meeting some of them went to the hotel in order to stop or protest against the presence of these Alevis in Sivas a town known for its strict and rigorous practice of Islam. The police were there as well but didn't move when the crowd set fire to the place killing 37 and injuring dozens of  participants. It was  displayed on TV but the President of the Republic said publicly that it was ''an isolated act'' only not worth acting about it. Nobody was arrested afterward. I don't think that the global perception of the Alevis has changed since with Erdoǧan in power. About 100 000 persons were present at the victims' burial.
So this album is an important document; Nesimi recorded another album in France ''Chants de luttes révolutionnaires d'Anatolie'' in the sixties. If one of you has it I'd like to know.

download.MP3

Kayageum Sanjo

 

KAYAGEUM SANJO

JIN YANJO - JAJIN MEORI

Asia Records, 1984, ALC 1039

Another Corean tape issued in the eighties and brought back by a friend at that time.
I still don't have means of translating the covers but somebody helped me a bit with the transcription.
Side 1 : Jin Yanjo/ Jung Meori/ Jung jung Meori. The three tunes are played as one set.
Side 2 : Jajin Meori/ Hwi Meori/ Jae Taryeong. Played as side A.

download.wav

Ustad Bismillah Khan

 

USTAD BISMILLAH KHAN & PARTY Shehnai

EMI, 1983, 6TCS 02B 2458

Ustad Bismillah Khan (1914-2006) brought the shehnai out of the rituals with which it was associated to the concert stage. The formula is always the same : the lead shehnai backed by several shehnai including a drone and usually several tabla and dhol. This recording is also available on LP. 

download.wav

The Pan-Islamic Tradition/3

 

THE PAN-ISLAMIC TRADITION - VOLUME 3

MUSIC OF MOROCCO

Lyrichord, 1975, LLST 7240

Philip Schuyler recorded lots of material in Morocco and Yemen over a 45 year period. He wrote the notes for this album. Most of Lyrichord  production is avalaible on their site (https://lyrichord.com) as downloads but not this LP. 

Side A focuses on the Gnawa tradition with outdoor music played on drum and qarqabus and indoor music with singing, gembri and percussions. Schuyler tells us about Bilal the first muezzin and patron saint of the Gnawa brotherhood. A good musical picture of this style which is now internationally famous.

Side B is about the Jbala people in the north of Morocco between Fes and Tanger. There the music is played on the flute gasba and the drum bendir often played in pair. They support one singer to whom one or several singers respond. Notice the fact that Schuyler gives the names of all the musicians.

download.wav

Micho Russell

 

MICHO RUSSELL

Triskel Records, 1982, TRL 1009

Almost all the recordings made by Micho Russell are avalaible on CDs except for this one and another one I posted earlier.
This album is similar to the other ones with Micho introducing some of the tunes and playing them without any accompaniement.  However he is joined on the eight first tracks on side A by a mandola player which was quite unnecessary to my opinion. That player is anonymous but I heard that he could be Frank Hogan who was known to play with another great name of Irish traditional music, the flute player Paddy Carty. Here the mandola is badly tuned and the backing doesn't suit Micho's flute playing. On the other tracks Micho plays his whistle with his fantastic style. He died in 1994 in a car accident and was one the finest exponents of the true traditional music practiced by farmers and inhabitants of small communities in North Clare. This album is very valuable for its little-known tunes like the Rising Sun or Tom Bawn. There is one song in Irish on B9.
For the connoisseurs and real lovers of Irish music.

download.wav

Yiorgos Mouflouzelis

 

MOΥΦΛΟΥΖΕΛΗΣ 3

Τά Αλλιώτικα

Zodiac, 1975, 88053

Yiorgos Mouflouzelis was one of the rebetiko revivalists in the 70s in Greece. He recorded about six albums under his name between 1972 and 1986. Some of them are available as CDs.
Here is joined by singer Sofia Dhiamanti on five tracks. She has also two tracks as solo singer. These songs are mentionned as being rebetika songs but there are no information about the composers. I must say that these songs are not the most known and the Greek title of the album might translate as ''the other ones'' or ''the different ones''. Tell me if I'm wrong.
There are no information either about the musicians; only the leader's name is given Tasos Dhiakoyioryis. The instruments are baglama (perhaps played by Mouflouzelis), violin, santouri, guitar and electric bass. There is some bouzouki on two tracks. The result is great and I really like Mouflouzelis' voice.
The logo at the bottom of the cover says : ''the treasure of rebetiko''.
Zodiac was a branch of the label Lyra. 

download.wav