End(-)Of(-)World Music

FOUND CASSETTE: Krida Raras (pimp. Nur Tasminto) - Uler Kambang Dangdut

2011-04-03T04:00:00.000-04:00

A few months ago when I was visiting the Musicworks Magazine office to pick up some review discs, and submit some work I had done (or something... I can't remember exactly what), the editor of the publication Micheline Roi handed me a found gift: a cassette she had picked up off the sidewalk along Spadina in Toronto's nearby Chinatown.

Of course I excitedly grabbed and examined it, and soon realized (as soon as I saw the word "Dangdut") that it wasn't Chinese, as one would surmise, at all but in fact Indonesian, which means as some of you already know, that there's a strongly likelihood that I will enjoy it!

Like many of my favourite things I've posted on the blog, Googling its title, artists etc. doesn't yield much of anything. So the information I have for this is scant. That doesn't stop me from enjoying it and puzzling over why it was left for dead on the sidewalk (especially since our Indonesian population is not terribly large!)

Because I didn't recognize much of the other words on the cassette I figured my best bet (after numerous fruitless Google expeditions) would be to get in touch with my friend Andrew Timar who's both incredibly knowledgeable about Indonesian music, and one hell of a suling player (he's part of Evergreen Gamelan Club and has performed with the likes of Euis Komariah (for those that know Indonesian music!) among others.)

Speaking to him shifted some of the puzzle pieces into their appropriate spots. Firstly, he helped me determine this little tape was Javanese. I had no way of determining that piece of information, seeing as I can only decipher the occasional Bahasa Indonesia word. No dice when it comes to any of the older and more regional languages. He also helped me get around the discrepancy between the word dangdut (an Indonesian pop style) and the actual sound on the tape. The fact that the company designated the ensemble (Krida Raras) as Karawitan indicates that this is indeed coming out of the gamelean tradition (as the music evinces as well). The use of 'dangdut' is more to show that they woven rhythmic and cadential elements from the dangdut style into a more traditional fabric...

As for how it sounds: The female vocalists Nyi Warsini and Nyi Martini (addressed in the classy manner "Waranggana") are both quite tangy-sounding, matching the bright glassy flavour of the ensemble. One is definitely more agile than the other (the one who sings on the title cut does so quite well) but the attribution on the back cover doesn't make it clear who's who. Male vocals (provided by Ki Tarno) alternate between guttural percussive grunts which dart in and around the percussion (idiomatic to the style), and a deft tenor croon which has a nice urgency in the vibrant upper range.

We could not determine what the indication Pengarah Acara designation meant, but here it is attributed to Bapak Wagiman. Andrew's guess was that it was arranger to pimpinan (leader) Nur Tasminto, but that was not for certain.

All in all, I can't say as I'm inclined to go bananas over this tape, as I have about other things I've heard. But it's definitely more than listenable, especially if you haven't been exposed to the stuff. And plus, one of my friends found it on the sidewalk in Toronto -- a city where there aren't even places that SELL this stuff!

Listen here!

ETHIO FIDEL live, courtesy of Mechanical Forest Sound

2011-03-26T12:47:00.009-04:00

**EDIT** I have been reversing the past two words of this blog's title for at least a year now... I feel ridiculous! Apologies to Mechanical FOREST SOUND!!!

Due to a few factors I was unable to attend an awesome show in Toronto last night featuring Girma Wolde Michael's Ethio Fidel and Toronto's own Canaille featuring the guest vocal talents of Isla Craig (known for lovely soul-informed psychedelic folk under her own name, as one third of the Deeep (Healing Power Records/ Not Not Fun's subsidiary, 100% Silk) and as former chorister in Bruce Peninsula).

Fortunately I was able to get a taste of the concert courtesy of Mechanical Forest Sound , who's always out and about capturing concerts!

Here's a sample of Ethio Fidel's show at Mechanical Forest Sound

There's plenty of other good bits on there featuring local and not-so-local acts! Nice that he's chronicling local activity like that.

Excellent blog alert: Música Tradicional Mexicana

2011-03-25T16:51:00.003-04:00

I just tripped across this brilliant Spanish-Language blog that documents the wonderfully varied world of Mexican Traditional Music. The slightly tongue-in-cheek tagline indicates their wide range: "Marimba, sones, mariachi, danzas indígenas, polkas, banda, calentana, norteña, corridos y la Paulina Rubio."

Mexican music has been playing a greater role in my life since I started playing with Toronto-based Son Jarocho ensemble Café Con Pan in the previous summer. When I visited Mexico with my partner shortly after Christmas time, I also got a lot more into the music when her father unleashed a veritable avalanche of stuff (most of which was Mexican folk) on me that I'm still trying to make sense of (because it's just that great!). This blog seems to be on a similar tip including a few volumes of the amazing amazing amazing collection of traditional music issued by the INAH (Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia) (just an aside, I'll have a blog up in a while about one volume of said collection soon!).

At any rate, visit this site and check it out. There's REAMS of listening there! Enjoy.

Música Tradicional Mexicana

Smooth Gal (Gal Costa - mid 1970's - 80's)

2011-03-15T10:02:00.014-04:00

Wow, readers (if you're still there)... I'm sorry!

Here I've gone again and taken quite some time out, when I promised to stay on track. My apologies. Basically I've been embroiled in a whole range of stuff. Amongst that: music for a theatre piece, soundtracking a documentary on assisted suicide/ cryogenics/ euthanasia, finishing a track and going over the masters for my upcoming release on Entr'acte , a bit of travelling in Mexico (subsequent posts will feature Mexican music!), touring a little bit (solo & with Picastro), and a bunch of other incidental music work. You can check out my musical endeavours in greater depth here, at my new website: www.nickstorring.ca

Now that I'm a little more sorted-out I've got a few different posts up my sleeve and hopefully will be updating things more frequently.

Lately, I've been on a bit of an MPB binge, and thus have snatched up a considerable amount of 1970's and 1980's discs Milton Nascimento, Maria Bethania and Gal Costa, all of whom have had rich and intriguing careers.

Something I've been sensing lately though, is that amongst the young n' hip, Gal's two psychedelic albums unjustly overshadow some of her slightly later work. Of course those two albums are bursting with wild-ass production, well-crafted tunes, and I will concede that her later discs are patchier, but her output from the mid 70's to mid 80's contains some real gems worthy of equal accolades.

The chief obstacle though for many, in my opinion, is the smooth vibe to the later work. Less and less though am I understanding of people's seemingly inherent issues with smooth music... In fact I would go as far as saying that people can be pretty lazy about divvying things up along the lines of "smooth/ overproduced/ inauthentic" and "rough/ natural/ authentic." The latter category, for me, holds as much potential to be a mess of aesthetic fall-backs, mediocrity, and uninventiveness. Just take the recent glut of noise, or so-called hypnagogic pop music. Plenty of that is just empty lo-fi "who the fuck cares" posturing, even though there is also equally myriad fresh, ingenious approaches to sound within those communities. But my stance on these things is pretty predictable... I'm always wary of arguments predicated on authenticity whether it's to do with so-called "overproduction" or the good old analog/ digital debate (don't get me started!).

At any rate, the same ratio of good-to-bad applies for "smooth" music in my opinion... On one hand you have a bunch of twits hellbent on making bland inoffensive ditties, where on the other you have people employing that soundworld to create something sensuous and appealing (for instance, take Sade who's made a career out of crafting sophisticated, soft-focus jams.)

Gal Costa and her collaborators have a been success story, making beautiful jazz-inflected tracks what combine lush and eclectic arrangements, yummy harmonies with a sleek, glistening surface.

Yes, a lot of these tracks are available on greatest hits packages--but they get ignored when they're framed in a cheesy package like that and when they're not readymade for being served up by the trendy "ethnic" reissue market who cannot compulsively label this stuff "psychedelic" or "fuzzed-out" or "groove" (yes Soundway, I'm dissing you)!

I made the same mistake of ignoring this facet of Gal too... until one night I was listening to Gal with my partner (who was eager to find a particular track that her dad had on taped-from-the-radio mix) and discovered that certain tracks I had previously dismissed were now of utmost interest, given my recent predilection for post-disco pop production.

Fantasia, Minha Voz and Baby are three of the strongest releases from that period, and all feature relaxed, yet sexily urgent vocals cast against various sorts of arrangements spanning full fledged orchestral splendor, all the way over to tight and deftly funky band groupings. Whatever the case, you nearly always have a sense of richness and depth, and tidy balance. Each element is tempered by another: Breezy fender rhodes arpeggiations waft gently across buoyant basslines. Lithe laid-back percussion paints an dusky landscape through which bright synth timbres cut like neon signs. Nylon-stringed guitars are reverent to a heritage of bossa nova songcraft, while the colourful productions look forward toward the same futuristic soundworld that disco did.

The song-picks are classy and well-selected covering repertoire by Jobim, Djavan, Caymmi, and even Stevie Wonder (translated into Portuguese on "Nada Mais").

Here I'm presenting some my favourite cuts from various albums from the mid 1970's to mid 1980's.

I thought I'd point out some interesting features on some of said tracks that I've compiled...

The weird doubling of almost-icky incandescent synth and strings which announces "Azul" is one of the most peculiar arrangement ideas I have heard in a while in straight-up popular music. It leads nicely to a delicate groove which clearly draws on disco but employs coy piano off-beats to accent the sumptuous vocal lines.

On her aforementioned reading Stevie's "Lately" ("Nada Mais") (one of his best ballads, if you ask me) you hear a strange resemblance to Michael Jackson's voice as she pushes her somewhat reluctant voice into her strident upper range. While not as outright soulful as the original version, her slightly detachment in the initial delivery actually pulls just as hard at the heartstrings as it is the evokes the sound of feminine poise and composure in the face of the infidelity mentioned in the lyrics, before giving way to a more raw sound at the key change (where that vocal colour-change happens!)

With "De volta ao começo" (also from Profana) you wonder to what extent Robin Guthrie was looking to Brazil for inspiration on the Cocteau Twins' Blue Bell Knoll's more tropical moments... Woozy, chorused slide guitars melt over Gal's lazily intoned vocals, and crisp percussion and sparkling DX7 bells. Strings sweep up from underneath building to the point that they are a merely bright glaze on top of the mix. Also noteworthy is the vaguely macho guitar solo that emerges near the end. A nice touch, but pretty laughably dated for those unable to immerse themselves in the smooth aeshetic of these tracks!

The intro on "Bahia de Todas as Contas"(from Baby) always made me skip it when I heard it on the hits collection of hers I had purchased prior to being able to acquire the two famous records she had made under the lysergic influence of tropicalia. But now that I've acquired a taste for the idiom, this track has become one of my favourites. Its evocation of traditional Brazilian music with choral chanting and busy percussion is paired with a filed-down progginess (in the structure) which likely came into music via jazz fusion's flirtation with Brazil. Funky changes of rhythmic emphasis and little tags and turn-arounds bounce the song in various different directions while Gal's long vocal overdubs assume a sultry, reclined position on top of the whole affair.

Almost nothing beats the soaring back-up vocals and string-arrangement on the melancholic "Faltando um Pedaço" from Fantasia. The sweetly nocturnal arrangement carries an absolutely stellar vocal melody which unfurls along an unexpected circuitous trajectory.

The accapella "Estrela Estrela" from Fantasia closes out the mix. The delicately plaintive vocal placed amidst the jazzy vocal harmonies for some reason never fails to give me goosebumps (or even tears!). Something about it feels quite lonely and forlorn, yet also hopeful and connected with the world.

I could wax poetic about each one of these songs on the mix, but I'll leave some stuff up to the imagination...

ENJOY IT HERE! (sorry for the difference in bit rates!)

Olodum - Da Atlântida à Bahia... O Mar É O Caminho

2010-12-05T00:46:00.006-05:00

Greetings folks! Sorry for the fairly long delay. I've been busy with various work, and also out of the country for a spell on tour with Picastro in Europe. It's only been now that I've found the time to get back into the flow of writing here again.

Today I'm sharing a disc by a group who serves as a wonderful testament to the strangeness of the marketing manoeuvres behind so-called World Music. It's shocking to me that a band could collaborate with Paul Simon, Michael Jackson and Jimmy Cliff and still have their name elicit blank and/or curious stares amongst music geeks. I guess though, if you live in the global south, and play music like that of Olodum which builds on traditions and borrows freely from (what has come to be) a Western pop genre (reggae), and does so on its own terms and not directly under the auspices of an external 'world music' mogul, it is sort of easy to get lost in the shuffle... If your own musical output is not backed by the Northern/Western music industry--then you're not going to become somewhat of a household name like Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

So while they're featured on Paul Simon's Rhythm of the Saints, not to mention one of MJ's videos, Olodum has remained a bit obscure. A large drum and percussion-based group out of Bahia, Brazil, they're known for their own idiosyncratic style their leader, Neguinho do Samba, had dubbed samba reggae. While leaning more toward the former, you can definitely hear the languid looseness of the latter in their work.

I snapped up Da Atlântida à Bahia... O Mar É O Caminho from one of my favourite Toronto stores, Vortex (Yonge, just north of Eglinton). My interest was piqued by the faded, old-school reggae-like packaging and it being release on Continental, which is distributed by Warner Brasil.

I was pleased to find that the music contained within is thunderous and thick, Brazilian drumming making up 90% of the instrumentation. Quite relaxed (in tempo and delivery), these jams are more of a deep shuffle than the urgent groove of maracatu or samba. As one would expect, there is strong African vibe to vocals as well.

Jimmy Cliff joins them on the second track too, his hoarse falsetto mingling with some tasteful horn arrangements.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get the real release date for it online apparently it's from '91 but the production values betray this date, sounding more like it was done between '71 and '81. Not that this is a bad thing, there's a certain earthy richness to the way it's been recorded... No gated reverbs here!

Here is the link for the album.

Mina Gonzales - Huayno Harp Music

2010-10-14T16:07:00.005-04:00

Fairly recently Huayno music has really begun to catch my ears, thanks to a compilation, Huaynos & Huaylas: The Real Music of Peru, which I found for dirt cheap at the wonderful and underrated Vortex Records in midtown Toronto.

This well-picked compilation features some really excellent cuts in the deliriously beautiful huayno style which tends features harp, clusters of saxophones, scrawls of violin, percussion, handclaps and strident singing ambling along together in a sorta-polyrhythmic three-legged race.

Here's one of the real standout examples:

Upon researching the style more thoroughly (read: Googling it to find numerous more obscure examples, some with the sort of gaudier production values I love, and also even more idiosyncratic approaches) I happened upon a singer whose work I rather enjoy, Mina Gonzales.

Her particular branch of Huayno music is a fair bit softer than the other: none of those fluorescent shocks of out-of-tune violins, no bold struts of saxophony bisecting the cacophonous blend of instruments. Here the listener is greeted with lots of harp--tinselly cascades of metal strings amidst the more round tones of gut strings which constructed a deep lattice of tones below. Gonzales' sweet, florid voice is refracted through copious echoes, richocheting off of sharp bright handclaps, and the insectan chatter of guiros.

The music will bathe you in glistening silvery tendrils of sound and it's a glorious thing. For Spanish speakers, I have been told with a lot of this music that there is an additional maudlin-ness to the whole affair but that gaudy aspect is part of what makes it so deliciously rapturous: full, reverberant singing shot through a labyrinth of mirrored plucks. It may be less assertive than the music played by the orquestra tipicas in other Huayno idioms but none of its intoxicating sweep is compromised in this more pared down setting!

Here is Gonzales' greatest hits compilation Exitos de Oro

(Apologies for the missing track... the source .ZIP file was corrupt and I could not find another version to download elsewhere!)

Help save the Tranzac.

2010-09-30T13:58:00.002-04:00

I'm a little overdue for an official post... But here's something to consider in the meantime especially for those of you in Toronto, the Tranzac, one of the most important music venues in Toronto is not having a good time financially right now. In fact things are pretty dire.

They're more than a music venue too. They're home to the Blocks Recording Club, and provide a venue for theatre shows. There's even a little zine library upstairs. They've helped cultivate a lot of uniquely Torontonian work!

I STRONGLY suggest you visit their pledgie page here, read what's going on, how they contribute to our community and maybe make a donation, or even repost the link!

Here it is:
http://pledgie.com/campaigns/13572

Laudan Nooshin : Improvisation as 'Other' : Creativity, Knowledge and Power --The Case of Iranian Classical Music

2010-09-08T20:34:00.006-04:00

While doing my usual Google-sniffery (as a result of being curious about the composer being featured at the Shiraz Ensemble concert), I happened this very astute and incisive scholarly article about the notion/role/ discourse of improvisation within Iranian classical music and how this concept superimposed itself upon the tradition via the polarizing effects of the introduction of the Western notation system, ethnomusicological readings of "Oriental" music and other forces.

The author, Dr. Laudan Nooshin, makes a very strong and well-researched argument, mounting a critique of the generalized binary opposition between "composed" and "improvised" and also exposing the rather disturbing eurocentric and colonial discourses of difference which built and now bolster the division between the two. This is further elaborated through a thorough discussion of this within Iranian music.

Shiraz Ensemble Concerts Next Week

2010-09-08T12:24:00.006-04:00

From Araz Salek:

"Shiraz Ensemble is performing on Sep. 16th and 17th at the Music Gallery. The focus of this concert is on compositions of a very avant-garde Iranian composer, Reza Fayaz. Fayaz is a perfect example of a progressive artist moving Persian music forward while still maintaining its traditional roots. Shiraz ensemble is proud to showcase new and exciting directions within traditional Persian music, please join us for this unique musical experience meshing new and old sonic traditions."

Where: Music Gallery, 197 John St., Toronto

When: Thursday and Friday, Sep.16 & 17 at 7:30pm

Tickets available online: www.musicgallery.org

at IAUT (Iranian Association at the University of Toronto, iaut.org)
Pegah Book store (5513 Yonge St.)
Shawrak Music (11 Steeles Ave. E.)

20$ Students, members, seniors and 25$ Regular

Excellent post on Bollywood disco & a repost of my own!

2010-09-07T12:51:00.003-04:00

Geeta Dayal has written a lovely bit on Bollywood Disco for the Wire--one of my favourite styles of music! Here's a link to her blog that I found on the Wire's website.

http://www.theoriginalsoundtrack.com/2010/08/studio-84-the-history-of-disco-in-india/

After seeing this I decided to re-jig one of my old posts and repost it (it got removed, I think, because I was linking one of those sketchy/ illegal Bollywood MP3 sites).

Here's my original post with replaced links (to streaming Youtube versions!)
http://endofworldmusic.blogspot.com/2008/06/disco-from-subcontinent.html

LOVER'S ROCK : Janet Kay - Silly Games / Dub Dem Silly

2010-09-06T16:06:00.000-04:00

Similar to that of Soul, the Reggae reissue market seems to be somewhat geared at purists.

And talking to people who consider themselves soul aficionados I've observed that the mainstream of the soul-reissue microindustry has its market cornered. Some collectors have pretty rigid criteria for what's 'soulful' and what's not. As soon as there's the merest proto-Disco soupcon or slightest Quiet Storm sleekness to the production, said people immediately get turned off and start frothing about authenticity of emotion and over-production.

Perhaps being invested in making electroacoustic music and other genres that are all about "the magic" of the studio, I'm not under the same delusion that it's a question of over- or under- production. Recordings are inherently mediated and totally fake. I'm completely unrepentant about this. Whether it's analog or digital, or whether you've got some soulful diva doing one take with a band with a mere few mics or Charles Stepney at the controls overdubbing zillions of Minnie Ripertons doing whistletones, it's all artifice! Recordings never 'capture' a performance acurately! They are (re)creations and (re)constructions of performance as soon as you've got a recording device engaged, whatever's being transferred to that medium has already been extracted out of the realm of performance. Even without editing and overdubs you're still making artistic decisions: mic placement, equalization, the sort of room you're using, and the recording media. And there is great artistic potential within the realm of recording. For me, it's not a case of authentic recording it's a case of ultimately eliciting authentic feeling in the listener.

Perhaps my outlook is what makes me less inclined to be suspicious of mid-70's and even 80's soul, and also the subgenre of Reggae known as Lovers Rock.

Lovers Rock is a somewhat-maligned, smoother counterpart to Rocker's Reggae that emerged in Britain in the 1970's. Employing light, airy, (yet still dubwise) production values, lazy-afternoon arrangements and often sweet, girlish vocals. Its emphasis on mushy lyrics and sweet tones make much of this musician easy target for the soul police.

It's the same rubric that would frame Deniece Williams' This Is Niecy as 'unsoulful.' Not only do its nylon-over-the-camera-lens the production values immediately trigger alarm bells. Its also the glistening-diamond Rhodes pianos, silvery strings and breezy trombones, lite-funky rhythms, and vocals full of wide-eyed innocent glee. It's not macho enough to have true 'soul'. Even if all that emoting can get a little silly too. I mean really... how authentic can the endless stream of soul sides be... going on about being treated so "ba-a-a-a-d bay-beh bay-beh." Not that that music is bad or that it doesn't come from a real place. I just think that the hampered joy and love Niecy portrays on "That's What Friends Are For" (we all know she likes him MORE than a friend!) is just a tangible as anybody bemoaning the loss of a cheatin' lover, it's just a different feel (much like the accompanying music and production style)

A lot of Lovers' Rock as a genre, has pretty been swept under the rug by the reissue machine. Sure there's been some nice compilations devoted to that music, or prominently featuring the genre's golden era, but many of the best albums of the era are hardly even available.

Janet Kay's Silly Games and it's accompanying set of dubs (courtesy of the original records' producer, Dennis Bovell), Dub Dem Silly is among the best music of the genre. The title cut is of course very widely known, but the full album remains pretty much in limbo, unfortunately.

Kay possess a uniquely heady, light-toned voice that almost has a slightly otherworldly character, especially when she swoops up into her higher register. The production on Silly Games is a great complement to her voice and the songs. The rhythm section is lean and economical opting for that submerged, woody snare-and-kick drum sound, glazed with whispery tickle-your-ears hi-hats and the occasional steely interjection of taut-skinned tom-toms. The guitar tones are transparent, and bass deep but buoyant. Smooth brass and winds fill things out, as some careening dub-isms inject just the right amount of cosmic wonder.

"Rock The Rhythm" is a sensuous, humid song which opens with Kay harmonizing with herself over slinky reggae beat. The arrangement remains simple, but something about her voice envelopes the listener, giving the illusion of lushness while maintaining a dusky funkiness.

"Do You Really Love Me" (please ignore the video's visuals!) sees her giddy with excitement over new love yet is fearful because of the potential for hurt. Again the arrangement is decidedly mid-tempo and tight, yet slyly oceanic and dreamy. The smooth uniformity of overdubbed backup vocals which provide the response to the lead Kay's contribute to this feel, while there's a great level of urgency as anxious synth bleeps punctuate the beat, which is also riddled with hurried tom-tom fills. Kay's delivery is hotter, begging her lover not to "break her tender heart", but still her vocal floats with mild vibrato resembling the soft bends of a ribbon.

The slippery, detailed melody on closing cut "Capricorn Woman" is suffused with a yearning sexuality, and in the verse almost recalls vintage Bollywood songcraft. The flute counterpoint woven through bolsters this impression as it darts in and around her surprisingly ornamented singing. Her misty voice is surrounded by delicate nylon guitar and gentle splashes of percussion. Again her light, yet full singing gives the impression of saturation yet allows the song to waft along gently like the smoke of a dying fire on some imaginary beach (this is British music after all, so that imaginary tropical warmth is an important ingredient in its particular brand of smoothness!).

The versions created by Bovell further accentuate the peculiarities of this recording. One of the most important aspects to it is the interplay between slightly chilly and aloof Northern Soul Englishness and the sunny warmth and sensuality of Reggae. The plumes of echo and reverb send the remainders of her voice spiraling and curling upward as the polished surfaces of the backing music glisten beneath, cast in new dubby light. While nowhere close the sort of batshit-crazy dub antics you occasionally hear, the dubs certainly tease out hidden features. When used as echo fodder you truly get a sense of the strangely ethereal quality of her voice. It balances on a certainly breathy invitation, spectral detachment and wide-eyed girlishness which stirred into a dub provides mysterious and alluring atmospherics.

Enjoy the two albums here.

Sixty Interpretations of Sixty Seconds -- global improv compilation

2010-09-02T11:20:00.001-04:00

Toronto (well... Brampton, technically) guzheng-ist and free improviser David Sait has long been endeavouring to forge links between the local experimental community and forward-looking performers of global traditional/ classical musics.

For a spell he was curating the (in my opinion unfortunately named, but curatorially brilliant) series Night Bazaar which put together the two communities. His own work, too, operates from a position of understanding the traditional facets of his instrument while also having an exploratory outlook.

Aside from solo work, he's done collaborations with like-minded Toronto improviser Michael Keith (as Cracker & Shoe), John Oswald, LaDonna Smith, Sarah Peebles, a disc with Eugene Chadbourne and other projects.

Most recently he's pushing his mandate further, curating a worldwide compilation of minute-long improvisations. While very diverse from a stylistical and musical background point of view, Sait has elected, thankfully, to scramble things up and treat this simply like 60 individuals from all over the place playing their own individual music, where it would be tempting, of course to have them be emblematic of their respective race/ culture/ region.

The compilation features contributions from people of different professional statures which is nice. You've got known people like: John Oswald, Joe McPhee, Michael Snow, John Butcher, Lawrence Casserley, Susan Alcorn, Helena Espvall, Chas Smith and Ignatz, but many other new names (to me at least). The compilation also features people on everything from conventional western instrumentation like guitar to esoteric homebuilt contraptions of their own devising (eg. rubber glove bagpipes, samchillian, kaisatsu) to electronics to traditional instruments from everywhere (hurdy gurdy, tar, shamisen, harpsichord) to mundane objects (chair, platform).

Here's info on the contributions to the disc!

And here is a generous smattering of samples from the disc provided by David himself which you can stream through SoundCloud!
Various Artists - Sixty Interpretations of Sixty Seconds (Part 2) by endofworldmusic
2/1 Yurko Rafaliuk - tsymbaly (UKRAINE)
2/2 Jeff Albert - trombone (USA)
2/3 Laure Chailloux - accordion diatonique (FRANCE)
2/4 Leon Gruenbaum - samchillian (USA)
2/5 Leanid Narushevich - electric guitar (REPUBLIC OF BELARUS)
2/6 Araz Salek - tar (CANADA)

Various Artists - Sixty Interpretations of Sixty Seconds (Part 3) by endofworldmusic
3/1 John Oswald - alto sax (CANADA)
3/2 Christine Sehnaoui - alto sax (FRANCE)
3/3 Susan Alcorn - pedal steel (USA)
3/4 David Sait - guzheng (CANADA)
3/5. Pekko Käppi - jouhikko (FINLAND)
3/6 Andrea Centazzo - gong (USA)

Various Artists - Sixty Interpretations of Sixty Seconds (Part 5) by endofworldmusic
5/1. Damon Smith - field recordings/7 string double bass/laptop (USA)
5/2. Lawrence Casserley - monoharp/breath/signal processor (UK)
5/3. John Butcher - saxophone controlled feedback & piano resonator (UK)
5/4. Tom Boram - analog modular synth (USA)
5/5. Ignatz - guitar/voice/drum (BELGIUM)
5/6. Helena Espvall - cello/effects (USA)

The album can purchased here, through CDBaby on disc or digital format. (More samples here too albeit without any proper attribution to the various artists' contributions)

OR

HERE through EMusic!

ENJOY!

Simin Ghanem

2010-08-30T19:41:00.009-04:00

See... That was quick!

A lot of the best grandiose torchsong-type music has somewhat of dark overtone to it. Moments where the whole song is engulfed in a big maroon-coloured wave of maudlin moroseness.

Edith Piaf's brilliant "Belle Histoire D'Amour" one of her lesser-known cuts is a classic example of this bordering-on-comical lugubrious sweep. Portishead also built their career on teasing out the haunted bits of the torch song genre and painting it over crackle-infested beats.

Simin Ghanem was introduced to me by a good Iranian friend, Golbarg, who shares a passion for dark-hued female voices and melodramatic songs. A big Nina Simone fan, I had introduced her to Roberta Flack's reading of Van McCoy's "Sweet Bitter Love" which she took to with great enthusiasm. If you're familiar with that tune you have an idea of the kind of scale we're talking here.

Like her more famous pre-revolution (both are still active now but the general consensus is that the golden era of their careers was pre-79) contemporary Googoosh (famous, yet still criminally neglected by the world music industry!) Ghanem's output consists often of full-fledged orchestral arrangements with splashes of rock instrumentation and Persian classical colours. What differentiates her and Googoosh however is the same thing that distinguishes Brigitte Fassbaender and Janet Baker's readings of Mahler's Kindertotenlieder (arguably the spooky great-aunt to gloomy torchsongs). Whereas Baker brings a certain maternal softness and longing to the piece, Fassbaender's copious vibrato and throaty attack bring a certain level of dread and even insanity to the songs. While it still contains sensitivity there is a grain of unpredictability in there. (This is not to say one reading is more desirable though!)

Googoosh certainly has her intense, tear-jerking moments (if you're about to label that cheesy you can stop reading now!) but there is something about her singing that always remains graceful and refined even when she's teetering on the edge of emotional precipice.

Simin Ghanem carries her thicker, deeper voice more boldly and assertively than her contemporary. Still more than amply agile she employs less restraint ending up with larger, stickier ornaments which drag the melody around rather than lifting it up and dancing with it daintly. Her rounder. more pushed tone, is almost akin to that of Fassbaender, who is definitely a few notches closer to a shout than Baker.

In addition to her voice being more deeply connected to her physicality, the arrangements and production tend to be less glossy than Googoosh. In the above song, "Seeb" you hear cheaply sinister synth on top of the sort of heavy, flaccid drumming favoured by Ringo. The rest of the arrangement (consisting of guitars, synth strings, and bass) is murky and pushed to the background by cavernous slap-back echo.

For a real tenebrous treat, you must check out "Marde Man" in the downloadable album below. This is her at her most epic (in the true sense of the word) and deliriously climatic. Starting from a low simple melody, she grows in intensity deploying her elongated wavering ornaments and stretching out each note, until, bolstered by violins she's brought to a wailing, saturate climax.

Other highlights include the protracted "Besozan" which sounds more related to days-of-yore Persian singers with more traditional melodies and sonorities. Her voice and the hollowness of the arrangement and its slow deteriminated pulse actually recalls Nico's Desert Shore. (Ironically it's clearly also a jumping-off point for Lisa Gerrard's The Mirror Pool). A later track on the disc, "Raha Shodam" delves deeper into traditional Persian music, featuring tar, santur and tombak alongside strings, as well as the certain rhythmic lilt of Persian song.

"Gole Goledoon"(or "Az Tou Tanha Shodam" neither the CD jacket, CDDB, or online version seem to properly align with this particular song! As a non-Farsi speaker I can't figure it out... seems wrong to me!) is considerably more informed by Western pop--offering a spare and plaintive backdrop of nylon string guitar and taut drum tones for her powerful vocals. "Gholake Cheshat" has an almost Morriconesque flavour to the instrumentation, featuring harmonica and trumpet, amidst organ, nylon guitar, plunky Pet Soundsish bass and drums. Her voice quivers and also bellows against this.

Simin Ghanem's rich, raw delivery against an often pop-oriented yet dark musical underpinning is magical. Fans of Nina Simone, Scott Walker (of Scott 1-4) and Nico may want to take note.

Investigate it here.

Also... you can also purchase it through Pegah Books in Toronto (near Finch Station)

EOWM is not dead. It's just been hibernating.

2010-08-30T17:08:00.004-04:00

Since having vanished all but completely for I can't remember how long, I've probably squandered whatever meager readership I had accumulated...

Even if that is in fact the case I'm here to tell you (excitedly) that soon I plan post some new things. I've been hearing some great music and thinking to myself "If only I still had the blog... Oh wait I still do!" ... Here I am!

As some of you who know me personally know, things have been quite wild in various capacities for me in the past year and half to two years. So c'mon cut me some slack. I'm excited that I'm going to be sharing more stuff!

Sorry for the long hiatus!`

2009-08-10T11:08:00.002-04:00

Hello readers! I'm sorry I've been off the map for a while. Since April I have been quite busy, so my blog-updating pace has gone out the window.

I shall return at some point.

In the meantime, feel free to check out the fruits of my absense from End(-)of(-)World Music.

http://www.myspace.com/piegemusic

I've made an ep (containing the tracks: Gora Dub, Cylinder Dub, Cusp, and Newjack) of dancey/ discoey stuff under my Piege alias. I expect there will be another one along before the end of the fall.

Anyway. Hopefully I will be back online here soon!

Street Music of Java

2009-04-26T02:43:00.007-04:00

While this stellar compilation kind of falls outside of my usual mandate of attempting to post albums and songs that are not available from the North American/ European markets (to my knowledge, that is!) I feel as if this album warrants me breaking (or rather, only half breaking--it's quite out of print!) my own rules.

Released in 1990 by the label Original Music, Street Music of Java is an joyous romp through various infectious forms of music played by small street ensembles in Java. Not all the styles are strictly Javanese but the music consistently fun and beautifully performed, full of hoarse female voices, scratchy violin, buoyant drumming. There's also plenty of that very Indonesian-sounding guitar playing. Those of you who have listened to any of the super asli keroncong or the Smithsonian Indonesian Guitars compilation can attest that there's a very uniquely Indonesian style of guitar playing (often sort of a blend of old Portuguese colonial influences with kacapi playing).

Featuring various ramshackle forms of familiar Indonesian popular and folk styles, each song on this compilation feels like a hit single albeit minus any studio frills. You'll hear the Bollywood-informed dance music known as dangdut whittled down to an acoustic ensemble with near-shouted vocals, replete with gleeful outburst of laughter. There's also some languid kerocong (very Portuguese-sounding) numbers with enough of grit to them to differentiate them from the myriad adult-contemporary recordings of keroncong out there. Dry throated crooning voices sing sweetly weaving themselves "pitchy" yet quite ornate violin lines, atop the trademark interlock plucked parts.

The vocals in the Melayu guitar-tunggal ("solo guitar") style track "Hinam Himam" displays a Islamic influence you frequently hear in Indonesian and Malaysian musics. While the vocals have an Arabic music flavour, the strummed guitar almost evokes South American folk styles.

The highlight for me is the folksy dangdut track "Kuda Lumping". With a lilting bounce in the drums, the loosely-strung twang of a cheap guitar and tambourines offer some rapid rhythmic propulsion. Meanwhile the shrill squawking vocals dance along the line of the songs ridiculously catchy and playful melody. Strangely I'm left with the thought that you could almost hear an Indonesian version of the Slits covering this song plugged-in!

Later you get some coarse examples of langgam jawa, both in a more authentic and a kerocongified format before some particularly spare vocal & drum treatments of the dangdut rhythm.

Near the close of the album you get a taste of some ronggeng-based music, which feature some of the familiar gamelan instruments which accompany some yearning male-female vocal exchanges. There's also a short processional recording (also labelled "Kuda Lumping") before a lengthy final cut which features the siter (a zither), percussion, clapping and woozily soulful singing.

It's a damn shame that this album is out of print and, like a number of excellent rare early 90's releases fetches a king's ransom on Amazon marketplace!

Here's the link!

Utne Reader writes about the global musics blog / reissue scene -- quotes one of my articles!

2009-04-26T02:26:00.004-04:00

Stuart Ellis of Radiodiffusion Internasionaal & Sublime Frequencies fame wrote me when I was at work a couple of days ago to inform me his blog, and several others had been written up in long-running alternative culture mag the Utne Reader.

He told me that they also mentioned me. I had assumed he was referring to my blog, but in actual fact they quote an article that I wrote for Musicworks this past year.

At any rate I'm pleased to see the Utne Reader taking notice of this whole scene, and am extra happy that they decided to include me in their celebration.

Here's their very well-written article!

A somewhat revisionist glance at a few of the big names in Mauritanian song

2009-03-24T23:27:00.000-04:00

Anyone who's heard (the sadly out-of-print) Moorish Music of Mauritania (1990) by Dimi Mint Abba and Khalifa Ould Eide can attest to the marvelous music contained within.

The highlight: her trademark vocals--strikingly hoarse yet as nimble and graceful as you can imagine, easily gliding over top of the craggiest of melodic terrain (full of tic-like ornaments and flickering appregiations).

As the anthropological title suggests, the record is relatively traditional and largely acoustic featuring percussion (tabl), qawwali-esque clapping and group vocals, the four-stringed tidnit, the buzzing harp (ardia) and electric guitar. It was recorded, however, in the studio and not "the field".

The songs reference her griot(te) roots, as well as devotional themes but incorporate some more modern elements. It could be considered the culmination of her worldwide exposure, which spread across all of Africa and the Arab world (in 1976 she won a Gold Medal at the Oum Kolthoum Festival in Tunisia for her vocal talents!) , to Europe and then elsewhere.

Then there's also the equally brilliant singer Ouleya Mint Amartichitt, who, hot on the heels of the aforementioned album also managed to make a bit of splash in the World Music industry with her album Praise Songs, now also out-of-print (and also fetching similarly exhorbitant approaching-three-digit prices in Amazon's marketplace).

Both artists were embraced early on by the then-young World-Music machine, (seemingly looking for the next "big" thing). Now a few years on, you'll have to look to music forums, blogs and Youtube to get a hold of their music.

When I was poking around on Youtube though I caught some interesting glimpses into the less- Westernized (in terms of its production and target audience) yet, not necessarily more traditional stuff that also goes on in Mauritania. I decided to look around more and share some of my findings.

Here's a few from Dimi...

Dimi nasi7a
Uploaded by cheikhdidi

Dimi minte aba
Uploaded by cheikhdidi

This one is notable for the absense of percussive rhythmic drive, but for the presence of the woozy psychedelia emanating from the guitars and synths. Note the guitar player's built-in effects!

Here's a guitar solo from the same excerpt. Who the hell said phasers are over? Awesome!

Here's what looks like an old-school clip of Dimi...

Now on to Ouleya Mint Amartichitt

Here's a video from singer Enima Mint Sheik.

Here is another singer whose name I am not sure of. She has a smoother less fiery voice than her peers but still gracefully executes the rapid melismas.

Another...

ida3t mauritane musique
Uploaded by aitoussya

Here's two real old ones by Hadrami Ould El Meydah:

Enjoy! And if you have any tips on the singers, or any links to downloads of this music (or spots for purchasing it) feel free to comment!

Wannabe Indian Music from South East Asia.

2009-03-16T22:25:00.004-04:00

I can definitely see why one might want to be Indian. Indian culture is rich, diverse and multifaceted and its roots run deep.

Another thing is it's one of the best countries, musically in the world, so it's no wonder musicians feel compelled to imitate their styles! And it's not just goras like George Harrison who were inclined that way. In South East Asia, there's been a longstanding obsession with Bollywood in particular. Two fellow bloggers have been kind enough to provide us with interesting examples of such musics.

Over at monrakplengthai we have a great record by Chatri Sichon which demonstrates a nice fusion of Thai sensibilities to 1950's-70's Bollywood-style arrangements.

Meanwhile, at Madrotter we hear a peculiar fusion of Jaipongan, Dangdut and old-fashioned Bollywood which even includes a cover of Lata Mangeshkar's early hit "Aayega Aanewale" from the 1949 spookfest Mahal (check track 4!).

Madrotter also features this strange soundtrack(?) which contains songs in what sounds like Hindi and in bahasa Indonesia. The arrangements and vocals are largely derivative of Bollywood while, still maintaining a certain detectable Indonesian-ness.

Anyway... Enjoy!

Byungki Hwang - Kayagum Masterpieces

2009-03-14T22:30:00.001-04:00

Byungki Hwang is one of the foremost performers on the kayagum, a multi-stringed zither from Korea (similar to the koto or guzheng). While rooted heavily in tradition, however, he has been one of the primary forces of innovation in Korean art-music. According to the liner notes of The Labyrinth - Kayagum Masterpieces Vol. 3, he can be attributed to bridging the gap between folk and court music traditions in korea, as well as pushing the role of composer to the fore, without pursuing more Westernized directions. Hwang has long been engaged in the music of Korea but also contributed to the academic discourse of Western art music (including essays on John Cage).

My limited description above only offers a glimpse into the unique soundworld of Hwang's music. Admittedly my own explorations have been just a taste too... but enough to fall in love with his unique voice within an already incredible rich vocabulary (I love Korean classical music!). While some of his works (as heard on, for instance, 2007's Darha Nopigom - (Vol. 5 of the masterpieces series)) exhibit a exquisite, restrained approach to a more tradition sonic palette, the music on The Labyrinth (particular the titular piece) offers a contrasting image with wild colours abound including bowing the instrument and eerie vocal interjections.

Here on this mysterious number-domain (which appears to be a massive repository of Korean music), you can hear volumes 1-4 of the series. And here you'll find Darha Nopigom (which has apparently been reissued by the ARC Music, hence making it not quite eligible for the blog... oh well. Enjoy!

Another wonderful aural friend! Mon Rak Pleng Thai

2009-03-14T21:38:00.010-04:00

Recently I got a really lovely email from a fellow blogger, Peter, who appreciated my enthusiasm for Thai music, and recommend I check out his blog. And what a great blog it is. It's called Mon Rak Pleng Thai.

Peter's got quite a few excellent albums of delicious Thai music--covering everything from Molam Sing to old Luk Krung n'Thung, to Thai dancehall. I haven't checked it all out yet, but what I have heard was really stellar. Peter is also, fortunately for his readers, very knowledgeable about the music and has graciously translated (I think he's the translator?) and/ or transliterated things, and provided insightful notes to accompany each selection.

New music series in Toronto.... Starts tomorrow!

2009-01-27T14:49:00.010-05:00

Here is an announcement about an intriguing new series starting up. I'll be frank that I'm a little unsure about the name... but I'm not about to be thuggish about it because the idea is brilliant!

Michael Keith and David Sait, in conjunction with AIMToronto are starting a brand new series called the Night Bazaar beginning this Wednesday night (January 28th) at 10pm (Tranzac - front room). The Night Bazaar is booked for the next 3 months at the Tranzac on the last Wednesday of the month (Jan. 28, Feb. 25, March 25) as a test series. Music-wise, they will be scheduling an equal portion of musicians from the [so-called] “World music community” and “Experimental” type-music leaning heavily on improvisation.

After the 3^rd set of music has concluded, and if time allows, there will be a large jam to cap off the night…….so if you are in the neighbourhood, please bring along your instruments. If you are free, please take the time to stop by and support the kick-off to this new series and perhaps hear some exciting new music that you may not have heard before.

If you have any suggestions for upcoming Night Bazaar performers from Toronto, post in the comments, and I will pass on the information to the promoters!

The Night Bazaar Schedule so far:

Wednesday January 28 – 10pm ($5)

(i) Kousha Nakhaei (Persian Fiddle) & David Sait (guzheng)

(ii) Debashis Sinha (improvised manipulations of field recordings from Kolkata, India )

(iii) Michael Keith plays the complete works of Karl Magnet (chicken guitar, voice and electronic debris)

(iiii) open jam (time permitting)

Wednesday February 25^th – 10pm ($5)

Neeraj Prem Masih - sitar

Siman Tov Orchestra – Russian Klezmer

ANAK - Andrew Timar (suling), Nick Storring (cello, kemence, rebab), Erik Katz (tabla), Araz Salek (tar).

Wednesday March 25^th – 10pm ($5)

Reza Manbachi duo - Iranian tar & tombak

Brian Ruryk - noisy guitar & junk (this guy is amazing to see live)

...and others tba

Parvin - Ghoghaye Setaregan

2009-01-09T14:45:00.000-05:00

First of all... HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Entering 2009 I offer my first purely music post in a while... A collection of songs by the singer Parvin entitled Ghoghaye Setaregan.

I don't have all that much to say about this album except that I really like it. As per usual with older artists from outside of the English-speaking world, it's kind of hard to find info about them, unless you have some keywords in that particular language to work with. Even then, sometimes, it's hard to find too many hits on Google.

To my ears, this Persian vocalist sounds like she comes from the generation behind Googoosh, Firoozeh and the 60's-70's era of Persian music. This guess is mainly based on the tone of the recording, and her delivery which is markedly more distended than many later singers. The song forms are a bit longer too and employ traditional Persian scales more obviously than the vaguely more Westernized music produced later on.

The real draw is Parvin's bold, dark-hued voice. Not unlike her Arab contemporary, Oum Kolthoum, her voice is almost androgynous, sitting comfortably in the mid to upper range of a tenor voice with immense power, but with a timbre that is not readily identified as either male or female.

Enjoy it here!

Interview with Stuart Ellis of Radiodiffusion Internasionaal

2008-12-02T17:18:00.000-05:00

Stuart Ellis is the curator of the amazing music blog Radiodiffusion Internasionaal, and also an associate of Sublime Frequencies (he compiled their excellent Bollywood Steel Guitar disc).

Here is the raw stuff of an interview I conducted with him via email for my article in Musicworks Magazine issue #102.

Me:What is your perception of the term World Music? Do you the music represented on your site fall under that banner? Why?

Stuart Ellis: World Music is just a catch all phrase. It’s like the term Jazz. That term includes Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, John Zorn and regrettably Kenny G... And that term is a marketing tool for labels like Putumayo and Rough Guide – now available at Starbucks. Ugh. Does the music on my site fall under that banner? Yeah, I guess. It’s from this world. It’s music. But, the stuff that I post – for the most part – defies description and I try to let the music speak for itself. It does need some context, but to call it World Music is to almost dismiss it.

Me: Are there any quasi-activistic motivations behind your site? (even on a small scale... like as a reaction within the world of music)?

SE: My site just kind of happened. It originally was just for a few friends, and was mostly stuff off of compilations that I had bought from Forced Exposure and Aquarius Records. But it eventually evolved into the mess it is today. I had no idea what I was doing, and still don’t. It’s just an obsession. I’ve always been that guy who gives you a mix tape of weird stuff you’re probably only going to listen to once.

Me: There seems to be a broader trend toward the emergence of labels and blogs which curate a range of popular music or neglected trad/ classical from around the world (your site is included, as well as my blog, and labels like Sublime Frequencies, Yaala Yaala, Buda Musique, and bands like Konono)... Do you feel that this is a mere marketing trend, or do you feel like this is a broader movement? How do you feel this impacts the public's perception of non-anglo-american/ anglo-european music?

SE: I definitely see it as more of a movement. I think that right now, people are just bored of the same old crap that has been spoon fed to them for so long. First it was Rock ‘n’ Roll. Eventually Punk came along, followed by No Wave, Post-Punk, Hardcore, Alternative, Indie Rock... But, it’s all been done, and we’ve heard it all. And what I think is happening, is that people are starting to ask: Well, what else is out there? Take, for instance, the Broken Flowers soundtrack. I think that got more than the actual movie. And what about all the press Vampire Weekend is getting because they are supposedly influenced by Afro Pop?

The impact? I cannot answer that. The cynic in me says that eventually, it will be watered down and get over played and I’ll get sick of it and move on to something else. But even if that does happen, people will be enlightened that there is, and has always been, a lot of great music from places that they didn’t think even existed.

Me: Have you had any criticism with respect copyright/ intellectual property to the material on your site?
SE: The only thing close to a response that I’ve had in that area, would have to be from Karim Abranis of El Abranis. I asked him what he thought about the two songs that were on the Waking Up Scheherazade compilation. He was actually happy that someone was getting to hear “those old songs”. But for copyright stuff? No one has said anything.

...
In a weird way, I see this as almost a “scene” (for lack of a better term). Back in the late 80s and early 90’s, I used to put on punk rock shows, do a fanzine, and work at the college radio station. There was a network of bands and labels, zines and promoters. This has a similar feel (without the sleeping on floors and endless nights at Kinko’s cutting and pasting). There are the big labels that are putting out crap, but then you have Sublime Frequencies and Terp and the bloggers who really do it because they love the music. I think it’s no coincidence that a lot of the people involved are from the old Punk scene...

Be sure to visit both Stuart's original site and the Radiodiffusion Internasionaal Annexe.

(Images sourced from Radiodiffusion Internasionaal)

GREAT LINK ALERT: MADROTTER

2008-11-19T23:29:00.002-05:00

Being a huge fan of Indonesian music I went nuts when I found this MP3 blog, Madrotter.

This is a lovely site as it gives a small peep into the insanely diverse musical world of Indonesia without cutting too many corners. Poking through the blog archive, you can see that near its inception, it's weighted far more toward the underground hip hop scene in Indonesia. This makes sense too as he is Rotterdam ex-pat Hip hop producer who's been living Indonesia (currently in Bandung, West Java) since 1996.

More recently, Madrotter's been digging up all sorts of treasures, from hip hop to Jaipong, schmaltzy Waldjinah records, traditional Sundanese stuff, hardcore ... even Indonesian bollywood!??!?!

Exciting, to say the least. Pay Madrotter a visit or one every few days. He lives in Indonesia, so surely has access to a lot of awesome things quite readily. The Mp3s are only 128kbps, but the Internet ain't the same over there, I've been told so cut the dude some slack!

Interview: Jack Carneal of Yaala Yaala Records

2008-10-29T10:25:00.023-04:00

Over the spring and summer I conducted some interviews for the second article in my series "The Untold Stories Of So-called World Music" for Musicworks magazine. The topic of this article was to call to attention the methodologies and music of labels such as Terp, Yaala Yaala, Sublime Frequencies, Crammed Discs, as well as the plethora of blogs out there...

Seeing as the article only used fragments of the interviews, I decided I would publish the full interviews on the blog...

To start, I am going to present an interview that was not actually used for the article. It did end up having an impact on the article, though.

Here's an interview with Yaala Yaala Records founder Jack Carneal that I did over email. Regrettably, some my wording had initially led to some misunderstanding about my position vis-a-vis his label. I also allude in the questions to to the Wire's harsh criticism of some their methodology, which likely made it seem as if I was trying to "stick it to him" or something. Thankfully after explaining myself, Jack graciously answered my questions, and, as I had hoped, provided some fascinating rebuttals to said criticisms, along with other insights about the label.

Me: What is your perception of the term World Music? Do you think that the music you present under Yaala Yaala falls under that rubric or do you think it's something separate altogether? Why?

Jack Carneal: It's hard not to conclude that World Music was a term created by a marketing department whose job it was to figure out how to organize more products in order to better sell them.

It has become shorthand to describe a particular kind of comforting pop music usually made by effortlessly GOOD musicians with crack recording teams in studios in Europe even though I suppose it was started to categorize the more academic releases from the Smithsonian, etc. The term assumes that any music referencing mostly African or Asian culture is "world" whereas Swedish folk or Irish folk might conceivably be found under folk or "Celtic" tags, and these are but a few of the many puzzling inconsistencies about the term World Music.

The term has never made any sense to me even though I've probably used it before to simplify something as I was trying to explain it, for example trying to explain to an older relative or something what Yaala Yaala produces: Oh, it's World Music, grandma.

Why has the term not made sense? For obvious reasons stated above but also, to wit: I recently searched for an Okkyung Lee cd, not her new one, and found it at an online store classified as "african/world". How is that world music?

When I lived in Bougouni you could buy, along with bunches of Malian musicians, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Wu Tang Clan, Argent, Deep Purple. To Malians, this was rather exotic music, of course but it was hard to imagine them considering this as anything more than, well, weirdo rock music made by white men from far away with long flowing hair like women, or something similarly random.

Regarding the term as it applies to Yaala Yaala or Sublime Frequencies, I'm of the mind that if it helps sell more cds I'll call it whatever someone else wants.

I think of our releases as Malian folk-based music. It wasn't the most popular or common music I heard in Mali but did have a strong presence out in the brousse where we lived.

Me: Are there any quasi-activistic motivations behind your label? (even on a small scale, like, as a reaction to something within the domain of music)

JC: Not really, no.

The basic motivation of starting YYR could not have been simpler: this is great music and my friends need to hear it. After that I did start to make various judgments about what I was doing, namely, that if I didn't put this music out into the world then no one else would and therefore I became an advocate for the idea that the music needed to be heard.

Me: There seems to be a broader trend toward the emergence of labels and blogs that curate a range of popular music or neglected trad/ classical music from around the world (Sublime Frequencies, your label, Buda Musique, Terp..etc.) Do you feel that this is a mere marketing trend or do you feel like this is a wider movement? How do you feel this impacts the public's perception of non-anglo-american/ anglo-european music? I've read statements where you've related your source tapes to the early US punk/ independent scene.... Do you think it's a coincidence that most of these labels, blogs even, shared blood with that scene (Sun City Girls, The Ex, your own ties to Drag City)? Elaborate on this relationship if you feel that it's important...

JC: People who consider themselves outside of the mainstream of popular culture have ALWAYS been arbiters of cultural and musical trends and not because it's hip or now but because these people have ALWAYS been nerds of the highest order who have little else to do but to try to find new music to get into. As the interwebs have allowed the instantaneous access to unlimited information and data these same tirelessly curious people--read: NERDS-- have run out of krautrock or Peruvian psych or Montreal indie bands or Japanoise or Swedish free jazz improvisers or Berlin heroin house to discover, so naturally one begins to look into the farther corners of the world. All of the people you reference above (Drag City, Alan Bishop) are of that order, that is, tirelessly curious culture hounds. Also, the success of the Ethiopiques series definitely opened up a lot of doors.

Me: The Wire, in June 2007 mounted a very interesting critique of your label in their reviews section. They reference Yoro Diallo who not only had a considerable reputation (not least for his position as a man among a female-dominated scene) but also rallied against music piracy, alongside other Malian artists . I'm curious about your response to this, in light of your choice to reissue pirated cassettes as well avoiding liner notes.

JC: The answer to this question is so complicated and involves so many socio-cultural elements that I was surprised that a mag like the Wire that purports to serve the segment of the music market who probably consider themselves intellectual or almost academic studiers of music would dumb it down to such a degree. I would've been happy to respond to Clive Bell's claims but they chose to run it without ever once contacting me. I thought it was horrible journalism.

It's not Sublime Frequencies, Mississippi Records, Terp and Yaala Yaala who're hurting these musicians, it's SF and YYR who're guaranteeing that a new order of Western music fan knows what Mali (and Ethiopia, Zaire, etc) is and that there is a lot of great music out there in the world.

All of these labels have firm moral beliefs that people will benefit from what we do, both musicians and listeners, and I would assume that we all sleep the sleep of the just.

I've stated a bunch of times why I don't use liner notes and it's getting tiresome. I knew nothing about this music, nothing at all. I couldn't understand what they were singing. When I picked up these cassettes in Mali they didn't have liner notes. It was a consistent and easy decision to make: I did not want this music to become about my perception of it, something that would've happened if I'd subjectified the music by trying to write about it, and I wanted the listener to be able to stumble upon this music exactly as I did.

Me: I am curious in general about your perception of this whole industry of pirating music that exists around the world. This is something that seems to be particular to musics outside of the "Western Music Industry", and can be found all over the place. I would love to hear your comments on this underground industry--why one cannot even order a single Googoosh album from the HMV catalog in Canada (despite her status as *THE* Persian pop diva) yet can readily purchase CD-Rs of her music in certain suburbs of Toronto.

JC: Criticizing the music industry these days for shortsightedness is like kicking a retarded toothless dog that is also blind and incontinent, if of course the dog chose to be blind, retarded, etc. The problem of course is that, like airline industry, they have over the decades created an entirely unsustainable and top-heavy business model where each artist is essentially treated like a corporation: debts are incurred against accounts (recording, promotional work) and there are an awful lot of hands waiting to be paid from these debts. Everyone who has half a brain knows that entering into any business relationship with anyone in certain sectors of the music industry is to cast your fate to the wind.

So people around the world have recognized that the old paradigm of ensuring that people hear your music is broken. The industry monolith just does a horrible job of identifying and producing and distributing music that people want to hear. There is more interesting music out there than is possible for us tiny and inconsequential humans to ever understand and finally the music, and the artists who make the music, are winning: they are in control of what gets out there to be heard.

The internet has made this paradigm shift all the more extreme. The big record companies will die out, there is no question. Bootlegging and other sub-industry means of distributing music will eradicate any semblance of the industry as we know it before too long.

Low overhead operations like YYR, Sublime Frequencies, Mississippi Records, Terp, etc., with the help of sensible and gentlemanly operations like Drag City--former punks whose sense of moral rectitude is strong and old fashioned--are the future of the music industry.

Me: Have you had any other hostile reactions to your label's modus operandi? Describe them, if they differ from the Wire's and talk to me abou your feelings regarding these concerns/ criticisms.

JC: No, none. Particularly from the Malian musicians who I've been sending money to over the past year.

(images drawn from the Yaala Yaala Myspace)

M.O.R.-Noir (... or Western Music is part of "the World" too...)

2008-10-17T01:24:00.000-04:00

I have yet to really post about music from "here" on this blog, but in principle I'm all for it, since I think it's stupid that we treat everything but "our" folk musics as outside of the whole notion of World Music.

So, in line with my mission to stretch the definition of "World Music" to its breaking point, or at least turn it on its head, let's talk about something from "our"... oh sorry... I mean *my* part of the world. ;-)

Lately I've been really fascinated by a certain trend I've observed in a lot of music from the late 70's and early to mid-80's. Amidst the lot of bland FM-Radio ballads you still hear while getting cavities filled, there have been numerous tunes over the years where it seems as if their producers smuggled a bit of that local anesthetic out of the dentist's office and back to the recording studio.

That's to say that there is this sub-genre of adult-contemporary music that's haunted by a vague numbness--an air-conditioned sort of cool which evokes various sorts of rainy scenes, shot on 1980's filmstock. It's a little too crisp-and-clean, a little too neat-and-tidy for its own good, so much so that it ends up coming off as a little remote.

A perfect example--visually, conceptually and sonically--is the wistful yet somehow aloof sax-n-synth smooth-jazz Vangelis composed for the love scene in Blade Runner between Dekker and Rachel (for those of you who don't know--an android). While the music carries all of the usual 1980's middle-of-the-road signifiers of romance and sensuousness there is something rather cold and appropriately robotic about it.

Some real grumpy people would argue that the sound I am describing is merely a byproduct of the advent of digital synthesizers and other studio technologies at the start of the 1980's and not an actual aesthetic choice made by musicians and producers. Yet while some of the defining features of this sub-genre are due to datedness I'm certain that many people were conscious of the inherent rigidity of these musical instruments, and in fact permitted this to influence there musical decisions. Surely some producers thinking they were real clever were convinced that they could fleece the public, putting that "Doogie Hauser" DX-7 Electric Piano sound in place of a real Fender Rhodes, and even started to believe in their own lies... But I'm also willing to bet that others saw enormous potential in cold FM Synth presets, glacial-palacial reverbs, deadpan drums, and fluorescent-lit ersatz instruments.

I think of it as one of many extensions of the disco approach to music-making birthed during the seventies--doing everything within the confines of the studio and severing the ties between live performance and recording. With greater emphasis on shaping the sound within the studio people opted to craft particular emotional spaces there, rather than working on replicating the ideal live performance.

The group which basically epitomizes the sound I am describing is the Blue Nile. Perhaps they are the only true real practitioners of a pure form of this sound. Their songs paint vivid portraits of the lonely night-times of sensitive introverts living in a big, and, judging by their lyrics, often-rainy city.

Many tracks, like "The Downtown Lights" or "Tinseltown Is In The Rain" create these images in a darkly dual manner. The lyrics suggest the romantic lives of well-to-do yuppies: ostentatious nights out on the town, invitations to candlelit dinners, quiet rides in sleek sports cars, or sweet-nothings whispered close to perfumed necks between cigarettes in the back of a limousine. Near-empty strung-together statements, fit with each other to form a 90% of the perfect 1980's nitelife fantasy worthy of some Club Med ad from 1982.

But what about that other 10%?? That empty part? The little hint of disappointment?

It's as if you're witnessing singer Paul Buchanan, seated by the window in his spacious, glassed-in penthouse atop some highrise building, staring out across a sprawling city. He's singing to a (perhaps) imaginary woman, while dreaming of the ideal romance-filled evening... The table's set with the fancy cutlery, he's got some bubbly on ice, but no one's coming. Does he know? Is he playing some pathetic game of make-believe to entertain himself on Saturday Night? Lord only knows because he maintains so much statuesque poise that you'd never want to disrupt the little ritual. And you sorta figure he's actual drunk as fuck and crying on the inside, so if you were to press him for details you might push him over the edge...

Like... do you ever have those dreams where everything's going terribly wrong but everyone is insisting, in an emphatic euphoric slow-mo voice that they're the best they've ever been in THEIR ENTIRE LIVES? The Blue Nile is like this sort of, without so much foreboding. And there are plenty of safe voyages into MOR-melancholy along the way.

That hole left by the slightly banal lyrics is definitely there on purpose in my mind, in order to permit the high-gloss backing music the shine through. And it reflects the texts perfectly. On the surface it's a band plus a full orchestra in a majestic resonant hall. Listen closer, and you realize it's too good to be true--those people playing violins are actually mannequins. The sounds are just slightly-off kilter, slightly mechanical imitations, almost like the replicants of Blade Runner. But they're almost believable, thanks to the fact that Blue Nile were basically the official spokesband of Linn (makers of the legendary drum machine). They had first dibs on the new digital gadgets and they knew just how to use them. That near-trickery they achieve and the ensuing slight disappointment is what thrusts the music into darker territory.

The pre-digital examples of the MOR-noir vibe make it clear that it is indeed a case of artistic agency over accident. For instance, some of Roberta Flack's output from the late 1970's foreshadows the frigid 'scapes traced by the likes of Buchanan & co. Her hit duet with Donny Hathaway "The Closer I Get To You" definitely gestures in that direction but long before the advent of Roland TR-505 drums and horrid gated reverbs.

The pallid long-player Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway seems to be haunted by Hathaway's passing, especially on the closing cut where Flack begs the object of the lyrics "Stay with me... Maybe you can rearrange your plans?" Is she singing a lover, or her friend Donny? Either way her aspartame-soul delivery indicates that it's beyond futile--said person is no longer capable of rearranging their plans--she's given up but for some reason decided to sing the song anyway. "I know there's a whole new world you've found, and it's to that world you're bound"... Ouch. And the ghostly quiet-storm stylings of the arrangement certainly provide enough empty space for you to realize that there's something rather sinister lurking beneath those mundane-lovesong lyrics.

Nina Simone's album Baltimore from 1978 was full of similar dark smooth surfaces to the production and arrangements. Apparently Simone had very little say in the arrangements, song selection and other aspects. But still she coaxes an unrelentingly neutrality (to the point of bleakness) from the ballads on the disc. "That's All I Want From You" has Simone almost dismissively snapping her finger between verse despite the song's extremely sombre tone. This underscores the emotional remoteness of the arrangements--violin melodies dangling from the ceiling like tinsel after some party. The mirror ball still spinning, Simone sings alone at the piano?
Even the reading of Hall and Oates' "Rich Girl", while upbeat sounds somehow defeated.

Weather Report's downright sappy smooth-jazz ballad "A Remark You Made" makes extensive use of analog synthesizers but sounds right at home alongside the Vangelis track mentioned earlier.

Coming back to the early digital era, another important record in this mini-canon is Pat Metheny's Offramp.

It's tempting to dismiss Mr. Metheny. He has made some awful records, and has a really bad hairdo, but it's hard to contend with warmth of Bright Size Life or the wacky Song X.

Grammy-award winning Offramp, though, is a neglected (well, perhaps among those who ignore things like the Grammies) gem of eerily blank smooth jazz. It's just like it's foreboding cover, which recalls (or forcalls?!) the driving scenes in David Lynch's Lost Highway.

For most of its duration Pat is playing guitar synth, while Lyle Mays plays solos on rectangular-sounding instrument samples (like the dementedly fake harmonica on "Are You Going With Me?"). Everything is bathed in long, gasping reverb that sounds like early November wind. And the big hint that this is not pure new-age-cum-jazz: listen for Nano Vasconcelos' spectral whispers and shrieks which float around the perimeter of the album. Without these peculiar sounds "Au Lait" might be merely your average mid-afternoon cafe jazz.

The titular track is anything but convivial FM-friendly smoothness. Instead it points ahead to the freak-outs on his collaborations with Ornette.

In any event, again, there is a clear-cut conscious choice to add some eerie ingredients to an otherwise bland recipe. Perhaps some of that 2-D quality though is a result of the outmoded electronic techniques. Who's to know, though?

"Are You Going With Me?"

"The Bat, Part 2"

"Au Lait"

There are other artists who also seemed intrigued by this territory, albeit from a more ostensibly experimental perspective. David Sylvian has certainly, over the years, explored this moody-yet-willfully-almost-bland terrain. Scott Walker's Climate of Hunter , the bridge from his 1970's work to stuff such as Tilt and The Drift certainly has moments of Glade-plug-in
-synth-pads and stern reverbs which seem to expand and constrict the perception of space simultaneously. In fact, Walker's 1970's output seems is almost like a predecessor to the later form of dark MOR. Even on superficially saccharine songs like "Joanna" he basically carves gaping, dark holes into ez-listening style arrangements.

Certainly Nico's painfully blasé reading of "My Funny Valentine" exists at the remotest cusp of the bleak-ballad spectrum. Notorious for her teutonic delivery, the almost-digital-sounding piano the "is-it-electronic?" Chris Botti-on-ketamine trumpet solo, the cavernous cut-glass room-sound takes it out of the realm of gothic folksiness found Desert Shore etc., to a place where the interpretation almost comes across as feigned feigned-sentimentality... a ghostly facsimile of the jazz standard.

Even in dance music circles, classy Canadian synth-pop duo Junior Boys appears to have stolen a couple 5 1/4 inch floppy diskettes from the Blue Nile's sound library, yet have maybe sexed things up a little bit with their Destiny's Child-meets-Basic Channel beats. They still have well-rehearsed poker-faces, though despite lapses into slinky funk.

So in summary, this is a bit of nebulous and perhaps dubious subgenre. I guess for me it's more of an illicit whiff of cheap perfume on the collar someone's leisure suit than, say, an actual article of clothing, if you know what I mean. It's more stealthy than an actual style. It's like the aftertaste of diet cola... There making you feel queasy amidst the EZ-listening.

Shopping guide in Toronto...

2008-10-04T09:29:00.003-04:00

While you may find a good selection of global musics in Toronto at, say Soundscapes (and perhaps at the big HMV, where I was beavering away to get more representative titles in stock before quitting for green pastures (quite literally - I work at the front of 23 acres of parkland now!)) there are many stores around town which specialize in particular musical regions that manage to get titles most stores can't get. You may have to travel a ways to get them, but you'll experience something drastically different from the usual suspects.

Here's a mini-rundown of a few of them that I know about....

A1 Ramiy Video Vision (566 Parliament St., take the Parliament or Wellesley Bus from Castle Frank Station)
I had an interesting time at this little shop in Cabbagetown. I came there in search of (how typical) Carnatic Music. The woman behind the counter had difficulty assisting me because her English was not so strong, but no less than three customers eagerly helped me translate my wishes! The one guy tried to assist the woman working by saying something along the lines of "you know that stuff that goes sa-re-ga-ma-pa-da-ni-sa." Soon we were all listening to music on the CD player and chatting. Very much a neighbourhood place, this store carries mainly South-Indian pop/ film music, and mainly newer stuff at that. They do have a fewer older titles... Eventually I left with a CD of Sudha Ragunathan singing krithis, as well as an album of old film duets by K.J. Jesudoss and various female singers. Both were original CDs, and VERY inexpensive. There is also a convenience store nearby which also carries some South Indian music, although I haven't investigated it. Additionally there's Nallur Video Centre (607C Parliament, right at the intersection of Parliament & Wellesley) but, again, I haven't investigated it...

Pars Video - 6083 Yonge St. (north of Cummer, just South of Centre Ave. East Side (Finch is the closest station))
While for some north of the 401 is a tad remote, if you're a fan of Persian music, it's one of your best bets with this store Pegah, and X-O City being there. Pars Video is especially good a fairly wide selection and reasonable prices (most "L.A." (they're made in and around Los Angeles) CD's are $9.99 and CD-Rs are $4.99). For those who do not read Farsi, It's not always easy to find everything so for finding particular artists you may need to ask for assistance. But, the main sales clerk has been quite gregarious and helpful each time I've been in! My first purchase there was a 4-Disc Googoosh set, with which I was given a complimentary poster of the Persian diva herself. Their CD-R stuff is also of a quite high quality, the mere mention of paper labels prompted the aformentioned clerk to say "No, ours are heat-sealed! Paper labels are garbage." Amen, brother! So expect your CD-R purchases to WORK!

X-O City (6123 Yonge St. just at the other end of the plaza with Pars Video, facing onto Centre Ave.)
While the music selection is not quite as comprehensive as their neighbours at Pars Video. It's nonetheless worthwile taking a peek at X-O City.

Pegah Books (5513 Yonge St., just south of Finch Station)
I've never been to Pegah Books myself--yet, although it comes highly recommended by a santur-playing friend of mine who knows his stuff. Apparently there is nary an unauthorized CD-R in sight.

Indian Record Shop (1428 Gerrard St. East. Coxwell Station, bus south along Coxwell to Gerrard, walk west)
Apparently these folks used to furnish the legendary Sam The Record Man back in the day with a selection of Indian imports. Still today, they have an excellent selection of soundtracks, classical music, ghazals, bhajans and qawwali from both Indian and Pakistan. Their stock is well organized, mostly non-CD-R and quite uniformly high quality. They are also quite friendly and helpful. Look out for their extensive collection of Abida Parveen discs, if you're a fan. A bit of trivia: recently I was there and found an LP by chutney singer Sundar Popo. Didn't expect to find that there!

Right next door to it in the India Centre there is also a decent music store with a reasonably large selection, where I've made a few purchases. It's just not quite as consistent as their neighbours, carrying a few more paper-label CD-rs and the like.

Payless Electronics (1340 Gerrard St. E North side of Gerrard (Between Greenwood & Coxwell))
This store is quite bizarre and not really technically a music store. Essentially a junk shop, this store also features cheap DVDs and CDs alongside oversized calculators, cheap umbrellas and off-brand batteries. You have to be careful with the CDs you buy... Some I've found are actually defective. Others may be a lame CD-R edition... But they do have a lot of buried gems in there, mainly older Hindi soundtracks. But at $3 a pop, who can complain!? A fun spot for those who enjoy "digging." The owner once told me that he just gets boxes upon boxes of CDs, without any real sense of what the boxes contain. Yet, despite that, he can often tell you if he does or doesn't have something, despite the disarray. A great place to track down late-70's to mid-80's soundtracks.

Shri & Bros (1843 Lawrence Ave E. between Victoria Park & Warden, south side)
This store has a few hidden gems, but you really have to watch out for the shoddily paper-labelled CD-Rs (bubbles!). I got a really lovely CD-R of Carnatic violin duets there as well as a fairly CD of Jesudoss duets with some nice stuff on it. The prices are very reasonable... I paid $5 per disc.

Dhaka Audio-Video Corner (2988 Danforth Ave., slightly west of Victoria Park Station)
I've only visited this store once. It's right in the heart of the Bangladeshi area of Toronto, between Dawes Road and Victoria Park along Danforth. This store had a large variety of CDs and movies but it could be rather difficult to navigate if you don't have a Bengali helping you out (I did, and even then it was tough!). I found an intriguingly fey 1980's-sounding steel guitar recording akin to the Sublime Frequencies release (but slightly later). I also found some fusion-Baul stuff that wasn't as good as I would liked it to be... too much fluf not enough hardcore baul-belting... although some was nice. The store stocks a mix of actual CDs and burned discs.

Super Latin Music (1088 St. Clair Ave. W, between Oakwood and Dufferin, St. Clair West Station, take the 512 west)
I've only been once, and it seemed to be all about contemporary latin pop music. Not being as tuned to Latin music, as the music of other regions, I don't know what to comment about except that I felt it was worthy of inclusion on the grounds that it is only one of a (very small(?)) few of its kind in Toronto.

Nezahet (3905 Keele St. Unit 4 - Downsview Station, along *at least* the 106 Bus Route)
I've never been to their actual store, but they recently had a stall at a Turkish festival at Dundas Square. There, I purchased a great Selda (Bagcan) album from 1983, and my girlfriend grabbed a nice disc of Turkish folk music. Both were reasonably priced and the Selda was well-packaged and clearly a legit recording... I look forward to going to the actual shop in an attempt to find some Derdyoklar Iklisi albums (even if the staff will laugh at me). And they have way more than just music at the store too...

Minimart (884 Bloor St. W, just a few steps east of Ossington Station)
At this variety store on Bloor just east of Ossington you can not only buy groceries but also get some great Ethiopian and Eritrean music. Unfortunately it's all behind the counter, which makes it a daunting task for those without a shopping list, but nonetheless, you can get some pretty decent titles there. One thing that may appeal to fans of the Ethiopiques series is the Tlahoun Gessesse comp they carry which only 1/3 overlaps with the Buda Musique disc. I also acquired some CDs by Yemane Ghebremichael (Yemane Barya), Bereket Mengisteab and others.

There is also another store just off Bloor on Concord Ave. with quite a decent selection of Eritrean music. The name escape me unfortunately.

Nasr Grocery Store (1996 Lawrence Avenue East, just west of Warden)
This grocery store, in what some call "Little Arabia" (although it *is* just a bunch of stripmalls) has a small music department with some intriguing selections. The prices are a little steep but you may find something worth springing for. I bought a disc of 1982 concert recordings of a nice singer called Magida El-Roumi. Reminded me of a more modern Fairouz. Given their small selection they have quite a range: from Arabic music to some Armenian and Turkish discs. The only issue for someone like me was that there was not that much older discs... and I tend to prefer older music in general. Oh... and while you're there, just got to the other end of the plaza to get some fig pastries at the Ladan Bakery... They're absolutely mindblowing. (If you have a car, too, you may want to visit Hopper Hut restaurant at Ellesmere & Kennedy for some delicious Kottu Roti! If you're a downtowner and make the trek, it's best to make it count!!)

Pannonia Books (300 St. Clair West at Spadina Road, just east of St. Clair West Station)
Even though this is a mere stone's throw from my house, I have yet to visit this outlet. I can safely say, though, by perusing their online store that they do have an interesting collection of Hungarian Music. So, if that intrigues you... by all means investigate further.

Jong Ro Books (650 Bloor St. W , Between Christie and Bathurst Stations)
While the selection is small you can nonetheless get some great Korean classical and popular music here. There is both instrumental and vocal classical recordings as well as pop ranging from recent stuff back to the golden era of trot (teuroteu/ pyongjjak) The staff is knowledgeable and the discs are really high quality, and, consequently, slightly pricier... The upside: you'll never find faulty paper-label CD-Rs here.

Little Burma Variety Store (1278 Bloor St W, just East of Lansdowne Station)
The selection is meager, they're just CD-Rs in sleeves with a couple of words of burmese printed on them, but I did happen upon one really nice CD-R there of sort of neo-traditional stuff. I cannot tell you who it is, or anything. And really it's just a tucked-away box of stuff they have there, but it's only $3 per disc. I must say, I wasn't really interested by the other CDs he gave me. Weird Karaoke-ish Burmese covers of country songs and oldies... ouch. Oh well... to each their own...

Papelaria Portugal (220 Ossington Ave. just south of Dundas West)
Alongside other various items, this store has a decent, yet slightly pricey selection of Portuguese and Brazilian music. There's more than meets the eye there too. Ask anyone working in the shop about particular artists and they'll magically make more titles appear! (photo borrowed from this blog)

MVP/ Master Video Productions (604 College St., at Clinton, 506 Streetcar, or take the Bathurst Streetcar South from Bathurst Station, walk west)
Another place I have not yet investigated, but they specialize in Italian music. Just near the Royal Cinema.

More info on specifically African stores can be found here although I have a sneaking suspicion that it may be a wee bit outdated. It also does not include some stores, such as a newer addition (whose name escapes me) in the Bloor/ Ossington area which specializes in Ethiopian and Eritrean music.

Here is a list of various Tamil Music & Video stores.

Happy shopping and...

Any readers with recommendations, please feel free to write them in the comments!

Suarasama - Fajar Di Atas Awan - be excited!

2008-07-24T00:33:00.003-04:00

Just for your info. Northern Sumateran band (led by a couple of ethnomusicologists) Suarasama have had their sublime first album Fajar Di Atas Awan picked up for reissue by Drag City for release August 19, 2008.

To refresh your memories, these are the people who were featured on the final track of Smithsonian's Indonesian Guitars. While there is a slight, slight new-agey/ world musicy vibe that they have, the biggest strengths which set them apart is that A) they opt for mainly acoustic instruments; B) they have great taste; C) they draw on classical musics from around the world in the sense that there's a lot of space in the music which allows the intense gestural detail to be highlighted.

Another great thing is that they manage to sound inspired by Indian music and, to an extent Arab music as well (but how much is that just the Northern Sumateran thing?) but they are by no means dabblers making shallow music. This stuff is a mix of folksy rawness with understated classical virtuosity and a sprinkle of pop-sugar to sweeten things ever so slightly.

Here's a link to their website.

and here's their Drag City page:

Disco from the Subcontinent!

2008-07-16T04:13:00.003-04:00

For the past few years there has been a consistent slew of reissues centered around foregrounding buried treasure from various disco subsects (Italo Disco, Cosmic Disco, Mutant Disco, Disco (Not Disco), Arthur Russell etc.) As DJs and compilers have dug clean through the crates and start tunneling back in time they've opened up a space for many current bands to feed on these past pleasure to fuel their current music. Cut Copy, The Rapture, !!!, Lindstrom to name a few, have paid tribute to (at best) or ripped off (at worst) various micro-genres of pre-techno dance music being re-discovered.

I personally wouldn't be surprised if with the next surge of reissues, we started seeing compilation discs pulling together forgotten disco gems from the Indian subcontinent.

M.I.A. has actually already taken it upon herself to be the flag-waver for this style with her track "Jimmy". This song reprises Bollywood Disco hero Bappi Lahiri's "Jimmy Jimmy Aaja Aaja" from the Soundtrack to Disco Dancer, a song more or less cribbed from Ottawan's "T'es Okay" and subsequently remade for tamil audiences.

And it's actually entirely appropriate that M.I.A. adopt this stance, given that her music mirrors, in some ways the peculiar blend of flavours at play in the old-school of South-Asian disco.

From the late 1970's to even the late 1980's numerous music directors (in and out of Bollywood) fashioned their own variations on the disco sound, stirring together strange concoctions of high-gloss strings, seductive vocals, Kraftwerkian synth belches and bleeps, borrowed nuggets of Occidental pop, the TR-808/909 of Acid House, M.O.R. sleaze, and refracted Indianisms from the post-psychedelia Western music world.

If this sounds insane... well... it is! Like all of the other best disco music, it comes in all shapes and sizes, sometimes all the same time: eccentric, utopian, playful, goofy, lush, lean, passionate, excessive, regal, sensual... etc.

It would be easy to call attention to the extent to which many of the famous tunes of the time were "merely" revisions of western tunes. (We could also dissect how M.I.A. subverts and reverses this process!!) I would argue, though, that while it is interesting that there are Hindi versions of "Thriller", "I Feel Love" and "Video Killed The Radio Star" (as well as numerous other tracks with hi-jacked licks thrown in), it's more intriguing for me to listen to the fascinating collisions of sound colour--the familiarly crunchy Indian production aesthetics abrading the more suave, sleek stylings of disco and new-wave.

Here I have assembled some of my favourite tracks for your listening pleasure, each one with its own fascinating idiosyncracies.

Bappi Lahiri - Ramba Ho (from Armaan, 1981)
This Lahiri-penned number is somewhat low on his Moroderesque gurgling analog synths basslines, but makes up for it with the excellent percussion-and-chorus intro, smoldering brass stabs, and the strange sound effects. I also love the way that the quotation from one of his hero's tunes appears in a playful manner, rather than a slap-you-across the face way.

Bappi Lahiri - Dance Dance* (links removed, cannot find replacement on Youtube) (from Kasam Paida Karne Wale Ki, 1984)
This swinging track was one of a few excellent tunes by ol' Bappi from 1984. As well as the swinging rhythm, the use of the synth-drums alongside real kit and various Indian drums is also noteworthy. The smoother tone of Salma Agha, the vocalist on this number also marks a departure from the Lata/ Asha school of playback singing... One could argue that this marks a return to the style of an older generation of singers, but it also echoes the sound of Western pop, without compromising on the Indian-style ornaments.

Kalyanji/ Anandji - Laila O Laila (from Qurbani, 1980)
This MD team cleverly paired a lean and clean disco bass-drums-percussion-and xlyophone groove (reminscent in some ways of Liquid Liquid's "Scraper"!) with intermittent santoor cascades and other elements designed to evoke Arabic music on this duet between singers Amit Kumar and Kanchan.

Biddu - Boom Boom (from Star, 1982)
There is something compelling about this track's clean-shaven MOR-ness. Almost makes me think of some swanky hotel band sort of covering Giorgio Moroder remix Fleetwood Mac's "You Make Loving Fun"... if it actually existed. Nazia Hussain's vocals definitely bear a resemblance to the smokey quality of Christine McVee's. Funny too how in a country who pioneered an enduring production style basically predicated entirely on tape saturation, that the crisp, digital-sounding production values on this soundtrack might provoke some to date this a half-decade later!

Bappi Lahiri - Osa Osa(from Meri Adaalat, 1984)
Another one from 1984. Quite simply, I love the ostentatiously bizarre use of vocoder on this track. The song structure also is mildly elusive because the hooks are somewhat weak, but I enjoy the flatness of the tune because it causes the fascinating sonic features like the wayward vocoding, cheapo synths, ingenious orchestrational tricks, and jubilant yelps to jut out much more! Keep your ears peeled for the classical-toned soprano sax solo midway through!

R.D. Burman - Dosto Se Pyar (from Shaan, 1980)
While much more rooted in a classic Bollywood style of composition, R.D. Burman's surreptitious flirtations with disco rhythms and synth-glitter were still quite lovely. He definitely opts to balance the familiar string sweeps and spy-film brass with bleating VCOs and squelching VCFs far more than say Bappi Lahiri. Nonetheless this number fuses a 1960s/70s sensibility with emerging styles and technology quite succesfully.

Bappi Lahiri - Deewana (from Hoshiyar, 1985)

While this tune seems quite a bit lesser-known, the melody is catchy and the arrangement is irresistibly fun with undulating synthesizer riffs, razor-sharp blades of high strings and muted phased guitar clucks.

Here are a couple of clips of Nazia Hussain. Both songs are from the Biddu-composed soundtrack to the film Disco Deewane. Both are infused with the aforementioned 80's cold-smoothness found on the Star soundtrack as well. The lo-fi dated visuals compliment the songs well though and harken back to the cable-access TV vibe reprised in recent videos by the likes of Ariel Pink.

Bappi Lahiri - Disco Station (from Haathkadi, 1984)

The juxtaposition of the muscular synth & guitar slabs and the smooth female (Asha?) vocals make this one quite delightful. Listen for the inconspicuous synth hi-hats keeping time and the sweet guitar riffs mid way through. Also featured is the prominent use of the "peew" synth-tom sound, the second-most-often that the Indian population ridicule about Lahiri.

and finally...

Bappi Lahiri - Come Closer (from Kasam Paida Karne Wale Ki, 1984)
Here's another track from the 1984 film Kasam Paida Karne Wale Ki. Slower in tempo, it has a similar quality to some tunes by none other than Minnie Riperton which fuse dance floor tempos but smooth sultry qualities.

ENJOY!

Hungarian Post-punk and New Wave.

2008-06-11T16:45:00.009-04:00

I just moved to the St. Clair Ave. W & Bathurst St. area in Toronto recently and have been, of course, scouting out potential repositories of intriguing music (especially the stuff I like to post on here).

One of the first places I noticed was the Hungarian Book and Music store Pannonia, nestled in what appears to be a residential building, just east of Spadina Rd at 300 St. Clair West.

That led me to doing some research before going into the store--I thought some knowledge of Hungarian popular music and folk might prove useful. I've had a few negative experiences buying music based solely on the assertions of a store's staff, since it not always easy to convey my tastes to someone, as they have their own associations which impact their impression of my inquiries.

In my net-travels I stumbled across a few intriguing groups from Hungary which offered some nice takes on the late 1970's to mid 1980's sounds which loosely fall under the New-Wave and post-punk umbrella. Each group has their own blend of ingredients, including hints of No-waveish clatter, icy Factory Records-style bleakness, 4AD-label gauziness, psychedelia and Kraftwerkian zap.

Csokonai Vitéz Műhely (which InterTran translates to "Chocolate Valiant Manufactory"!)
This reminds of the music that it seems like Ariel Pink is trying to recapture. That slightly-ethereal, low-budget (perhaps recorded on 4-track) music from the 80's with plenty of unintentionally kooky synth sounds, and where the singer sounds like a lethargic ghost bellowing from the cavernous basement of an old house. Music for goths that were too lazy to put the white make-up and PVC pants on.

Trabant
Trabant is a bit like if the Young Marble Giants, the Sugarcubes and the Slits had a jam session. They're a lot less gothy than a lot of these other bands, eschewing echo and 'verb for a more lean punk-informed sound with hints of 60's pop, Joy Division drum kit sounds, and intermittent greasy synth sounds...

Vágtázó Halottkémek
These dudes are pretty evil sounding with hints of the Stooges, Hawkwind, and early Bauhaus. Gotta love this interesting cross-breeding of early 70's psych aesthetics with 80's post-punk spikiness...

Varga Miklós
It's very difficult for me to decipher the narrative of this video, but I like the weird party-in-dystopia vibe it has. As for the song, there's something quite unappealing to it, I find, but strangely, it's also quite likeable. The little changes to the more brisk parts are quintessentially 1980's, and the synth programming is deliciously dated. The singer's brand of hoarseness is not something you would've heard as much in Western European and American 1980's pop as well, which is neither good nor bad.

A.E. (Albert Einstein) Bizottság
Ever wondered what it would've been like if Blixa Bargeld had been the vocalist for the Birthday Party and was really into cheap flange pedals? Ok, I admit that I never considered that idea either, but these guys at times are a bit like that little recipe. The second clip especially shows the singers penchant for similar patterning of phrases to earlier Neubauten tracks. The background music is rigidly funky with that persistent airplane-engine sound whooshing away.

The last clip on here is just plain fucked. Initial it has a strange and cheap funereal vibe which subsequently explodes, or disintegrates? into this flailing party quasi-anthem... Weird.

Another touchstone with these fellows' mix of menace and perverse humour is previous End(-)Of(-)World Music featuree Yuri Morozov.

Mutant Sounds also offers an interesting record by Európa Kiadó here.

Nostalgia vs. Retro disclaimer/ some old Nepalese tune

2008-05-15T17:58:00.007-04:00

As you can see I have a penchant for older music from various places. Before I introduce more here, I would like to qualify it by mentioning that my interest springs not from some sort of retro-fetishism or unquenchable thirst for kitsch. Someone recently mentioned the term "retro" in reference to some of my tastes, and I thought I would like make it extra clear that this doesn't really enter the picture, at least in my mind.

Much of the music I post here does bear unmistakable marks of its time... and this does, for my ears fuse with the actual "musical" material proper. So, it's not so much a conceptualized days-of-yore far-off-place sort of exoticism it is about the evocation through sound. I would personally classify my enjoyment of older sounds as being more related to nostalgia and sentimentalism than to the notion of retro, which to me implies a certain level of ironic posturing. I can certainly identify facets of some of this music which are a bit campy or amusing... but beneath that surface I often feel a deep emotional attachment to some of the sounds... I think it's definitely important to differentiate this form of appreciation. To me this is something which underlies the curation of, for instance, the Sublime Frequencies discs. While some would label the inclusion of strange or outmoded sounds among their compilations as tongue-in-cheek, I would actually be more inclined to treat it as a celebration of psychedelic whimsy and exoticism in the non-ethnic sense of the term. A celebration of the phenomenon of music as exotic...

Moving along to some sweet crumbs of auditory pleasure...

I don't really know what got me investigating old Nepalese tunes exactly, but recently I discovered a bunch of really fascinating and beautiful examples.

Sadly, as with other artists from this era and from the "non-West", there isn't much in the way of translated/ translatable information readily available online.

And I checked, but the older edition of the Rough Guide to World Music didn't have anything about Nepalese popular musics. This is very much congruent with the discourse of World Music as I see it.

The intro to the little section about Nepal:

The music of Nepal, either ceremonial and played on trumpets, cymbals giant drums and ear-splitting shawms or made at home for an evening's entertainment, is as yet very little known outside the country.

They're defintely spot-on with the "little-known" part, but what about all the music outside of these very folksy signposts? While the book does have some great insights, it is by all means very rough. Hell, the first version didn't even have a section about Myanmar!

One of my favourite singers that I've discovered is named Aruna Lama. She has a sweet, transparent voice and appears to be one of the biggest names of Nepali music. I enjoy it how her voice in a very textural, physical sense highlights the relationship Nepal's music has with both Indian music and with other more Eastern Asian cultures... Especially Tibetan. The inflection and timbre of her voice is the exact midpoint between those two sounds--and you could say the same about the stylistic elements at play in the music.

So, here are some tracks, mostly by Ms. Lama, and two others. I couldn't manage to find more at all by Pawan Gole, whereas Udit Narayan is well-known outside of Nepal because of his contributions in India. I've also included two videos from the Nepalese Film Samjhana. The videos present two versions of the same song, "Ke Soche Maile". I'm pretty sure the female version of the song is actually sung by Lata Mangeshkar. The male version is sung by Kiran Pradhan. It's quite beautiful...

Aruna Lama - Chautarima Basera.mp3
Aruna Lama - Eh Kancha.mp3
Aruna Lama - Hera Na Hera Kancha.mp3
Aruna Lama - Pohor Sal.mp3
Pawan Gole - Aasharai Mahinama.mp3
Udit Narayan - Kahile Kahi Manka Kura.mp3

More Mae Mai Pleng...

2008-05-12T18:49:00.001-04:00

Thai popular music from the 1940's-60's offers a distinct set of charms, as I've mentioned earlier on in reference to Wongjun Pairoj (also represented here in this post). Known also as "Mae Mai Pleng" (from what I gathered, this translates roughly to "old fashioned songs") this era in Thai music is a veritable goldmine for anyone who loves teary-eyed ballads sung by mysterious sepia-toned vocalists of a bygone time.

The songs offer a magical blend of meandering yet florid melodic lines and often feature bittersweet, hazy arrangments which incorporate swooping almost-in-tune violin(s), piano, organ alongside the occasional Thai colour: khene, or percussion instruments. Some of the best tracks unfold by at an extremely languid pace evoking a drunken couple enjoying the final dance of a long summer evening. If that sounds overwrought, it's certainly appropriate for this highly effected nostalgic-cinematic form of song. The vocalists almost sound like they're on the verge of crying... and if you're in the right mood (perhaps slightly tipsy at 3AM?) you might get there too.

Bussaya Rungsri - Unknown Title.MP3
Karn Kaewsupan - Unknown Title.mp3
Riem Daranoi - Unknown Title.mp3
Sayun Sunya - Unknown Title.mp3
Sornkere Sriprajuab - Unknown Title.mp3
Tanudsri Sawasdiwat (duet with Unknown Female Singer) - Wa-na sa-wad.mp3
Unknown Artist - Unknown Title.mp3
Wongjun Pairoj - Unknown Title.mp3

EXCAVATED SHELLAC!

2008-04-30T00:40:00.000-04:00

Whoa... please do yourself a favour and check this blog out NOW. I just found it, strangely by Googling my own blog, finding it listed in someone else's Blog Roll!

Basically it's rare 78RPM discs from around the world uploaded for you listening pleasure. NEED I SAY MORE!?
EXCAVATED SHELLAC And here's a highlight:
"Burmese Female Song" from that blog to give you an idea of what I'm talking about!

Baul videos from Bengal.

2008-04-29T23:11:00.000-04:00

The Bauls are a mystical group of minstrel-like musicians from West Bengal, and Bangladesh (formerly East Bengal). They sing religious songs which frequently address their belief of the divine residing within humans (manush), not outside and that one must reach out lovingly to one another in order to commune with the divine.

Here are some songs performed by Binod Das Baul courtesy of beretep

Here is another video courtesy of the same user, this time of Sandhay Das Baul (and others) performing in concert in Paris.

Here is a lovely sequence from the 2002 Bangla film Matir Moina which presents a stylized take on a Baul performance.

Another video from an unknown source that presents a more polished version of Baul music. The visuals are not all that exciting, the music though is quite striking.

What appears to be a no-budget amateur video of Bangla Baul singing, shot with permission (according to the video info on Youtube). Super rugged, without the usual accompaniment of percussion, ektara or dotara.

Another lo-fi intimate pair of videos featuring Satyananda Das Baul:

Three regrettably truncated videos:

Great live video with very pronounced echo on the voice from durdeshi:

Another video captured by an amateur videographer:

OST - Love Love Love (1989)

2008-04-25T14:56:00.000-04:00

Amit, the son of a taxi driver, and Reema, a rich business man's daughter, fall in love. However Reema's father wants to marry her to Vicky, who's father is the biggest gangster in Mumbai. How will their love triumph?

This is the short summary for IMDB's entry on this 1989 Bollywood flick Love Love Love featuring tunes by Calcutta-born Music Director (that means composer to all you goras et. al out there who don't know what that means) Bappi Lahiri. (edit... you all should know that I 100% gora)

I actually discovered this wacky soundtrack thanks to a paper I marked for a course on Bollywood that I T.A. for at York University. The paper, about gujarati influence on Bollywood alluded to the stiff-yet-funky epic "Disco Dandia" from this soundtrack (pictured above) whose picturization and music appropriate elements of gujarati dance.

Being a sucker for the weird end of Bollywood, I fell in love with the peculiar soundworld of the song... Once you take out the instrumental interludes, all that remains is the almost Kraftwerkian drum-machine beat(complete with gated reverb!), adorned with deliciously goofy fills from black-hexagon-pad syntoms and 8-bit timbale samples. And then, on top of that there is just a bunch of monophonic melodies provided by booming voices (solo and in chorus). Only the merest of harmonies supports the voices provided by ambiguous are-they-real-or-are-they-fake strings, so overall the song is quite sparse and futuristic sounding. MIA even pays hommage to the track on "Boys" from Kala which also contains "Jimmy", practically a cover of another one of Bappi's Bollywood disco anthems "Jimmy Adja" from the 1982 movie Disco Dancer

The rest of the Love Love Love album is pretty insane too brimming with grimily psychedelic vocal productions layered atop clean, crisp and tight Eurodisco-informed drum machine, synth and string tracks. The more lush song "Hum To Hain Dil Ke Diwane" bubbles with Giorgio Moroder-style synths, and takes castanet clicks seemingly lifted from the Dinosaur (Aka Arthur Russell) classic "Kiss Me Again". The vocals are evocative of both the aloofness of Yoko Ono's "Walking On Thin Ice" and Asha Puthli's smooth, yet slightly nasal cooing.

According to the Wikipedia entry on the film the music was actually informed by Pet Shop Boys, Modern Talking and C.C. Catch and the sound of Italo Disco (which explains my observations!)

In short, with all but the 4th and 6th track, you'd never really think that this music was made in 1989... But alas it was! Funny how for some of the music I imagine dutch women in spandex circa 1981 as much as much as Bollywood musical scene.

Here are the tracks, courtesy of ChannelMasti
01 - Jeena Hai Pyar Mein Jeena
02 - We Are in Love
03 - Hum To Hain Dil Ke Diwane
04 - Ruko Ruko To (note the strangely IDM-esque programming of the castanets!)
05 - Disco Dandia
06 - Na Chithiyan Na Koi Sandesa

Electronic pop from Eritrea

2008-04-25T05:00:00.000-04:00

Wow... Yet another long wait between posts. My apologies...

Anyway, here goes...

While it is easy for the average World Music listener to complain about Asian and African countries' use of electronics on the grounds that it undermines the 'authenticity' of the music, or that it's "too western", or (in some cases quite legitimately) too cheesy, I don't think its sane to dismiss this very loose category of music wholesale--especially given its massive quantity!

One example of one facet of this music that has broken through somewhat is Omar Souleyman whose reissue disc (thanks to Sublime Frequencies) employs cloying neon-toned synths, monotonous drum machines, intense vocals.

There are numerous others though from around the world which employ (mostly low-budget) electronic sounds in a way that is quite intriguing. Perhaps the synth programming isn't overly sophisticated, perhaps the instruments are used as substitutes for other acoustic (read: more 'authentic') instruments, yet somehow there is something quite distinct about the somewhat cold and stitled electronic versions.

Eritrea is a country with a really strong legacy of excellent and distinct music, including luminaries such as Tsehaytu Beraki (who recently recorded an excellent trad album for Dutch label Terp).

Conveniently the insistent and instantly recognizable Eritrean ch-boom, ch-boom 6/8 beat, which, roughly two-thirds of the way through the song breaks down into a faster 3/4 cheh-cheh, cheh-cheh makes excellent drum-machine fodder. Many Eritrean popular artists have creatively adapted the hallmark rhythms and sounds to more electronic-driven music.

Elsa Kidane's song "Alemna" even feeds the ornamented vocals through the Autotune effect (employed most famously by Cher on "Believe") and actually pulls it off (to my ears). Meanwhile, some of the work of older artist Yemane "Barya" Gebremichael has the sound of classic 1970's/80's drum machines all over it alongside smooth synth pads. His classic style seems to marry dreamy low-fi 1980's R&B stylings to an Eritrean sonic palette. In many cases he opts to eschew the aforementioned beat, in favour of straight 4/4. Torontonian-Eritrean artist Daniel Nebiat takes a utilitarian route with his use of electronics in his backup band, but even while the drum machine seems to present simply to replicate regular drums, the stiff uniformity of the sounds really carries his music well and provides a consistent base for his vocals and krar.

There are several other examples which I've collected here. Hopefully this makes a case for the value of said style, at least within the context of Eritrean music. Enjoy!

Elsa Kidane
Bello
Alemna

Yemane Barya
Sidet
Zeywegh Meryet

Helen Meles
Fere Fere

Idrisay
Telhey

Walta
Unknown Title

W. Sheqa
Unknown Title

(Thanks to www.eriband.com for these sounds)
Other links (not necessarily exclusively in this style, you may need to poke around a bit on these sites to hear more in this style)
http://erietinet.podomatic.com
http://www.erimp3.com/
http://winnipeg.podomatic.com/
http://www.erimelody.com/

And for Toronto residents... remember that you can hear live Ethiopian and Eritrean music on weekends at Habesha Club at Bloor and Ossington (South-East Side)!

THE GUNDECHA BROTHERS are coming to Toronto

2008-04-25T04:55:00.000-04:00

For Toronto Music fans:

These guys, the Gundecha Brothers will be coming to Toronto May 24th as part of Small World Music's South Asian Music Series!

I've heard from a friend as well that they're absolutely mind-shattering live. I plan to be there, certainly.

Here's the onesheet from Small World Music

Saturday, May 24 @ 8:00
GUNDECHA BROTHERS
www.dhrupad.org
Enwave Theatre, 231 Queens Quay W.
Tickets $25 advance at Harbourfront Centre Box Office
416) 973-4000/ $30 door

Umakant and Ramakant Gundecha are India's leading exponents of the Dhrupad style, the spiritual heart of Indian classical music. Among of the most active performers of Dhrupad, internationally, these dedicated and immensely talented artists have helped to keep alive this ancient and profound tradition, a musical legacy which resonates today amongst yoga and meditation enthusiasts, as well as classical music fans.

The Gundecha Brothers have sung great Hindi poetry by Tulsidas, Kabir, Padmakar, and Nirala in Dhrupad style. They have numerous recordings on H.M.V, Music Today, Rhythm House, Senseworld Music, Sundaram Records, IPPNW Concerts Berlin, Navras and Audio Rec London. They have also sung for many television channels in India and have been broadcast on British, U.S., German and French, Japan and Australian Radio. As well as being an integral part of all of India's most prestigious music festivals, the Gundecha Brothers have performed at many important international festivals and
institutions in Europe, the U.S., Australia, Japan and Hong Kong.

Self-promotion (shameless)

2008-04-25T04:14:00.000-04:00

An article of mine The Untold Stories of So-Called World Music (consider it a sibling to this blog) is featured in Musicworks' 30th Anniversary (100th)issue.

It is the first in a series dealing with definitions, perceptions, and marketing of world music. Future installments will also include interview fragments with various musicians, and others involved in various forms of non-western music making and marketing. It will also feature hints for finding intriguing sounds online and in the shops of Toronto. Stay tuned!

In addition to having the priviledge of writing for this wonderful publication I will also have the opportunity to play at their anniversary party/ fundraising event in I HAVE EATEN THE CITY this Saturday (April 26th) at the Tranzac at 9PM. The event is $10 and also features Sandro Perri, Feuermusik and Paul Dutton in duo with Michael Snow (aka 2/3s of CCMC!)

Alice Coltrane & Don Cherry in Bombay videos

2008-04-25T01:29:00.000-04:00

Discovered these two intriguing videos while poking around on Youtube.

Two of psychedelic free jazz's most crucial figures performing in India with some pretty heavyweight Indian musicians... Intriguing!

Thank you AngusKip

Rad minangkabau music.

2008-02-17T15:42:00.000-05:00

Greetings readers (do you exist!?!... hehe) I hope I have not lost what little readership I have because I've been so lazy with my posting! I have been quite busy, and have taken a bit of break from posting. Posts may continue to be a bit sparser in the coming months, but hopefully not as meager as this past while.

Anyway, this post is about some Minang music I've found online, not about my personal life...

The Minangkabau people are an ethnic group from Western Sumatra in Indonesia, that have a lot of very interesting cultural traits. One of the most cited facets of their culture is the fact that they are the largest matrilineal society. While they are also very Islamic, they remain quite engaged with their own traditions (prior the arrival of Islam), which according to Wikipedia are a fusion of Hinduism and animistic beliefs.

Their architecture is also quite striking, as you can see above.

That's enough of pseudo-ethnographical musing, if you want to really learn more there is plenty of reaading material online.

Onwards... to the music. As with other ethnic groups living within Indonesia, you see a fusion of national popular styles (often a rich stew of various imported and regional ingredients themselves!) with regionally-specific traditional and popular idioms.

West-Sumatran dangdut does this, taking the dangdut style and blending it with unmistakably minang sounds. Saluang dangdut weds the danceable rhythms of dangdut with the sensuous vocal timbre of the saluang flute. This mixture can be heavenly or awful depending mainly on the rhythm programming employed. Sometimes otherwise-amazing tracks are marred by the use of stock home computer General-MIDI drum sounds. There are tunes, however, that I've found with tasteful programming where the drum track offers hints of 80's electro or even dancehall, which is obviously infinitely preferable. I personally wonder to whether and to what extent this style of music influenced, MIA.

Here are some choice Youtube videos of Minankabau dangdut:

Note the presence of the silky saluang in this one:

One could fault them for using a keyboard saluang sound, but the vocal melody in this one is irresistable.

In addition to great popular music there is also lots of more traditional music which I find completely exciting. This is a video of a dance, set to some pretty awesome music.

Here is another video of the aforementioned saluang music... except the traditional version. The vocals are also absolutely glorious.

Here's a lo-fi home video of a more traditional minangkabau music performed at some sort of gathering.

Another saluang video...

Here's a gorgeous song consisting of vocals accompanied by rabab (bowed string instrument)...

A final treat...

Here's an MP3 of Saluang dangdut I got from Multiply before they ceased to allow MP3 downloads. I quite like this track, particularly the vague yearning in the vocals. Not too sure about artist/ title attributions, regrettably.

For those who are curious, I highly recommend the two "Folk and Pop Music of Sumatra" discs on Sublime Frequencies as well as their new Sumatran DVD!

Maracatu Estrela Brilhante De Igarassú - 180 Anos

2007-12-29T20:13:00.000-05:00

WHAT THE HELL???

WHO SAID PEOPLE WERE ALLOWED TO MAKE MUSIC THIS RAW AND THIS FUNKY???

WHAT RIGHT DOES THIS BAND HAVE PUTTING OUT A RECORD LIKE THIS!?!?

Alright, alright... enough hyperbole, but this disc is pretty uncanny. I've been downloading discs of Maracatu music for a while, trying to find a recording which comes close to evoke the absolute batshit-crazy bedlam of a live show.

Toronto Baque, Nunca Antes' disc does an excellent job!

And so does 180 Anos by Maracatu Estrela Brilhante De Igarassú (pretty much the same name as the much younger, yet more famous Baque, Maracatu Nação Estrela Brilhante do Recife!)...

Whereas the Recife groups' recordings I've heard glitter with bleached-out digital reverb, this stuff bludgeons you in the face with a bone-dry, realist approach to production. Oddly, it seems as if certain bands embrace studio "enhancements" to make the drums sound bigger or something. To my ears, though, it almost has the effect of casting cartoonish shadows behind the sound, pointing more to the negative space, and hence slimming out the sound. With the Igarassú band it sounds far more robust and alive because they sidestep those glossy tones and go for a more hot, dense, sweaty aesthetic... Or who knows.. maybe they don't actively pursue it!? But for me, it sounds fucking fantastic!

Musically, what really sets Estrela Brilhante De Igarassú apart is their fairly brisk tempos and funky-yet-folksy sounding rhythms and alternating lead vocals. There is also less of an emphasis on the snare drum than I'm accustomed to, and more of a blended choral sound sort of sound happening.

As for the two vocalists, there is a gorgeously raspy-voiced woman who sings magically with some sort of built-in human tape saturation distortion (a la 1960's Bollywood), as well as a man with a smooth yet suitably peppery voice. The two of them really tear passionately into those towering fanfare-like melodies while the multiple voiced responses have a near-shouted rough-hewn texture which really complement the raucous sounds. There's almost a frantic, hurried quality to everyone's singing, causing everything to swell with a breathless urgency...

DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Their Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/maracatuestrelabrilhantedeigarassu

I heard the recording on this blog: Centro Virtual de Percussão Batuque Brasileiro

Here is the d/l link (from that blog!). Thanks to the original posters and much respect to these musical giants!

Lata Mangeshkar - Chala Vahi Des & Meera Bhajans

2007-12-27T15:29:00.000-05:00

I bought a not-so-great CD-R copy of Chala Vahi Des & Meera Bhajans (1974) a while ago, and was actually forced to rip it to my computer, because the damn thing wouldn't play properly because the disc was warped!

Contrary to the state of the CD-R, the music itself was insanely good!

I resisted posting it here, though, because I had assumed it was more ubiquitous, but after poking around a bit online, it seems like this dreamy disc of bhajans is a little harder to find than I had imagined!

And for those of you who have only heard her film songs, this album's woozy, contemplative strains may come as a bit of surprise... A set of Hindi devotional songs composed by her brother, Lata's versatility and vocal talents are evident as she sings against a basic band of instruments: tablas, manjiras, shakers, and tanpura. There is additional shading provided by the odd violin part, sarangi, reed instrument, burst of zither/ santoor, or sweet melodic question posed by a bansuri but the prevailing sound is far more spare than your average Lata hit! As well, as the record progresses, the successive tracks introduce exotic (no, not THIS kind of exotic!) studio effects and field recordings.

The feel, for me, is reminiscent of some North-American/ British hippy-era electronics-infused folk albums like Buffy Sainte-Marie's Illuminations (1969) or Linda Perhacs' Parallelograms (1970) or even 1986 album by Cocteau Twins, Victiorialand. Some tracks employ intriguing reverb or tape effects. On "Sanware Rang Rachi" and "Mai Mai Kaise Jiyun Ri" her voice is layered using a long tape-echo creating an otherworldliness which complements the spiritual themes of the record. "Ko Birahini Ko Dukh Jane Ho" features some truly haunted reverb-soaked backup vocals (provided by Lataji herself) while the actual raag employed in the song has an elusive, questing quality which augments the ethereal quality more than amply suggested by the evocative electronic effects. Many of the tracks, in fact, employ sumptuously yearning and complex scales heard less frequently in filmi music. The songs have the sense of reaching out (or in?) for something divine because of the tonal palette use, and the spectral quality of the production.

This is what Lata herself (apparently) has said about the title track:
I love every single song in my brother Hridayanath Mangeshkar's bhajan albums. Meera bhajans have always been my favourite." (Lataji refused to sing Pandit Ravi Shankar's compositions in Gulzar's Meera, arguing she had already sung Meera bhajans for her brother). When I recorded Chala vahi des I was so ill I could barely stand on my feet. It's a project very close to my heart. During the recording, we maintained a spiritual atmosphere all around us. Around the time we recorded the Meera bhajans, neither my brother nor I recorded any film song. We had followed the same pattern when we recorded my brother's compositions of the Bhagavad Geeta earlier." (from Lata Mangeshkar's Evergreen Hits)

Regrettably that particular track is slightly marred by the stubborn CD-R, so there are a couple of skips near the beginning of the track. My apologies! Additionally the CD is supposed to be heard continuously, so unfortunately this has been interrupted by not being heard on the original CD format!

Here is the download link.

Hero (1983) -- the soundtrack.

2007-12-24T00:24:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine (who requested that their name be put in bold italics in this post) and I were talking the other day about the texture of vocals we prefer. Having differing opinions of Lata Mangeshkar, she sent me links to a few videos to show me the sort of female voice she enjoys.

Among a few quite amazing clips (including one of the stunning Sufi singer Abida Parveen) one stood out. The visuals and the music shared a hallucinatory quality which naturally appealled to me given my predilection for such things. The song was "Lambi Judaai" from the 1983 Subhash Ghai film Hero.

Here is the video I was sent.

Upon doing a little more poking around online I discovered the rest of the soundtrack... or at least five other mindblowing songs from the film. Apparently this album was the fourth highest selling album of the 1980's in India!

I have found it difficult to piece together the details of which playback singers were employed in the film. I did uncover that Pakistani singer Reshma was the vocalist on "Lambi Judaai". According to her Wikipedia entry she could not speak Hindi and had to be taught the lyrics to "Lambi Judaai" phonetically! The tunes were all composed by the team Laxmikant-Pyarelal, "a popular Bollywood composer duo, consisting of Laxmikant Shantaram Kudalkar (1937-1998) and Pyarelal Ramprasad Sharma (born 1940). They composed music for about 500 Bollywood movies from 1963 to 1998" (Wikipedia)

Obviously the fact that they cut their teeth in the heyday of Bollywood is what makes this soundtrack so bloody amazing, fusing choice 1980's bits (such as TR-808 handclaps!) with the never-going-out-of-style school of Bollywood string writing, cascading zithers and santoors, lysergic breathing sounds, classic Bollywood vibraphone riffs, and a host of trippy effects (check the beginning of "Nindiya Si Jaagi Hai Bahar" for some strange ululations and sargam shot through mile-deep phosphorescent echoes, followed by ersatz bird song and anonymous choral swells!). "Pyaar Karne Wale" also features some nice early 80's synthesized strings paired with the real thing! The following track "Tu Mera Hero Hai" has some lovely spatial and echo effects employed on the percussion and strings (which get the royal dub treatment at points!)

When I discovered that it was from 1983 I was taken aback given the timeless quality of the songs that seem indebted even to 1950's Bollywood soundtracks, with their quasi-traditional strains and generous use of strings. I guess I wrongfully assumed that Additionally the visuals to me vaguely recalled the latter parts of Jodoworsky's The Holy Mountain, minus the outrageous bits, or as another friend of mine suggested, Fellini's Juliet of The Spirits--with the slightly washed-out palette of colour, the intense zooms, and dream-like montages.

Anyway... enough narration... Here are those six songs. Don't let "Ding Dong" put you off (I'm not as much a fan of that one)... the rest are gold!

I (still) heart Naheed Akhtar

2007-12-09T13:28:00.000-05:00

I first discovered the thrilling, magical sound of this genius playback chanteuse via the folks at the Prog Not Frog blog. I have since discovered, though, through chatting up music shop owners out on Gerrard St. E in Toronto (aka. Little India (there's a substantially Pakistani presence too though)), that, despite her reputation, Ms. Akhtar's music is fairly hard to come by. So naturally I felt inclined to find more of her online and share it. So here are some Youtube videos (live clips and film sequences!) and a zip file of some songs.

For me there's something quite special about the playful-yet-grandiose sweep of her songs.
As with a lot of contemporaneous Bollywood hits, there's a sweet coyness, and a delightful pinch of psychedelia. But, not unlike early the Charles Stepney arrangements on Minnie Riperton's Come To My Garden or Rotary Connection's albums, the psychedelic vibe of the arrangements in Akhtar's tunes seems to complement and magnify the sensuousness of the songs, rather than hinting at some sort of vague druggy menace (think "Dum Maro Dum" by Asha Bhosle).

These are shimmeringly quirky songs which perfectly capture the legendary racing-heart euphoria so often portrayed on the Lollywood/ Bollywood screen.

You can download a collection of songs here.

Here are some videos featuring the singer herself.

Here are some film sequences featuring her vocal talents:

Morlum/ Molam/ Morlam/ Molam videos

2007-12-02T15:19:00.000-05:00

Morlum/ Molam/ Morlam is a genre of music from the Northeast of Thailand (the Isan province), and Laos, that has gone from a traditional folk style to a full-on pop sensation.

Most of these videos are of the pop variety, but have a more classic approach. Many newer morlam songs that I've heard are a little heavy on the canned instrumentation for my liking, whereas this stuff seems to still use a band, with electric guitar, khaen (that 2-foot bamboo mouth organ), drums and more. Electric keyboards are sometimes still used but as a part of the ensemble, rather than as a substitute for the band.

Sublime Frequencies has issued two volumes of this stuff, both of which chronicle the psychedelic fringes of the genre. They come highly recommended.

Anyway, here are some karaoke-ized videos of some great molam tunes. Sing along if you can keep up!

Three concert videos by Honey Sri-Isaan.

Mohammed Wardi

2007-12-02T08:24:00.000-05:00

I was recently eating at my favourite Ethiopian restaurant in Toronto, Nazareth (on Bloor, east of Dovercourt for those of you who are interested in inexpensive and delicious food!), and heard something quite remarkable being played on the stereo.

The slick and agile violin-section licks were repeated generously and instantly made me think of a similar sweetness in songs like the Patrick Adams-produced "Keep On Jumpin" by Musique, or even certain parts of Michael Jackson's Off The Wall. The pulse of the song though was a good deal less insistent than disco music--its lilt, tempo and emphasis on off-beats more reminiscent of reggae. The melodic material was definitely, though, on an African-Arabic tip with a strong pull toward the pentatonic mode heard in a lot of Ethiopian and Eritrean songs. His voice too was bold but not overly strident, the lines decorated with the florid ornamentations one associates with that region.

My friend and I were both smiling at the bright effusive strains of the song. I finally asked the server who the artist was, and she informed me it was Sudanese singer Mohammed Wardi.

Of course, the first thing I did when I got home was looked him up online. My search was not as fruitful as I had hoped, but I came up with a few things. Looks like Wardi is a towering figure in African music, and has been engaged with both the popular world and more traditional styles.

Here are some Youtube videos.

Here are a few vids of him performing in more pared-down settings. Doing Nubian songs, and presumably some vaguely more trad songs.

Pre '75 Vietnamese popular music

2007-11-06T16:51:00.000-05:00

****EDIT*** 12/31/ 2007 THESE LINKS APPEAR TO BE ACTIVE AGAIN...

I have recently stumbled on a vast repository of classic Vietnamese pop music which is very much worth hearing.

It's presented as a collection of compilations, presumably ripped from cassettes:

NHÃ CA 1
NHÃ CA 2
NHÃ CA 4
NHÃ CA 5
NHÃ CA 6
NHÃ CA 7
NHÃ CA 8
NHÃ CA 9
NHÃ CA 10

Thank you to the original poster. This is a gold mine of nostalgic pop nuggets!

Guruh Gipsy - prog-rock/ jazz fusion from Jakarta

2007-11-06T16:50:00.000-05:00

Here we have quite a singular approach to the genre of progressive (or "art") rock.

British and American prog bands like Yes, Emerson, Lake and Palmer and others were known for fusing rock with elements of classical music and jazz and introducing complex rhythms, expansive musical structures, well as cutting-edge synthesizer technology (at that time--huge, heat-generating stacks of elusive boxes, and matted patch-cables).

This Indonesian band, Guruh Gipsy took a more inclusive approach to the word "classical", and dropped live gamelan instruments in alongside the usual palette of prog-rock sounds. You also hear traditional Indonesian scales creeping into pieces, as well as choral work which bears likeness to western classical music one minute, the next aping Indonesian massed vocals (as heard on things such as the classic Elektra Explorer album Javanese Court Gamelan Volume 1).

Then there's the strange lo-fi tape stuff which is also exciting sonically, albeit mildly perplexing (was this due to technical limitations, a poor tape transfer that I downloaded, or 100% intentional).

So in other words, Guruh Gipsy is a very ambitious and eclectic blend of elements and instrumentation. Funny how typical 1970’s excesses of concept, duration, studio usage were not exclusive to North America and Western Europe musicians. Perhaps the fact that the leader Guruh Soekarnoputra was the son of the first Indonesian president Soekarno had something to do with having access to the outlandish array of sounds displayed on this album.

Rocking opening track “Indonesia Mahardikka” is reminscent of many other longer virtuostic prog/ fusion pieces of the time, with gaudy guitar pyrotechnics, thin moog solos, ecclesiastical organ sounds, and choir.

Things get far more intriguing as the record moves forward.

“Choping Larung” introduces pseudo-classical piano noodling with with spacey choral/synth textures and processed Indonesian percussion.

"Janger 1897 Saka" moves through various territory seamlessly moving from what sounds like field recordings of some sort to western-classical inflected balladry with said choral climaxes, then introducing Indonesian drums and percussions, finishing with what sounds like older Indonesian musics.

"Geger Gelgel" follows, fusing Indo choral vocals, operatic and orchestral Western tinges(strings, soprano singer and piano!), with surges of hyper-speed Balinese-style gamelan.

To me, there's also a very audible Mahavishnu Orchestra influence (especially on tracks "Barong Gundah" with the guitar work and Jan Hammeresque synth soloing (itself arguably an imitation of John McLaughlin's guitar playing), particularly from the middle three records Birds of Fire, Between Nothingness And Eternity, and Visions Of The Emerald Beyond but there are many other elements at play, even passages that recall further-out things like Popol Vuh, Cluster (circa Cluster71) or early Tangerine Dream (Atem etc.) Sometimes you hear shades of Magma as well (the epic/ choral feel contributes to that comparison greatly)

You’d be hard-pressed to place the closing track “Sekar Ginotan” without having heard the rest of the album, as it simply sounds like Balinese gamelan straight up!

All in all, the album is definitely worth a listen.

Check it out here.

Here's a link with more info from the good people at Prog Not Frog

Violeta & Tita Parra

2007-10-31T16:39:00.000-04:00

Thanks to the magnificent Violeta Parra Discografía blog, I have discovered this pair of unique Chilean discs.

The first is by Violeta Parra, prolific singer/songwriter who is credited with establishing La Nueva Canción chilena (the new song), a modern style Chilean folk genre. She was also known for her involvement in Leftist politics. This album is quite stripped down, with guitar and voice being the only elements involved. It was released in 1971, but recorded in 1961, six years before her death, by suicide. The songs are bold and emphatic, charged with emotion. It contains both original compositions and cover songs.

Violeta Parra - Recordando a Violeta Parra (1971)

The second disc is by Tita Parra. Tita's mother was Isabela, one of the two children of Violeta. This disc from 1982 is considerably different from the work of her grandmother. While it is also quite remarkable, the tone is quite muted, distant even, bearing a certain likeness to some post Bossa Nova music from Brazil in terms of its sort of delicate aloofness. One of the most intriguing aspects of this recording is the arrangements. While sharing that light, breezy feel of bossa nova, using a lot nylon string guitar and flutes, the harmonies can be quite unconventional and even dissonant at times (the opening track). The way in which the songs unfold is quite unique too, but difficult to really sum up in words.
Tita Parra - Amor del aire, Ma gyan sudipa

Again, please visit the Violeta Parra Discografía blog for more treasures, and to show your support!

Maracatu Nunca Antes

2007-10-30T00:59:00.000-04:00

(photo by mjemirzian)

Maracatu Nunca Antes is, without question, one my favourite Toronto bands. Their sound is so powerful and vibrant that it's difficult to avoid, in a live context, being completely overwhelmed with joy and awe. I first encountered them at an event in Kitchener, Ontario that was loosely affiliated with the Open Ears Festival. This event, ostensibly a rave, featured a mix of true blue techno DJs alongside the likes of Marc Leclair (aka Akufen), Nifty, and Patty Schmidt of CBC Radio Two's now-defunct Brave New Waves program (doing a DJ set) in an abandoned Legion building which had been taken over by the City of Kitchener.

When the promoter of the event described Nunca Antes as a 'drum ensemble' I was somewhat suspicious because of the PLUR-seeking hippy types that seem to come to some rave-ish events. But I should've trusted his curatorial prowess, because nothing could have prepared me for the sensation this group stirred up. I remember I went briefly downstairs to chat with Matt Smith, Steve Kado and Rob Gordon, who were beavering away to prepare "the loudest Nifty set ever", and missed what was happening upstairs... the hardwood dancefloor area being invaded by an army of uniform-clad drummers--big stick-beaten drums at that. By the time I arrived upstairs Nunca Antes was going full steam. I had missed the vocal introduction of the first song, and arrived in the middle of one of their intense instrumental sections: multiple large drums pounding, strident whistles blowing, agogos, shakers and snare drums buzzing away.

And then, the next song started up, with leader Aline Morales (who used to play in the well- known baque Maracatu Nação Estrela Brilhante) belting out an anthemic melodies before cueing the massive percussion meltdown.

The thing that astounded me was how bloody loud they were, despite the fact that the only mics they were using were for the vocals. The rickety hardwood floors had obviously provided natural resonance for them, also lending a nice synaesthetic complement the huge surging rhythms.

Saturday October 6th, 2007 they released their CD "The Beat Migration", celebrating with packed show at East-End Toronto venue Centre of Gravity (conveniently (for me) located next to Little India). Actually in this case the proximity of Little India messed things up a little bit. I slipped out during a perfunctory DJ set to get some food and browse the cheap CD-Rs at the numerous paan shops, and missed the majority of the first Nunca Antes set, much to my dismay.

Fortunately there was another longer set, which I didn't miss.

Really they could do nothing to fully reignite my amazement in Kitchener. After all, there is nothing quite like going back to one's hometown after moving away, only to have one's mind totally blown--especially in an unconventional yet familiar-ish space like said Legion Hall.

Despite my preconceptions, I was still transported completely--utterly transfixed by the paradox of Maracatu music. It is at once taut and loose, fearsome and fierce yet sensuous and effusive, militaristic yet celebratory, even (dare I say) simple and direct yet complex... Experienced live it's like a cross between the apocalypse and losing your virginity. Perhaps this contradictory aspect has to do with the history of maracatu which is bound up variously in slavery and colonialism but also celebration.

And while part of me preferred the more raw and DIY charm of the first performance I saw, and the absense, in that case of a stage, the more conventional 'concert' aspects applied to this concert seemed far from artificial. There was no less fervour or conviction in this concert. The lights and vaguely fancier attire merely highlighted the natural charisma of the ensemble. They also had the advantage of a large group (the numbers vary) that night which made it very easy for them to project their energy from the stage

So while different than my first taste, they were nothing short of exhilarating, ferocious and beautiful--all the things I had hoped for!

My only criticisms of the evening were entirely outside of Maracatu Nunca Antes' music. I felt a little odd about the sequencing of a set which capped off the evening, which was another ensemble fronted by Aline Morales performing a more pared-down and gentle style of Brazilian music called forro. The drastic shift in energy would've been better set in reverse, with this group warming up, but perhaps there were logistical reasons behind the decision. I feel as if I would've appreciated the smaller group's sensibility had it preceded the more brazen, thundering stuff, instead I was too busy sorting myself out!

The disc is also quite captivating, heaving around the thick muscular beats, amidst the vocal fanfares. Some other Maracatu recordings I've heard have been a little skimpy on the percussion breaks. While Nunca Antes cuts them down a little bit from the live show, there's no sense that the pieces are truncated at all. Each track breathes very naturally, with a good balance between all the elements. The recording itself is also very clear and crisp without sacrificing the all-too-crucial bottom end at all. A subtle production effect that I really enjoy is that, frequently the vocals are mixed just slightly lower than one would expect, giving the drums a bit more space to plough through.

On two tracks they include additional harmonic instruments. "Mar Sem Fim" drops some tasteful African-tinged guitar into the mix, lightening up the sound a little bit. "Mãe Sereia", however, employs a horn section (courtesy of Scott Good, Richard Underhill and Tim Hamel) which to my ears sounds completely extraneous, and yet somehow kind of incomplete. While the players are more than competent, the parts have a tentative feel to them, giving them the air of being tacked on. The effect is vaguely similar to that of the guitar, but where the guitar adds some nice agility to the pulse rhythms of the piece, the sustained horn notes steal the fire from the drums and singing. I would've far preferred to hear vocal parts covering what the horns do instead.

Fortunately there are 15 other immaculate tracks in addition to this less successful piece:

"Casa Diamante", one of the most energetic songs from their live set, is cast in a new light on CD. After an accapella call-and response intro the listener is catapulted full-force drum-choir acrobatics. Live, the sheer force nearly knocks you over, whereas the crisp detail the CD allows is immersive in its own way, the agile drum-work carving out a web of intersecting rhythmic trajectories.

Opener, "Bombo de Là" builds steadily, also starting with a choral intro before entering into a more elusive rhyhtmic space, with lotsa trompe-l'oreille temporal tricks going on in the background. Particularly tasty is the break where all but the bass drums drop out beneath the vocals!

Really, though instead of reading about this you should go investigate for yourself at the band's myspace: http://www.myspace.com/nuncaantes.

Here is some additional info on the style Maracatu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maracatu
http://www.allbrazilianmusic.com/en/Styles/Styles.asp?Status=MATERIA&Nu_Materia=901

and an article on Nunca Antes:
http://www.eyeweekly.com/eye/issue/issue_10.04.07/music/meet.php

RIP Lilis Suryani

2007-10-09T01:59:00.000-04:00

I just caught word that Indonesian pop singer Lilis Suryani passed away Sunday evening at the age of 59. She died after a battle with cancer. Garage Hangover just did a feature on her courtesy of someone by the name of Steven Farram. He followed up Sunday with a comment, notifying readers of her death. Here is yet another one of my favourite tracks by her, Oentoek Paduka Jang Mulia Presiden Soekarno. I have little to say about it, except that it has something to do with President Soekarno, Indonesia's first president. Perhaps it about his removal from power, which occurred around when Ms. Suryani was really active? I really have no idea though. It's beautiful and moving song.

As well, from what I can discern this is a relatively recent video of Lilis being given an award, doing a speech over over a video feed from the hospital, and someone else accepting the medal on her behalf. She looks rather frail due to the chemotherapy... The little sung fragment is touching.

Great Pakistani film music courtesy of Nahid Akhtar & Prog Not Frog

2007-10-04T15:41:00.001-04:00

I just discovered the amazing Prog Not Frog MP3 blog after searching for more info on Indonesian prog band Guruh Gipsy.

I highly recommend this site. Contains lots of hard-to-find goodies from around the world, with a definite prog/psych/ avant-rock bent.

One thing I found on there that I'd felt very much to compelled share is an album: "Film Hits" by Pakistani playback singer Nahid Akhtar (see comments for download). It's got my beloved 1970's feel to it with a lot really groovy percussion parts and zany production values. Her voice, too, is amazing: just the right balance between playfully sweet, aggressive, and rich, easily navigating both campy-sexy territory as well as the heartfelt and tender zones--sometimes within the span of a single piece.

There are many standout tracks on this album where the arrangements employ really delightfully unexpected sounds. The magical "Main To Na Boli" uses tablas tuned to a major triad for some nice, simple melodic flourishes. The song also uses an effect which sounds like a jaw harp, yet it is capable of playing melodies!.

The very dynamically-arranged "Dil Dil-Dil-Dil Sambhaala" contains keyboard sounds that elicted a mental comparison to the Thai pop and Molam tunes collected by the various Sublime Frequencies discs. Vocally speaking, the song is also extremely interesting with the peppery triplet rhythm bits, and the little Arabic-sounding snippets that she tosses off as well... not too mention the little psych-sexploitation fragment where her breathy panting is either subject to some outlandish form of ring modulation or really weird distortion.

Parts of "Tarasta Hai Yeh Dil" sound conspicuously like Asha Bhosle's song "Dum Maro Dum". Although, "Tarasta..." for me is a bit more enjoyable because the song is a little longer, with the noteworthy chorus when the heat gets turned up a little more on that lightly-toasted vocal distortion you so often hear in Indian-Subcontinent film music of the time.

The vocal line of "Aise Mausam Men Chup Kayoon Ho" is completely gorgeous and supple, but the chameleon-like arrangement beneath shifts between various soundworlds. At points touching on a prototype for certain strains of contemporary hip-hop (notably Timbaland and MIA), with the bamboo-rattle punctuations. And then there's that strange distorted melodic mutter that smears around once in a while, like a mix of synth and very poorly recorded electric guitar. And, of course, if you know Ryan Driver's inimitable synth playing in the Silt, Deep Dark United, Double Suicide, or with Sandro Perri's band (and countless others), you'll feel like you're sitting in the Tranzac in Toronto when the little synth tweets fly overhead!

I could write an emphatic review for absolutely track on this album because it is simply so consistently appealing and intriguing, but alas I will not. Just give it a listen!

Yuri Morozov: brilliant Russian psych-lunatic!

2007-10-01T19:07:00.000-04:00

The modest Wikipedia article on Russian r n' r says: "In the early 1970s Yuri Morozov invented a kind of Russian psychedelic rock, using elements of progressive rock as well."

Needless to say, my interested was piqued, but even despite this formidable endorsement, I was ill-prepared for what I heard. I have not yet really explored any "world" experimental rock on this blog yet and personally I think this is a great first foray into that territory.

To these ears, Morozov (or Юрий Морозов) exhibits shades of many now-canonized 'heads': The United States of America (or maybe even White Noise), Caetano Veloso (in his Tropicalia period), Tom Ze, Comus, Big Star (circa "Third") and even Hawkwind. His vocals span the gamut from sweet, like Veloso to squealed, not unlike those of Comus at their most nightmarish. Sometimes he adopts a vernacular sprechstimme evocative of Tom Ze.

His arrangements incorporate a peculiar mix of instrumental and electronic timbres, as well as drastic editing effects (sped-up tapes/ cuts) and cheapo echoes and reverb. Sometimes he'll play acoustic guitar, other times it'll be a fuzzed-out, cranked-up electric, or a thin, buzzy synth line. The whimsical sound effects that get thrown in are very much of their time, but for those of us (like me) who didn't live through it, it's all feels very fresh!

The leanness of the arrangements, also causes me to throw out the Ze comparison. I can also see a bit of Faust-ian bent in that regard, especially when you consider discs like Faust IV

His generous use of dissonance is a pleasantly pungent effect, which I enjoy a great deal.

All in all, comparisons aside, this is very unique material that deserves some recognition alongside the aformentioned names.

Here are some songs:
Странник Голубой звезды
Here's an interesting synth-driven track from 1980. Reminds me of some of the stuff on the Volga Select compilation of French New-Wave/ Post-Punk So Young But So Cold. I'm intrigued by how the melody sounds very Russian (from what I know of Russian music), while the backing music is icy and oh-so-late-seventies-slash-early-eighties.

The following songs can be found in a RAR-archive file here. You may need a program to un-RAR it such as this one

Свадьба кретинов
I love the subtly fried production values on this one and sped-up backing vocals which haunt the background. The nutty synth swells are quite succulent as well.

Я смеюсь над часами
This is the sound of 1970's MOR going horribly wrong. I love how the little winding sounds at the beginning hint that something's up, despite the smooth poppy vocals. And then you get the interposed discordant bleats of something-electronic. Sabotage never sounded so good.

Конформист
The unobtrusively funky beat glides along beneath the floating 12-string guitar strums and foreboding violin melodies and electronic textures...

Кретин
Here anorexic versions of Sabbath/ Hawkwind-inflormed guitars carve out a gnarled path for Morozov's sickly rocker-yelps.

Черный пес
Ever imagined what you'd get if you took a wacked-out piano bar tune that Diamanda Galas laid down on a record like The Singer and mixed it with flaccid fuzz-guitars, intermittent sci-fi synth whinnies, and dubbed-out tape-echoes? I certainly never imagined it until I heard this song.

Enjoy!

Googoosh: Persian torch songs

2007-09-30T23:34:00.001-04:00

I have been busily preparing another post on Russian experimental auteur/ oddball Yuri Morozov, but my hosting site is currently acting up so I have opted to a Youtube-driven post for the time being. Here it is:

As you can easily guess, I have an unabashed love for impassioned vocals with sweeping arrangements.

Hailing from Iran, Googoosh is a chocolatey-voiced purveyor of this sort of music, and was extremely popular in the 1970's. Like many old-fashioned pop vocalists, she was both an actor and musician.

I find her to be comparable to another one of my favourite Middle-Eastern singers: Fairouz, only perhaps a little more poppy overall. A little more fun and less majestic. Although Fairouz had her light moments too, I think. I think there's a bit of a generational difference too.

I've found some great clips of her to share.

For Torontonians who like music like this and like dancing

2007-09-27T00:08:00.000-04:00

I've only seen A Man Called Warwick DJ once, but, it was very exciting. I highly recommend this event! He has an amazing collection of original-pressing African vinyl as well as obscure Latin and Indian stuff. If you enjoy dancing, this guy refuses to let you stop. The set I saw was relentlessly fun and interesting.

More music soon!

Another brilliant, and likeminded article!

2007-09-11T21:12:00.001-04:00

Marcus Boon has been one of my favourite writers for the Wire for a while now.

Aside from having a way with words, he's also consistently championed of some of the best experimental music from Toronto. I remember in January 2006 looking at their Global Ear column, only to find a full-page article on the Rat-Drifting posse of Toronto (The Reveries, The Guayaveras, Josh Thorpe, Rob Clutton, Drumheller, St. Dirt Elementary School, Eric Chenaux, The Silt) written by Monsieur Boon. Of course, I was delighted and even wrote a letter to the editor (which actually got published, errors and all).

His Nuit Blanche 2006 event at Trinity-Bellwoods pool was similarly thrilling for me It featured Polmo Polpo, Windy & Carl, and Tim Hecker performing their music into an underwater P.A. that you could hear while floating in the water. I couldn't remember the last time I had swam before this concert, so there was obviously something completely fucking magical about hearing Tim Hecker's stuff being blasted at 4AM
into my head while floating in a warm swimming pool, with people busily splashing around me.

Anyway, enough flowery talk, back to relevant issues...

Today, I found a great article by him which discusses the approach of the Sublime Frequencies label, and situates it in a continuum alongside the work of American 'ethnopsychedelicists' Harry Smith and Henry Flynt. It also uses their particular way of curating non-Western musics as a lens into the problem of 'world music.'

While he makes some deft criticisms of the culturally-mediated reality served up by ethnographic/ ethnomusicological recordings, he also addresses the problematic features of the Sublime Frequencies discs, such as the issues surrounding the identity of the musicians. He does, however defend these aspects in light of the fact that they serve to underscore the fragmented/ fraught nature of this sonic terrain. It shatters the notion that non-western cultures exist in a pre-modern vacuum where ancestral styles (performed, no less, in traditional attire) reign supreme.

I am also pleased to see that someone else is in accordance with my idea that Sublime Frequencies et. al exoticize/ psychedelicize our experience of any/all music, not just that of "other" cultures. I think that's certainly a key aspect to their work, at least for me.

His allusion to Rat-Drifting in this essay is also fitting, as some of those projects operate in a similar way. Take for instance the marble-mouthed (or, speaker-mouthed) ballads of the Reveries, who take "standards" (read: familiar, popular songs) and subject them to a semi-controlled processes of forgetfulness and erasure. The trio sings and plays through speakers in each others mouths. In turn, each member is wah-wahing another members instrument or voice with the resonance of their face. This also means that they can't sing "properly" and drool all over the place and obscure the phonetic content of the song lyrics. They also play weirdo instruments like nose-flutes and Ryan Driver's homemade stuff like the quasi-ruler bass. The modus modus operandi deliberately, yet somehow unintentionally impedes them from being completely effusive. While they are perversely reverent of the nostalgia-suffused songs they are covering, they are just plain unable to "do them justice."

The result is harrowingly beautiful and hilarious as they struggle through these heartfelt renditions of these old (and new) chestnuts. Emotionally speaking, this is a very a psychedelic place to be--inside what seems like a contradiction on the surface: ugly/ beautiful, mundane/ strange, exotic/ familiar, calculated/ completely broken...

Bottom line--I am enthusiastic about sharing Boone's article.

Here's a few particularly striking passages for me:

"Switching on the radio in most parts of the world, one is unlikely to hear a single homogenous style that "represents" a people, but a polyphony of styles and sounds that is as baffling and fascinating to locals as it is to tourists and outsiders. There is a lingering ethnomusicological prejudice in favor of the purity and order of certain folk styles, and against the cacophony of modernity which is present just about everywhere in the world, even, or perhaps especially where people are unable to claim any of the material benefits of modernization. Ghettos, shanty towns, dismal rural villages with a couple of generators and a muddy main street are as modern as the skyscrapered metropolises. And they have a modern sound world, which Sublime Frequencies is the first to document."

"[I]t is also true that the ethnographic labeling of music, as well as the visual rhetoric of documentary film subtitling, are kinds of appropriation too, which do very little for those labeled and which build the power of ethnomusicologists as authorities and experts. The fact that there are various kinds of collusion between certain members of ethnic cultures and certain experts, which claim to establish the authenticity of the native culture, and correct protocols of address of that culture, does not necessarily solve the problem of who gets to speak for whom. Sublime Frequencies' silence, their refusal to label music, can be seen to preserve a kind of secrecy around the music which reflects more accurately the position of that music within the culture that it's found, and within the broader world too."

Anyway, to hell with giving you my personal highlights. Read the full article.

Apparently David Byrne hates world music.

2007-09-11T11:12:00.000-04:00

I stumbled across this astute, amusing and articulate piece by David Byrne last night. Looks like his ideas are very much in line with mine (as expressed here on this blog). While I am not always in love with Luaka Bop's releases, there are several I have enjoyed a great deal, and now I've got a renewed interest in them, in light of this new light being cast on their curatorial agenda. I finds it interesting that there's this quasi-activistic stance behind this label, but yet I was never aware of it.

As one's parents always say "hate is a pretty strong word." Obviously though, the title is intended to be amusing, seeing as Luaka Bop's stuff often gets that lovely label slapped on it.

Enjoy!

Indonesian Guitars

2007-08-30T00:11:00.000-04:00

I'm sure a lot of you reading this posting have heard the
"Indonesian Guitars" compilation on Smithsonian Folkways. For those of you that have not heard it, it's an excellent document of the multifaceted relationship that various Indonesian traditional and popular musics have with the guitar, and other similar instruments. Some of the music is contained on that album is absolutely stunning, for me.

I recently unearthed some more stuff like in that vein on (guess where... that's right!) Multiply. The crucial difference is the weird lo-fi psychedelic overtones. Gone is the pristine-yet-verité field recording aesthetic of the Folkways recordings, and instead of insects chirping in the background you get tape hiss, dubby echoes, and some of the most idiosyncratic guitar tones I've heard.

If this was obscure English or German music, you surely would have seen a deluxe reissue by now with reviewers and hipsters slathering it in lost-gem-of-outsider-folk praise. Actually though despite the aformentioned production values, it's mostly just an amalgam of Indonesian styles-bits of kerocong, tembang sunda, and Islamic elements floating amongst various other disparate elements.

Regretfully, as per usual, I have very little info on the artists or tracks.

Here's the music:

Bimbo Iin - Pelet Kabayan
I love the fuzztone guitar that creeps up in the background near the end of this track. Apologies for the glitch at the beginning of the track! Bimbo-Iin was, from what I can gather from the Indonesian Wikipedia page, an Indonesian group that started in 1967, consisting of Sam Bimbo, Acil Bimbo, Jaka Bimbo, and Iin Parlina. The members seem to still be quite active. I am told that on this song, and on "Lalaki" they're singing in the Bahasa Sunda language.

Bimbo Iin - Lalaki
The tuning and use of wah on the guitars really aligns it with German psych group Amon Düül's "Paradieswart Düül" in my mind. The echoey vocals too give this a distinct flavour redolent of 1970's hippiedom, despite the fact that this affiliation is more than likely unintentional. Additionally doesn't that instrument at the beginning sound strangely reminiscent of the krar? I love that bit of overlap, seeing as I have such a fondness personally for both Indonesian and Ethiopian/ Eritrean music.

Bimbo Iin - Saputangan
Funny how this very obviously keroncong-derived track (not sure of the origin of the song, whether it is a Keroncong officially or not), sound strangely like other Portuguese-colonized music... Brazillian music. I can't help but think of Gal Costa or other 1970's post-Bossa Nova/tropicalia MPB stuff when I listen to this track. This is obviously a far cry from the music on original Indonesian Guitars comp, but I really enjoy this track.

Bimbo Iin - Keroncong Telomoyo
This is obviously (see the title?) a true blue keroncong song. I love the addition of the slow wobble of the 1970's synth strings. Not unlike Perrey-Kingsley's gorgeously icey arrangement of "Moon River", the ersatz strings in the background offers a touch of alienated yet earnest nostalgia which skews this in surreal direction, away from trad keroncong (which, by the way is also very nice!)

Mat Yamin - Has Dek Kan Ngringkannye
This is a longer, more repetitive track with some lovely very metallic sounding fingerpicking. This will be much more familiar territory to those that have heard the Smithsonian Compilation. Minus, of course, how the voice is coated in a strange electric haze (hiss + fake reverb).

Yuliani & Amin - Merapi
Another beautiful longer track with beautiful female vocals. For some reason I think of Numero Group's "Ladies of The Canyon" compilation when I hear this, which chronicles a variety of 1960's/70's female singer-songwriters who delved into various dreamy territories off the path paved by the likes of Joni Mitchell. The spare guitar, and evocative vocals make this song a real standout.

Tlahoun Gessesse - "Atinkugn"

2007-08-28T00:53:00.000-04:00

Tlahoun Gessesse is one of many amazing Ethiopian/ Eritrean musicians to get the reissue treatment courtesy of Buda Musique. For many Ethiopians too he's the pinnacle of the old-guard of singers.

His particular brand of Ethiopian soul is really quite striking. He has a rich, yet strident voice, not to mention its intense agility. Sometimes he assumes a gentle romantic tone, while at other points he adopts a firey, frantic delivery where he seemes to carve out his ornate lines, rather than letting them slide gracefully out.

Because I am a huge sucker for ballads, this one tends toward the mellower end of his spectrum, but... toward the middle he gets considerably more passionate-sounding, which is quite evocative. This is one of his songs which did not appear on his Ethiopiques disc (#17).

Atinkugn

A rare treat from Ms. Mangeshkar, plus one.

2007-08-28T00:21:00.001-04:00

I know, I know. It's only been a little while and I've already mentioned her twice, and EVERYONE knows her already, but when you hear this tune, you'll understand.

This is an older tune from Lataji and I've done my utmost to find it on CD. Mainstream record stores, several Indian stores, and despite be quite a well-known tune among South Asians of a certain age, it's pretty scarce on CD.

I think this song is one of her best. Not quite as mind-shattering as "Rasik Balma" but... it's up there.

"Chand Phir Nikla"

And here's another one of my favourites: "Ajib Dastan Hai Yeh"

Benyamin S. & Gambang Kromong-pop

2007-08-22T14:47:00.000-04:00

Benyamin S. (Sueb) is another diverse and fascinating Indonesian musician/ entertainer I discovered recently. His work spans a gamut of styles including deliciously soppy ballads, gambang kromong pop, bizarre sound-effect laced pop nuggets, and even, regrettably so, heavy-handed hard rock. He was also an actor and comedian (which you can definitely hear in his jovial (occasionally bordering on manic) vocal delivery)

His duets with Ida Royani--both gambang kromong stuff and even the schlocky balladry, for me, call to mind the classic duets of Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood. The large ensemble of gambang kromong and its colourful array of instruments (western, indonesian, and chinese) harken back to Hazlewood's striking arrangements. Similarly the flirtatious vocal banter reminds one of songs like "Jackson" or "Sand" where Lee & Nancy trade off lines and verses playfully, giggling intermittently. I have yet, however, to hear something of theirs which matches the psychedelic perversity of "Some Velvet Morning"!

In addition to said duets is the aformentioned skewed pop tunes, which also have a cartoonish quality to them. This music highlights another reference point for me in terms of vocal style: Brazilian singer Tom Zé. The blatant quirks too also recall Zé's wackiness, particularly his earlier period.

These are only little hints my ears pick up, obviously there are other prominent features, including (unsurprisingly) the influence of contemporaneous Hindi film songs!

Anyway here are a couple of videos, and some links to some MP3s. By the way--relating to somebody's difficulties with the Mp3s--please don't attempt to save the linked material. The link is actually a page, which then allows you to download (after waiting for the counter... grumble!) So yeah! :-)

Enjoy!

Benyamin in wacko/ comical mode with bizarro vocoder sounds in tow!

Benyamin Sueb - Kilik Kuping
This is the one that really inspired the Tom Zé comparison. I love the icky 1970's TVOntario-kid's-show synth sounds he employs.

Benyamin S. & Ida Rolyani - Tukang Kridit
A striking example of the Lee & Nancy dynamics these two had, atop a gambang kromong-pop arrangement: violins, and gamelan-type instruments

Benyamin S. & Ida Rolyani - Ande Ande Lumut
Another more gambang kromong style piece. I love the chripy mandolin arpeggios which give this a keroncong-esque flavour. Apparently though, gambang kromong extends from the keroncong lineage.

Oh... and just for reference... here's a video I found of "Some Velvet Morning" which pretty much epitomizes "psychedelic perversity", and video of "Summer Wine"

Wongjun Pairoj, Ms. Mystery MP3s (I think...)

2007-08-20T00:07:00.000-04:00

Here is some of the Popular Thai Music From the 50's & 60's I alluded to in the first post. As I said I'm almost certain this is a singer by the name of Wongjun Pairoj (วงจันทร์ ไพโรจน์) I could be wrong...

At any rate, what really matters is how beautiful this music is. For me, it marries the best aspects of Edith Piaf at her most sombre, early Lata Mangeshkar and Billie Holiday's Lady In Satin. But there's an extra sprinkle of magic somewhere in there. This music epitomizes that otherworldly, but oh-so-of-this world, sepia-toned flicker that makes people like Guy Maddin and the Brothers Quay go all bananas. To these ears, there is such a gloriously nostalgic and melancholy tone to this music, especially since it is glazed with that unmistakable bygone-era detritus due to the studio techniques and recording medium.

The real standout for me though is the tone and agility of her voice. I am surprised she isn't recognized in the Western world, because I can think of very few people who sing those sorts of lines so gracefully.

I don't know the names of all of these tracks either, unfortunately so... My apologies.

Here they are:
Wongjun Pairoj - ???
Wongjun Pairoj - พอกันทีที่รัก * I am certain that this one's her, the others MUST be.
Wongjun Pairoj - ??? (#3)

More Jaipongan!

2007-08-19T23:46:00.000-04:00

Yes. More... and from the aforementioned site, Multiply.

This is different than the previously posted Youtube one. It's far less trippy but it's great to be able to see the performers making the music, and the dancer too!

The amazing Lilis Suryani!

2007-08-19T19:19:00.000-04:00

I recently discovered a very interesting Indonesian pop singer from the 1960's/70's. I'm not usually a big fan of surfy-sounding music from the 1960's but for some reason, this woman's voice really does it for me and catapults the trademark guitar sound of that style into the same league as Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins, in terms of creating completely invigorating and uplifting golden waves of sound.

I don't even remember now how I stumbled across Lilis Suryani. I think I may have been googling for more jaipongan MP3s and came across her stuff instead. What a pleasant surprise.

While the sound of her music is far more familiar to western ears than that of jaipongan stuff, it is nonetheless remarkable for being very warm and fun. I've found it perfect to listen to "Cing Tulungan" while riding my bike to work in the morning (even if some deem that dangerous!). It seems like ideal summer music to me.

At any rate, I've posted three of hers here (sorry about the little countdown... If anyone wants to host my MP3s, please let me know!)

Cing Tulungan - This track shows off her gift for injecting a little more conviction and humanity energy into the genre of 60's pop. I don't speak the language but it sounds like she actually means what she's saying, unlike a lot of songs in this style of music (in English or otherwise!)

Air Mata - Call me old fashioned, but I am a a sucker for these sorts of string-drenched ballads. Again you hear that sort of slightly hard edge she has to her voice coming through... Just a bit piercing, enough to give a little bit of nice texture (I would say "spice", but we all know how that would sound, right?) to this quite standard-sounding tune.

Lenggang Kangung - This is a vaguely more psychedelic tune that has shades of Gal Costa or even a more conventional United States of America, in terms of the echoey production and the odd little plinkity-plonk sounds.

Just a little aside: I found all this stuff and way more on Multiply.com which is kind of like a Myspace/ Facebook site that seems to have tonnes of Indonesians using it (... and a few Dutch and Belgian folks!). You have to join in order to download the music but there's reams of it on there, and amazing stuff too!

"A New Era of Field Recordings Emerges"

2007-08-17T16:56:00.001-04:00

I stumbled across an intriguing and refreshing article by Andy Beta about the labels Sublime Frequencies and Drag City subsidiary Yaala Yaala on the NY Sun website. The article discusses both the content and approaches of the two labels, offering some nice soundbites (well, minus the sound) from the label-folk about their ethos, as well as their notions of their own roles.

I can vaguely remember somebody, perhaps an author of an article in a new-musicology text mounting a critique of Sublime Frequencies, claiming that it presents the music as novel or exotic. I feel like this article demonstrates that they're not about exoticism in the ethnically-loaded sense of the world, but just hearing the exotic in all/ any music. Frequently the records they release feel curiously familiar, as they bear strong resemblances to Western pop styles. Hearing those styles refracted like that, you begin to the hear the interesting features you missed when you heard it done the western way. My experience has been that I come away from listening to those discs feeling strangely refreshed. They somehow clean your ears and help you hear the exotic (ie. "strikingly unusual") in the seemingly mundane.

Additionally, Jack Carneal's approach to curating the Yaala Yaala label is quite inspiring.

Mr. Carneal lived in Mali with his wife for a year, and the music issued by Yaala Yaala arises from his time spent there, hearing these phenomenal sounds, yet having little grasp of it. Rather than unpack and analyze it, Mr. Carneal passes that bewilderment onto the listener. "I didn't have an … idea about what any of these people were singing about!" he said. "Why on earth would I front like I knew something more?"

Largely, I agree with his position--pleading ignorance with respect to the music... I find it also quite humane, with respect to the post-colonial viewpoint, given the impossibility of understanding this music (culturally) from outside of that specific context. While some would argue that he's serving to bolster discourses of "mystery and otherness", I think a stronger case could be made for him serving as an advocate of music. This break from ethnographical-pseudoscience marks also a return to a more visceral, aesthetics-grounded approach to non-Western music--acknowledging the exteriority of the western listener, and presenting the music as MUSIC.

I think some critics my be wary of the financial aspect of these projects. Certainly, with respect to the reissue/ old-music compilation discs I think it's fair game. It's not as if the average CD(-R) purchased at a store geared at serving a certain ethnic community, isn't produced in the same RIAA-defying way--crackly old records/ hissy old tapes just put onto CDs. But field recordings, sometimes I wonder about. If someone's making a fresh recording of musicians, I kind of wonder about the finances.

And... from the Yaala Yaala myspace here's a quote on the subject:

While we here at YYR don't think it's any of yern business how the fiscal cogs interlock and turn here inside the doors of Fort Yaala, we do want to state categorically that we are a non-profit venture. Great care has been taken to keep our costs absurdly low so that whatever meager profits we might realize from our upcoming releases will be kept for the artists themselves. We have agents in Mali who we trust to disburse said funds (when they arrive) even though we know enough about Mali to know that this will be a comical and perhaps absurd venture! It is our sole hope that more people in the world hear this wonderful music from rural Mali and, of course, that these musicians are able to benefit financially from our efforts.

Non-introductory / Non-dogmatic first post.

2007-08-16T17:35:00.001-04:00

Hello. Here are some delicious links I've discovered that I am sharing this time around! Enjoy!

Huoy Meas - Sa-ek Heuy Sa-ek Tiet
This is a lovely old Khmer chestnut. I don't know very much about the artist or the song, except that it's apparently it's from the 1970's. I found it on the amazing Khmer Oldies blog, which has plenty of great old Khmer pop, as well as a few more traditional numbers.

There is something quite haunting about this track. As per its resemblance to things like Roy Orbison, I almost picture a Cambodian David Lynch employing it as soundtrack fodder. Apart from the tune itself is very bygone-era, and the echoey Joe Meek-esque production values also contribute to its mystique. I enjoy this style in English, but the unique texture of the vocals (due to language and vocal-style) make this somehow an even more thrilling listen.

Euis Komariah - Enggalkeun
Anyone who's heard Tonggeret by Idjah Hadidjah knows how great Jaipongan is... A really unique fusion of various disparate Sundanese and other Indonesian styles, it broke through into the mainstream. This is from another great Jaipongan album, which is hard to find, entitled Jaipongan Java. Seems as though the CD is out-of-print, and Soulseek isn't much help, I've found. There is, however, this folder with the album in its entirety. This particular track is a highlight for me. I love the English-language commentary that occurs mid-way through. Of course, the traits which are irrefutably jaipong are lovely, as always... The group chanting, the near-weightless lead female voice, the tabla-esque drum cadence that cue abrupt tempo changes, and the ever-brilliant shimmer of the traditional gamelan instruments.

And here's a Jaipongan video (I'm posting it more for the song than the visuals!):

Here's some Sinawi music from Korea, an interesting improvised traditional form, used to accompany Shaman rites, that I don't know that much about. Something very fascinating about it, is the sonic resemblance, at times, to free-jazz and western improvisational styles. The strident timbres and large pitch-bends are always a treat, as in other Korean styles like sanjo.

There are other goodies at the root site, but there's a lot, without very much accompanying information. Look for Daegum and Kayagum sanjo pieces! (English spellings may vary)

I first made this next discovery I was on tour with Picastro in April 2006. One day we weren't playing and had stopped in the town of Gorizia, Italy, right near the Slovenian border. The drummer of the group and I were invited by two locals to a small gathering. It was late, and we had some drinks and relaxed with them. The proprietor of the house was very eager to play us unique Italian Music. To our amazement her two choices were Gorizian "New Music" composer Fausto Romitelli and Mina (Mazzini). It was so fitting for me to hear this pair together as it's totally in-line with my own taste... jumping from hi-brow, yet dynamic electroacoustic music, to mainstream pop. Hearing the disarmingly desparate tone of Mina's "Ancora Ancora Ancora" and seeing a mildly inebriated Italian woman jokingly slow-dance with my friend to it was incredibly surreal!

Despite her popularity in Italy (she's sort of the equivalent of Brazil's Elis Regina) isn't really that known here. I would suggest that, language-barrier aside, there's something quite peculiar, to North American ears, about her style. She applies a very wide vibrato, to a thick, throaty voice. At times it comes off as overwrought. The arrangements as well can be heard as a bit strange. Delightfully dated they mix melodramatic orchestral flourishes with strange synth lines.

At times though, there's a vaguely gothic, eerie quality to the music with fleeting hints of Nico's infamous cover of "My Funny Valentine"...

Here are some of my favourites.

Introduction

2007-08-15T15:25:00.000-04:00

I've started this blog to discuss and share an array of often-neglected facets of non-western music that fall between the cracks... Styles that don't fit neatly into mainstream constructions of "world music", and that are occasionally dismissed as mere by-products of the West's culture imperialism.

While, without question, many of the styles which will be presented are linked to colonialism, the resultant skewed translations and reconfigurations of western tropes makes these sounds very unique. This is also why this music also tends to elude the 'world music' radar. In my view, 'World Music' is a very strange proposition--used as some sort of marketing tag to label traditional musics of the world, various fusion projects (east-west, indo-latino etc.), or current non-English-language pop. There is, however, a sizeable majority of music from the non-English-speaking world which doesn't get framed in the mainstream version of this term (as evidenced by the label Sublime Frequencies, the Ex's Terp Label, the Ethiopiques Series, and other labels, which seem to get more attention from specialty-store/ connoisseur/ experimental music community than from things such as the Rough Guide to World Music).

What is World Music really, other than a convenient way for people in, essentially, North America, and some of Europe to designate music that does not come from those regions or that introduces "ethnic" elements?

Despite the somewhat-makeshift quality of the label, world music has become a bonafide genre. And because of this fact, to it prevents our collective imagination from remembering that there is a myriad of global styles to hear from each country and region.

Typically, record stores, if they're even large enough, will group "World Music" by continent, country, and then alphabetically (by artist) within that. Aside from the fact that they'd have a difficult time moving units, it's a little preposterous that it is done in that manner, given that each country has a numerous genres and substyles.

This one of numerous ways in which world music is constructed leaving most of us thinkin that most countries just have really traditional music, collaborative projects with Ry Cooder and westernized pop in their own language(s). Even then, a lot of times, people tend think of most music from other countries as being "traditional," "folk" or "ethnic", forgetting that other cultures might have a different rubric for pop music, and for classical music. Perhaps something that sounds like, or is based on traditional music, is still considered pop. Take Sundanese Jaipongan music for example.

Despite being reasonably familiar with Indian music, when I first heard really early Lata Mangeshkar songs I was somewhat surprised to hear how "traditional-sounding" some of the music was. An amusing thought--that my gauge of how "poppy" or "traditional" sounding something is, was simply based on the degree to which it was westernized!

If it doesn't sound like our pop, then it's "ethnic." Similarly, if it exhibits too many, and certain types of similiarities to our music, then it's sort of looked upon as "why would I listen to all of x-country's pop music? It just sounds like cheesy versions of our pop with lyrics I don't understand."

This even seems to be the rubric for the quasi-empirical ethnomusicological angle assumed by curators of non-western serieses. It's either "This music is authentically Ethiopian... let's realease it as "Music of Ethiopia Volume 1"" (then write exhaustive liners)" or "This stuff over here it's merely an inauthentic rip-off western pop."

Much of these types of arguments are alluded to in Timothy Taylor's book Global Pop. The book is also filled with great observations from a new musicology/ post-colonial angle. He refers to the exclusion of the "overly familiar" from the World Music: A Rough Guide. However, it seems on a certain level that there is a distancing from the music. There isn't much discussion of reconciling a visceral appreciation of the music with one's awareness of the strange cross-cultural & colonialist underpinnings.

Most widely-heard authoritative voices on the subject of non-western musics are STILL either outmodedly ethnographic or staunchly post-colonialist. Accordingly, it's very hard to just listen to non-western styles without looking for encoded cultural messages of some sort (be it markers of authenticity and tradition, or markers of Westernization and repression)! While this is interesting and very important from a cultural studies or anthropological viewpoint, it's easy for aesthetic appreciation to be drowned out by discussions of authenticity or hegemony, or by the same token thinking about only the ethnic significance and ancestorial specificities of a certain form of music.

This is precisely why "world music" is such a useless designation. I'm calling for us to just look at the styles for what they are, and appreciate them for their individual aesthetic: whether it's dangdut, molam, jaipongan, sanjo, pansori, lookthung, tropicalia, highlife or whatever. Sure, it's pertinent, and intriguing that these styles come from a particular country or region, but is that it's foremost aspect? Furthermore, it's very important to consider the extent to which Western oppression manifests itself from within the music, and how the music is consumed and marketed. However it's equally important not to overlook the way in which the same music challenges these power dynamics inconspicuously, and maybe unintentionally. The notion that perhaps even unassuming Western-influenced pop, by adopting and reconfiguring Western styles, serve as a commentary as well.

Instead of going to HMV or even a specialized boutique to look for "world music," try going to a family-owned Cambodian variety store or Sri Lankan video store to get a totally different picture. There, instead of field recordings with the recordist's name printed larger than those of the musicians, you'll end up with an amazing grab-bag of stuff : three-dollar Burmese CD-Rs without album artwork with a printed label placed on the surface of the disc (in Burmese characters, of course), classic Vietnamese pop songs overdubbed (modernized?) with cheap General-MIDI accompaniment, strange "best of" compilations without shrink wrap, with cheap JPEG-compressed cover art printed on one side of a single glossy panel.

While completely incongruous with standard western notions of "world music" (extensive ethnographical liners, pictures of people clad in traditional garb, pristine production values (or extensive printed apologies for the poor quality of the original recordings)), this is, arguably, an equally, or more relevant version of the story!

..And you're looking for authenticity? Just listen to "Rasik Balma" by Lata Mangeshkar. This is a clip from the film, "Chori Chori" (1956) which features the song. (This is not *her* in the film, merely her voice... this was, and is, how it's done in Bollywood.)

Despite being "sullied" by Western stylistic traits, what isn't authentic about her empassioned delivery? For me, it's definitely on par with "genuine-article" singers like Billie, Ella or Nina... of course, that brings up the discourse which surrounds "the blues" and Afro-American authenticity. My goodness!

Once the fractured "scape" of the Internet is introduced to the equation it all becomes even more complicated, and fascinating. Open directories, blogs and forums in languages you don't understand, mis/unlabelled MP3s floating around file-sharing networks.

For instance... I downloaded a mysterious folder on Soulseek called "Popular Thai Music from the 1950's/1960's" It contained songs, which (I'm *pretty* sure) were all performed by the same artist. String-drenched melancholy ballads, with gorgeous melismatic vocals. I was in heaven.

If I had found a cassette marked in that manner 20 years ago, I would've had very little chance of figuring out anything about it, unless I knew some thai people old enough to identify the music. Now... it's a mere matter of trial and error, and cross-referencing with Google. I found a site that sold old thai CDs, with both English and thai characters on the site. I copy/pasted some of the thai translations of various artists' names and eventually came across MP3s of saids artists, subsequently finding a match with my mystery MP3s. While a select few musicians of the non-English-speaking world have been "discovered" through the lens of World Music, others have been ignored or dismissed, despite sometimes having near-iconic status in their countries. Just try to Google the singer Wongjun Pairoj in English characters, and you'll see. Even though she was one of the foremost purveyors of lovely old Thai Pop, the English-speaking world hasn't heard her.

At any rate, the purpose of this blog is to chronicle my adventures in this area, both on and offline, and to share my findings. I also want to link to liked-minded sites and other resources.