Sunday, January 1, 2023

Muzikë popullore nga krahinat e veriut

 

MUZIKË POPULLORE NGA KRAHINAT E VERIUT

FOLK MUSIC FROM NORTHERN REGIONS

RTSH,  ?, ?

 

Today being the first of January 2023 let me wish you an excellent year full of music and other good things like love, friendship, good health.

I got this tape at the end of the 80s thanks to friend who went to Albania. It's part of a series of tapes organized by regions. There are no names mentionned only the titles. The music is more on the folklore side  with bands of çiftelli, the usual clarinet-accordion based orchestras or some synthetizer. Only songs, no instrumentals.
The sound quality is poor enough but we are used to it no ?


 

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Saturday, December 24, 2022

Ali al-Ansee

 

ALI AL-ANSEE / YA IYOONEE

O MY EYES

Ed. al-Habbabee, 1999, 0552 

Another  great Yemenite singer/ud player from Sana'a. Thanks to Leonidas who found the following text about Al-Ansee's (Anisi/Ansi) life and career :

He is the artist Ali bin Ali bin Yahya Al-Ansi , born in the city of Sana'a , Al-Basha neighborhood , in 1933 AD . A well-known Yemeni artist (singer, musician, composer), famous for his beautiful voice and perfect performance, he sang about love in all its forms, about revolution, and about nature.

His father was an officer in the front army (Bakshawsh) artillery. Ali Al-Anisi grew up in a family that suffered economically, so his father was forced to move from one region to another in search of a livelihood. He moved to elementary school, then moved to middle school, and after leaving it, he moved to Dhamar to live with his brother, Judge Muhammad. From Dhamar , he moved to Taiz , where his brother, Brigadier General Ahmed Al-Ansi, was working. There he joined the army and worked as a military clerk for the Al-Hujaria detachment.

His artistic sense and musical taste began to form with the beginning of his listening to the songs recorded in the CDs of some Yemeni artists from the generation that preceded him, such as Al-Mas, Al-Jarash and Al-Antari. And influenced by his friend Al-Azzi Muhammad Abdullah Al-Snidar, who was the first to hear Al-Ansi sing and play the Oud instrument . This increased his attachment to singing, so he began his research journey. He was greatly impressed and influenced by artists:

Abdul Rahman bin Ali Reda
Ahmed Al Hamami
Ahmed Abdullah Al-Salmi
Qasim Al-Akhfash
Ahmed Ashish, who had an artistic influence on the artist Ali Al-Ansi.

Signs of his talent for singing began to appear with the first song he sang, which is the song ( They prevent my eyes for your goodness, you do not see ) by Almas. His brother, Brigadier General Ahmed, admired him and encouraged him, as he was working as an assistant to the (wireless) traffic controller at the fourth point in Taiz . During this period, he was singing only, and he had not yet learned to play the oud instrument , but his attempts to compose began to appear, and he composed for the first time the song (Kol Al- Nas Love Al-Zein ), which was sung by the artist Ahmed Al-Snidar . And this was through the simplest tools that produce rhythms , then he trained himself to play until he was able to perform the first song, playing and singing.

His fame began through his performance of light songs of the Sanaani color, and he performed other than this color, so he sang songs from other regions of Yemen, such as Al- Udayn, then he moved to performing lengthy songs. He contributed to a group of beautiful songs through a group of lyrical poems that he wrote, composed and sang , the most famous of which are (There is no good teacher), (Let the hand of the creature), (Your night, my night) and others. He had a great position on the popular and official levels during his life and after his death, due to his distinguished good voice and beautiful playing, and his interest in the melodies of Yemeni artistic heritage and folklore, especially the folklore of the central regions of Yemen. He was awarded the Medal of Literature and Arts from President Ali Abdullah Saleh twice after his death, the first in 1984 AD and the second in 1989 AD, and the Medal of Arts from former President Ali Nasser Muhammad. Before the establishment of the unit, he worked in the Coordination Department at Radio Sana'a , then in the Department of Moral and Political Guidance before his death.


 

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Thursday, December 15, 2022

Spring in Date Garden

 

枣园春色

SPRING IN DATE GARDEN

Music Played on National Instruments
 

China Record Company, ?, M-2097

Since the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911, China has seen major changes in society and culture. Music was concerned also and before the advent of communism some Chinese intellectuals had worked on the modernization and on the revitalization of traditional Chines music. What is called ''Guo Yue'' meaning ''national music'' emerged as a genre during the 1920s in Beijing and Shanghai. Chinese regional music became part of modern education institution. This approach to music was backed by the Maoist regime and many records were issued from 1949 onwards.
Here we have seven tunes composed in that style : a soloist on a ''national instrument'' ie traditional instrument and a full orchestra also made of traditional instruments mainly but with a symphonic kind of sound. It reminds me of the Soviet approach which has probably influenced China's cultural nationalism.
On track A1 the flute dizi is played by Gao Ming accompanied by the Shaanxi Provincial Song and Dance Drama Theatre Folk Band.
Track A2 is a duet of erhu and zheng played by Feng Qianqiang and He Chengyu.
Track A3 is an orchestral piece by the Heilongjiang Provincial Song and Dance Troupe Folk Band.
Track B1 focuses on the suona and percussions of the Shandong Provincial Song and Dance Troupe Folk Band. The title might refer to the Commune of Paris and the revolt of the Parisians in 1871.
Track B2 is a zheng solo by Liu Weishan.
Track B3 gives us a good example of some banhu playing by Ji Che and the Shaanxi Provincial Broadcasting Arts and Crafts Troupe Folk Band.
Track B4 a yuehchin solo by Feng Shaoxian with a folk band. 

Compared to Chinese art music this guoyue music might appear to be not very interesting knowing that it is also part of the communist doxa of the time where the People is happy under the leadership of chairman Mao Zedong. But I think we could listen to these musicians for what they are : prodigious soloists who really love their music whatever the political context.


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Wednesday, December 14, 2022

Koto : Yamada School

 

山田流 箏 名曲のすべて

BEST COLLECTION OF KOTO MUSIC (YAMADA SCHOOL)

CBS SONY, 1973, SOJH 11

Several koto players (mainly women) are on this record : Masaki Uehara, Eisei Takahasi, Sizuko Yamase, Mikio Noguchi, Masue Fukuchi, Shôin Hagioka, Okazono Shôji and Masae Ôtsuka.
There are two schools for koto music : Ikuta and Yamada. This school was started by Yamada Kengyo during the 18th century at Edo (Tokyo). The school incorporated the genre called ''joruri''which was a sort of storytelling/song accompanied by the shamisen. Hence the frequent association of koto playing and singing.
Side A presents three instrumental pieces with two duets and one solo. The album starts with Rokudan a very famous composition for koto originally, going back to the 17th century and later played on other instruments.
Side B is about koto played along with other instruments (shamisen and shakuhachi). All the pieces have a singing section.
The koto has been one of the main instruments in Japanese musical culture especially when its practice was open to modest people during the 19th century. It's interesting to compare this album and the one I posted (28 November 2021) by Hiromu Handa and appreciate the evolution of koto music.
Text in Japanese. 


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Sunday, December 11, 2022

Rais Mbark Ayssar & Raisa Fatma Tmouzent


   الرايس مبارك أيسار 

 الرايسة فاطمة تموزنت

Rais Mbark Ayssar

 Raisa Fatma Tmouzent 

Chatir - Disques, ?, CD 201

From the same batch of tapes brought back by a friend (see post of the 6th of July 2021) another exemple of berber music from Southern Morocco (Souss area).
This time I got help from Tim Abdellah Fuson who has a wonderful site about Moroccan music :
http://moroccantapestash.blogspot.com/
There are five tracks but no titles mentionned.
Tim found this site about Mbark Ayssar (in Arabic or French) :
https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%85%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%83_%D8%A3%D9%8A%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%B1. He lived from 1952 to 2009.
Chatir Disques were based in the Paris area (Puteaux) but are not to be found anymore.

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Friday, December 9, 2022

МУКАМ НАВA

 

                                                 ДВЕНАДЦАТЬ УЙГУРСКИХ МУКАМОВ

               НАВA               

                           THE  TWELVE  UYGHUR MUQAMS/ NAVA

                                                Melodiya, 1982, C 30-17657-58 

Please see my post of August 27th for more details about the Uyghur people in Uzbekistan.

Maqam (muqam) Nava is the tenth muqam in that series of twelve. Muqam also refers to a modal suite in three parts : bashi (beshi) (non-rhythmic vocal or instrumental prelude), dastan (three to five popular or even folkloric narrative songs, of epic character, rhythmically interrupted by marghuls, instrumental interludes).and meshrep (five to seven final songs to be danced, very rhythmic and of folk inspiration).
The solo singer is Sultan Mamedov with the support of sato player Sultanmurad Razamov.
Leonidas found a Russian site with good information about the Uighur muqam system; translation available in a doc included with the audio files.



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Thursday, December 1, 2022

The Inca Harp

 

THE INCA HARP 

Laments and Dances of the Tawantinsuyu the Inca Empire

Lyrichord, 1980, LLST 7359 

This is one of the very few albums that are not part of Lyrichord's catalogue anymore.
Recorded in Peru by Ronald Wright this LP presents three harp players : two from Cuzco, Gabriel Aragon and Maximo Mendoza and Antonio Sulca from Ayacucho. Aragon and Sulca were blind and old enough at the time of the recording while Mendoza was only eighteen. Sulca is also on two other albums on the same label and available on line. He was a leading exponent of the Ayacucho harp style and was nicknamed ''Stealer of Heart''.
Wayno and harawi (yaravi) are dominant as usual.
The harp in use in Peru has no pedals and is diatonically tuned. The bass strings are quite powerful and can be heard in a band of several violins, kenas and mandolins hence its importance 
It is said that the harp was brought first by Irish jesuits priests and used to accompany the singing of religious songs. Whatever the origin, Peruvian people have mastered and integrated the harp into their culture over the centuries producing one of the most beautiful music in the world.
This a copy of an album I borrowed somewhere and I don't have the back of the cover. For details and titles see the scans. 

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Thursday, November 24, 2022

Борис Гмиря

 


                                      УКРАИНСКИЕ ПЕСНИ В ИСПОЛНЕНИЙ Б. ГМЫРИ

UKRAINIAN SONGS SUNG BY B. GMYRIA

Melodiya, 1962, D 005254-55

These two albums are copies of discs I borrowed from a Soviet cultural center in Paris around 1986-87. I didn't think of copying covers then; the pictures here are on Discogs. 

Boris Gmiria (1903-1969) was a Ukrainian opera singer in the ''singing bass'' register. But he was also known for his rendition of Ukrainian folk songs with folk instrument orchestras or piano accompaniment. He studied at the same time civil engineering and classical singing at the Kharkov Conservatory, graduating in each field in 1935 and 1939 respectively. His father died during the great famine of 1932-33. Because of his participation in musical life during the German occupation in Poltava he was harassed in the opera house and was not allowed to travel abroad. Nevertheless, he was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR in 1951. Unesco nicknamed him "Boris the Great" because of the power and depth of his voice, natural and without effects.
He is accompanied here by the Ossipov Orchestra conducted by V. Smirnov.


                                                A1 Ой гук, мати, гук
                                    Arranged ByН. Лысенко
 



                                                    A2 Така її доля
                                    Arranged ByЮ. Чернов
                                    Lyrics ByТ. Шевченко



                                          B1 Ой із-за гори та буйний вітер
                                    Arranged ByН. Лысенко
 
 
 



                                    B2 Ой дівчина горлица
                           Arranged ByВ. Дитель
 
 
                                     B3 Задумав дідочок
                                   Arranged ByВ. Мироманов
 



                                             
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Another 10'' album by Gmiria whose date of publication is unknown. Here he's accompanied by a small band of banduras under the direction of A. Minkovkii. The lyrics of the first song are the work of the greatest Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko. 









                                                            A1 Думи Моі
                                                    Lyrics ByТ. Шевченко

                                                           A2 Iхав Козак На Війноньку

                                                                A3 Ой Чото Ти, Дубе

                                                                 B1 Ой Зійди, Зійди 

                                                                   B2 Чорніі Брови 

                                                             B3 Дивлюсь Я На Небо
                                                            Lyrics By
М. Петренко
                                                              Music By
В. Заремба

 

 

I don't know how Gmiria would have reacted to the Russian aggression against Ukraine but I think he would have been overwhelmed with sadness; for the moment let's listen to this incomparable artist while waiting for the end of this war and possibly the victory of Ukraine.

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Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Chants et danses de Tchécoslovaquie

 

CHANTS ET DANSES /  TCHECOSLOVAQUIE

SONGS AND DANCES / CZECHOSLOVAKIA 

Le Chant du Monde, ?, LDX 74380

This is the French edition (late seventies perhaps) of the LP ''Monitor presents Songs and Dances by the National Ballet of Czechoslovakia'' issued in 1959 by the American label Monitor.
It is part of a huge series called ''Chants et danses'' from different parts of the world like Morocco, China or Armenia. Most of the time the performers are national orchestras like this one here founded in 1948. It is folklore from the Soviet period played by a choir, two solo singers and the usual type of formation with plenty of violins, one double bass, a cymbalum and two clarinets.
The repertoire comes mostly from Moravia and Slovakia with some very nice melodies.
Texte in French only.

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Thursday, November 17, 2022

Des & Mick Hurley

 

DES & MICK HURLEY / OVER THE WATER

Celtic Music, 1987, CMC 037

 The Hurley family was (and still is ?) a prominent musical family in the Irish community in Leeds. Here we have four brothers : Des on fiddle and button accordion, Mick and Kevin on flute, Andrew on bodhran.
I used to meet and play a lot with Des who was a regular visitor of the Big Bull's Head pub in Digbeth, Birmingham where I went regularly also. Ivan Miletitch who plays the bouzouki on the tape was a great guitar player and pionneer inIrish music in Paris at the turn of the eighties. He moved definitively to B'ham around 1985. Karen Tweed who was also a regular musician in B'ham plays the piano and the piano accordion here (one of the best I'd say).
This tape is one of many recorded by mainy long or short-lived bands in order to gain notoriety and concerts or gigs.
The sound is not perfect and the fiddle is often behind the flute but this is very stuff straight and effective.
Des is now Chief Executive and founder of the Irish Arts Foundation in 1998 in Leeds.


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Wednesday, November 9, 2022

La música folklórica de Venezuela


 MUSICA FOLKLORICA DE VENEZUELA

TRADITIONAL MUSIC OF VENEZUELA

INTERNATIONAL FOLK MUSIC COUNCIL

Ocora, ?, OCR 78

Another excellent Ocora album that was never reissued as far as I know; it's not even part of their catalogue. The recordings in the field made between 1958 and 1968  are the works of Isabel Aretz, Luis Felipe Ramon y Rivera and Alvaro Fernaud. I. Aretz (1909-2005) was an Argentinian ethnomusicologist who became Venezuelan in 1952 when she married Ramon y Rivera.
The LP is organized in a regional order : the states of Apure, Aragua, Barinas, Miranda, Yaracuy, Cojedes, Nueva Esparta, Sucre, Lara as well as Caracas and the Llanos. 
Music from Spanish origin (joropo, decima de tono, work songs) makes the main part of the album while the Afro-Venezuelan tradition with singing and drumming is present on a few tracks. 


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Thursday, November 3, 2022

Folk Music from Lőrincréve

 

MUSIC FROM LŐRINCRÉVE

Arrangements by FERENC SEBŐ

Hungaroton, 1986, SLPX 18102

Ferenc Sebő  is one of the pioneers of the revivalist movement in Hungary (Táncház mozgalom). He worked on different subjects like traditional music in the Hungarian areas in Transylvania. This album is sub-titled ''Dance Music by the Maros Riverside'', a zone with  a very rich musical culture that was before conveyed by Gypsy musicians dynasties that disappeared to be replaced by less-skilled peasant musicians according to Sebő. Two of these musicians are Zgigmond Karsai and Zsigmond Székely who sing on this album.
The arrangements tried to give us an idea about what would have been the soundscape towards the end of the 18th century when music from cities and the upper society was brought to peasant communities probably thanks to the Gypsies.
The basis for dance music is the ubiquitous traditional string trio : fiddle, viola (kontra) and double bass. To this 
Sebő added some non-traditional instruments such as the harp, the harpsichord, the horn or the classical flute but only at times to colorate the tunes differently without ever ''fiddling'' with them in their traditional consistency. The main fiddler is Levente Székely while Sebő provides the kontra. The track A1 is very nice with some ''oldish csardas''.
The songs are all a cappella including a vocal ensemble called Tátika.
Texts in Hungarian and English with lyrics. 


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Youcef Esseghir

  FOLKLORE TUNISIEN ORCHESTRE YOUCEF ESSEGHIR/MEZOUED  YOUCEF ELKAROUI RBAÏBIYA VOLUME 2 Les Artistes Arabes Associés,  1976, 72612 One of t...