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Right from their first record this group has been outstanding in their presentation of French and Breton shanties and sea songs. The group, formed from a co-operative known as Chasse-Maree, consisted at the time of Arnaud Maissonneuve, Benoit Chantran, Bernard Subert, Christian Desnos and the group's leader and driving force, Michel Colleu, who has collected the majority of the material used. songs and tunes from the rich maritime heritage extant around the coast of Britanny. Fiddle, flute, concertina and guitar along with a melodeon (in this case, Christian uses an almost straight tuning to great effect) are often used as accompaniment, and all are excellent musicians as well as fine singers. Bombardes and hurdy-gurdies are unlikely instruments to hear
backing sea songs, but in the hands of the French they blend perfectly with their style of singing. and what a style! Whatever Cabestan do, the maxim seems to be that effort and a feeling for the material are essential. Their precision and spirited renderings make them a joyful listening experience, even if you can’t understand French, because you can feel the 'working power' of the songs.
The French, unlike the English, do not have as great a store of shanties, but they make up for this with a fine collection of shore based songs.
01. Faut avoir du courage
02. Tempete pour sortir
03. Reels quebecois
04. Le 15 avril
05. Le capitaine de Saint-Malo
06. Le Pont de Morlaix
07. A Baton Rouge sont arrives
08. La Danae
09. Le depart de Ti-Louis
10. Les filles a cinq deniers
11. Naviguant dans le port de Nantes
12. Trois matelots de Port St-Jacques
13. Mond da bellvro
Christian Desnos : accordéon diatonique, mélodéon, harmonica, chant
Jean-Luc Creac'h : guitare, guitare basse, chant
Thierry Moreau : Veuze, violon, violoncelle, chant
Bernard Subert : clarinette, flute, chant
Thierry Decloux : guitare, bouzouki, chant
Link
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Cicala-Mvta is One of Japanese Most Exciting and Original Groups. Both Traditional Chindon and the Retro-futuristic Sound of Cicala-Mvta is an Entirely Natural Combination of the Old and New, the East with the West.
Cicala Mvta is a group described by some UK music critics as the most impressive exponents of contemporary Japanese grass roots music. The music presents old-fashioned and brass band music. Featuring chindon, a kind of Japanese drum, saxophones, clarinets and tubas, Cicala Mvta's music is a kind of street music originally played at funerals or the openings of local shops. But the band blends the cheesy music with social critique, thus creating a sarcastic outlook, in both its musical style and in its stage performance.
Before TV commercials, drum and woodwind bands would march through the streets of Japan carrying banners advertising products or stores. Bandleader WATARU OKHUMA modelled his band after these Chindon groups and named it CICALA-MVTA .(Pronounced Shi-ka-la Moo-ta, it means Mute cicada after the epitaph of a great Japanese street singer songwriter) All in all, it is a wild ride, as Cicala Mvta views klezmer, Balkan, Turkish, early jazz and free jazz music through their Japanese street band lens, which has something to do with topology and physics and their bent view of musical reality.
"Sounds close to the ground. Cicala-Mvta's music sometimes sounds like that. The band starts to play slowly and begins to stride on the ground powerfully. Sometimes they lash about the ground, and and run fast forward. They are not an underground group. Yet, they don't ascend nor float. They just go forward close to the ground.
A question is asked whether music is something to progress. Listening to Cicala-Mvta, I can believe that there lies much ground to go forward. They go forward on the surface of the globe, a sphere. It may not be progress. Terms such as experiment and evolution do not fit Cicala-Mvta. Their ceaseless march has a texture that has a much more hard-core nature.
Ten years ago, Wataru Okuma, the clarinet player, initiated this group. The Ghost Circus published in 2004 is their third album. It seems that by now they have become a one solid mass. They consist of very idiosyncratic players, and they make up a fairly unique instrumental ensemble. Yet, they move forward as a mass. As though they were a three-piece hard-core punk band.
With circus and street band music as their signature, Cicala-Mvta tries amalgamation of various music on the globe, and their music is almost impossible to analyze. The diverse musical elements each musician has absorbed physically in their bodies merge in an instant, and a spark of unique and allomorph music appears. As the album title shows, any academic scrutiny would be absurd-a sonic circus! It supercedes the speed of our thinking.
Their wordless music has become all the more eloquent and carries a message. Full of love, humor and rebellious spirit, their music is a tribute to people on earth who has but to survive. Sometimes it sounds like a requiem. In
01. Ghost Hymn Introduction
02. Pillow Walk
03. The United People Will Never Be Defeated
04. Stara Planina
05. The Sleep-Walker's Escape
06. Dr. Caligari's Side Show
07. Heraklion
08. Song Of The Birds
09. The Beam And The Bellows
10. The Right To Live In Peace
11. Ghost Requiem
12. Bonus
Wataru Okuma (clarinet, bass clarinet, vocals),
Yoshiyuki Kawaguchi (saxophone),
Yoshiki Sakurai (guitar),
Takero Sakijima (tuba, recorder),
Tatsuya Yoshida (drums, vocals),
Keisuke Ota (violin, vocals),
Yoshiaki Sato (accordion),
Yoichiro Kita (trumpet),
Akiko Watanabe (trombone),
Miwazo Kogure (ching-dong, gorosu)
Link
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13 alte Lieder aus Deutschland. Songs of love and bygone ages
Tine Kindermann sings German folk songs accompanied by American rock musicians and arranged by Frank London, best known for combining klezmer and jazz. The result is astonishingly natural. German folk songs - along with the epic ballad of the Nibelungen, the word “Heimat” (“homeland”), and the joy and pleasure of the woods and forest - have been tainted by the hand of the Nazis. Too many sang along and marched in step. Later, the poor German folk song was reduced to little more than oom-pah beer-hall entertainment. But there was something in these five centuries old songs that resisted. Mothers preserved them in secret; grandmothers and kindergarten teachers sang and sing to their children the songs of their own childhoods.
As in most countries, German folk songs were passed down, changed, and varied from generation to generation. Tine Kindermann offers us her interpretation. She sings these songs with complete sincerity; songs of desperate lovers, of royal children, of the passing nature of the little flower and the hard dreams of dying. Spaces open therein like the ones we entered as children, when we listened, entranced, to the fairy tales woven from the same cloth.
The songs’ themes are universal, belonging to the secret guarded chambers of many souls of many lands. Tine Kindermann has unburied the discarded key and leads us into these mysterious worlds with their seductive sadness. She unlocks a veritable archive of feelings. Age-old stories belonging to world culture, unknowingly stored in the collective unconscious. Tine Kindermann has blown the dust off these songs and made them alive, fresh, good as new. With her musicians, she has put them in an unusual contemporary intercultural context. She offers them to us, tenderly and unabashedly, songs of love and – in the words of Heine’s “Loreley” – bygone ages.
Tine Kindermann, a visual artist born 1962 in West-Berlin, has been living in New York since 1993. Since 2001 she has been working increasingly with themes of German folklore, including a concert program with German Folk songs. The recording’s set up looks like a “Who is Who” of the New York downtown music scene: Marc Ribot und Greg Cohen (Tom Waits Band) on guitar and double bass, Glenn Patscha (Ollabelle) on keyboards and Frank London (Klezmatics), who also acts as producer.
01. Frau Wirtin
02. Sterben ist ein schwere Buß
03. Der Winter ist vergangen
04. Es waren zwei Königskinder
05. Schwesterlein
06. Es ist ein Schnitter
07. Maria durch ein Dornwald ging
08. Wach auf meins Herzens Schöne
09. Klage & Trost
10. Es geht eine dunkle Wolk herein
11. Es freit ein wilder Wassermann
12. Ich hab die Nacht geträumet
13. Frau Haselin
Tine Kindermann - voice
Marc Ribot - electric and acoustic guitar, dobro, efx
Greg Cohen - double bass
Glenn Patscha - piano, harmonium, organ, harpsichord, Wurlitzer, efx
Frank London - harmonium & miscellaneous instruments
with:
Mathias Kunzli - drums & amp; percussion (track 1, 5)
Lorin Sklamberg - voice (track 5, 10)
Julian Kytasti - Bandura (track 3, 10)
Link
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Mari Boine Persen has brought the contemporary music traditions of northern Norway's Sami people, more commonly known as the Lapps, to the international stage. Forsaking traditional music for the modern sounds of "joik," Persen has incorporated influences of jazz, rock, and other ethnic music. Persen's success has been a source of pride for the Sami people. As the Norwegian newspaper VG pointed out, "ethnic music has a rather large audience outside Norway. You should be aware of the fact that perhaps the most interesting artist in this wide field of music is from the Sami people and living in Norway."
Despite early resistance based on her Sami heritage and womanhood, Persen continues to build a loyal following in her homeland. Her first two albums -- Gula Gula in 1989 and Jaskatvouda Mann in 1992 -- hinted at her skills, while, her third album, Goaskinviellja, released in 1993, received a Norwegian Grammy and marked her as one of Norway's greatest stars. Her fourth album, Leahkastin, was commissioned for the Vassajazz Festival and premiered in March 1994.
A native of the small village of Gamehhisniarga, Persen grew up singing the black spiritual-like psalms of the Christian-oriented Laestadian movement.
01. Gumppet Holvot (The Wolves Howl)
02. Ale Sat (No More)
03. Cuovgi Liekkas (Radiant Warmth)
04. Ahccai (To My Father)
05. Maid Aiggot Muinna Eallin (What Do You Want Life?)
06. Mielahisvuohta (Lunacy Lunacy)
07. Gilvve Gollat (Sow Your Gold)
08. Gullan Du (Hearing You)
09. Vuolgge Mu Mielde Bassivarrai (Come With Me to the Scared Mountain)
10. Mun Da' Han Lean Oaivamus (Just When I Had...)
11. Da Lean Mun (Here I Am)
Mari Boine: voice, djembe
Gjermund Silset: bass, percussion
Hege Rimestad: violin
Helge A. Norbakken: percussion
Roger Ludvigsen: guitars
Carlos Zamata Quispe: flute, charango
Link
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RotFront is the brainchild of two Berlin emigrantskis. One half of the RussenDisko is Yuriy Gurzhy, who joined forces with Hungarian musician Simon Wahorn, initiator of the HungaroGroover Soundsystem, to create the Emigrantski Raggamuffin Kollektiv RotFront. Founded in 2003, it played its way almost overnight to ranking as Berlin’s ultimate party band. Whether there are seven, twelve or fifteen musicians on stage at any one time – nobody is going to be alone on the dancefloor for long. Right from the start, with the opening songs, the boundary between stage and dancefloor dissolves into nothingness. Rolling back boundaries is RotFront’s mission – and in that sense they are a political band. They may not talk the talk, but they certainly walk the walk: instead of singing about politics, they actually live the easy-going, harmonious interaction of nationalities, ethnicities, musical genres and cultures. And it works. A Ukrainian, two Hungarians, an American, an Australian and five Germans mix Ska, Reggae, Dancehall and Cumbia sounds with Klezmer, Berlin’s own in-your-face brand of Hiphop, Eastern European Turbopolka, Mediterranean melodies and rock riffs. Russian, Hungarian, German and English lyrics tell of life in Berlin and the adventures of immigrants in the city.
01. Intro
02. B-Style
03. Zhiguli
04. Sovietoblaster
05. Kemények a fények
06. Berlin
07. Red Mercedes
08. Ya Piv
09. Remmidemmi
10. Sohase mondd
11. Gypsy Eyes (Feat. Miss Flint)
12. Rotfront Fm
13. Tűz
14. Devil
15. Emigrantski Raggamuffin (Feat. Smo)
16. Klezmerton
17. Youtube Song
Yuriy Gurzhy - Vocals, Guitar, Bass;
Simon Wahorn - Vocals, Bass, Guitar;
Dorka Gryllus - Vocals;
Mad Milian - MC;
Dan Freeman - Sax;
Max Bakshish - Clarinette, Sax;
Anke Lucks - Trombone;
Daniel Kahn - Accordeon;
Jan Pfennig - Drums
Link
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Transylvanyan and moldavian folk music.
"Disgrace is the word if it's not of comfort,
Disgrace is the verse if it's false."
"This notion is true in case of folk songs, too. They spread the truth spontaneously, and moreover they play an important role in our lives, they clean and give relief.
The desire for inner purification makes the songs sound/be heard in me, and this is why I collected some of them from my homeland's treasures. I have tried to rise to the cleared greatness of them, because "disgrace is the word if it's not of comfort" but disgrace is the song if it's not true".
1. Anyám, édesanyám - Mother Dear Mother (Moldva)
2. Édesanyám karján nevelt - Mother Raised Me In Her Arms (Gyimes)
3. Én Istenem miért vertél meg - Why Have Punished Me My God (Gipsy songs from Örkő)
4. Húzzad Cigány - Make Me Music, Gipsy (Szék)
5. Anyám, édesanyám - Mother Dear Mother (Moldva)
6. Gyere rózsám, egyere már - Can't Wait For You, Dearest (Mezőség)
7. Esik eső, zúg a malom - Whirring Mill In the Rain (Mezőség)
8. Anyám, édesanyám - Mother Dear Mother (Moldva)
9. Széles a Szamosnak vize - Wide Is The Water Of Szamos (Kalotaszeg) Szerettelek, szerettél - I Loved You, You Loved Me (Mezőség)
Hegedős Band:
Csávás Attila – kaval, furulya, saxophone
Ökrös Csaba – violin
Szabó Gábor – koboz
D. Tóth Sándor – koboz, drums, gardon, viola
Nagy Zoltán – dulcimer
Kürtösi Zsolt – cello, contrabass
Featuring:
Papp István Gázsa – violin
Wertetics Szlobodán - accordion
Link
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Psoy Galaktionovich Korolenko (born April 26, 1967) is a pseudonym of a Russian Jewish song writer and performer by the name of Pavel Eduardovich Lion. At the same time Pavel Lion is a slavist with a Ph.D. in Russian literature.
His pseudonym comes from Vladimir Korolenko, Russian writer (1853—1921), whose works are subject of Pavel's research. Psoy performs his own and others’ songs, accompanying himself to keyboard instruments, mainly a Casio sequencer in accordion timbre. Experimenting with quite various song traditions he sings in about 6 or 7 languages, most frequently in Russian, Yiddish, English and French.
Korolenko's perhaps most known song is Buratino, which is just a repetition of the same phrase many times, aimed to poke fun at modern rap and trance music. The 'song' has been done several times, and a multitude of remixes have been made out of it.
Psoy has toured many places. He has had concerts in many states, Berlin, London, and more. His music is popular both with adults, and Russian teenagers. He rewrites many songs, and also has translated some songs from Russian to Yiddish.
01. Sympathy for whom?
02. Oh you foolish little zionists
03. Sher
04. Ekh lyuli lyuli
05. I raise my hand up and I swear... + The hope
06. Beneath the salt sea
07. Think!
08. Nye zhuritye khloptsy
09. The Tinternationale
10. The Number
Daniel Kahn - vocals, accordion, ukulele, piano, music box
Psoy Korolenko - vocals and piano
OY DIVISION:
Gershon Leizersohn - violin and vocals
Noam Inbar - vocals and percussion
Eyal Talmudi - clarinet and percussion
Avichai Tuchman - double bass
Assaf Talmudi - accordion
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Elizabeth Nicholson & Stringed Migration is a Portland, OR, based quartet that performs a lush synthesis of Celtic and international roots music with a twist of jazz. Comprised of four multi-instrumentalists whose individual careers have garnered regional, national and international recognition, the band is enjoying a rapidly growing reputation in the Northwest folk world.
The band features a cast of musicians whose diverse backgrounds touch upon Latin music, Balkan music, Americana, rock, Mediaval music, classical Indian music, Western classical music, and jazz, yet all have deep roots in traditional Irish and Scottish fare. "The idea," says founder Elizabeth Nicholson, "is to allow everyone in the band to draw from the full spectrum of their experience, rather than conforming to a rigidly defined idiom." The resulting sound pays true homage to the American melting pot, revealing technical mastery, nuance, spontaneity and heart.
On Fly Not Yet, the band crafts arrangements that seamlessly blend cultural influences to stunning effect:"Unquiet Grave" -- the album’s opening track – merges a traditional Scottish ballad with a Lebanese dance tune, highlighting the complementary harmonic structure of each melody and giving the song’s dark story an added layer of depth. In the second track, a reel from Cape Breton is uplifted by a merengue backbeat and treated with a dazzling jazz improvisation, courtesy of violinist Eddie Parente. The third, title track, reveals an elegantly straightforward treatment of an Irish song, centered around Elizabeth Nicholson’s lithe vocals. Subsequent tracks showcase the band’s range, from the driving medieval dance "La Rotta," to Bob Soper’s plaintive singing on the Appalachian ballad "Lord Thomas," to a whimsical treatment of the Irish hornpipe "Galway Bay," which sets a harp solo to a rock rhythm. The final track on the album is also the darkest: "And Am I Born to Die?" places an American shape-note song within a mournful, chamber-inflected string arrangement.
01. Lebanese Melody / The Unquiet Grave
02. Paddy Fahey's / Cape Breton Reel
03. Fly Not Yet
04. La Rotta / Waltz from Orsa
05. Paddy's Rambles / Funky Reel
06. Lord Thomas
07. St. John's Jig /. The Barn Swallow / Mt. Tabor Reel
08. The Dewey Dens of Yarrow
09. Romanian Hora / Galway Bay
10. And Am I Born to Die
Stringed Migration is: Elizabeth Nicholson on vocals, harps, and guitar; Eddie Parente on violin and viola; Bob Soper on bouzouki, fiddle, vocals and guitar; and Rob Barrick on double bass and Scottish smallpipes. Jim Chapman, a Stringed Migration alumni, still performs with the band on bouzouki from time to time.
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Folk music of the Balkan Peoples, and of the Southern Slavic Nationalities living in Hungary.
A selection of folk songs and dance tunes from many parts of the Balkans. Illustrates the wide diversity in folk music from the Balkans. Dances and melodies from Serbia, Hungary, Moldavia, Crete, Thrace, Romania etc.
The Rece-Fice Ensemble was founded in 1992. Their aim is to get acquainted with the folk music and dances of the peoples from the Balkans (Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Thrace) and of South-Slavs (Serbs and Croats) living in Hungary. Some members of the band are from these backgrounds themselves, and others combine their music careers with studying Bulgarian or ethnography. When forming the ensemble, its members were partly beginners, partly musicians gaining experience in other music styles and groups. In recent years they have successfully performed on numerous occasions, from folk music festivals to balls, university clubs to folk pubs.
While extending their repertoire continuously they strive for a more authentic performing style by discovering the specific features of different regions. To achieve this they try to seek out original folk musicians still alive and existing archive material. They also acquire original musical instruments or make them according to authentic designs. (One of their members is an instrument-maker and holder of the "Young Master of Folk Arts" award.
01 - Bánáti táncok
02 - Ćape
03 - Starinsko kolo
04 - Baranyai sokác táncok
05 - Baranyai dallamok samicán
06 - Rokoko
07 - Krétai dallamok
08 - Vino pije moj dragan
09 - Čumičanka
10 - Zelen orah
11 - Moldvai román táncok
12 - Šarena račenica
13 - Trák énekek
14 - Sop vidéki táncok
15 - Širok Dunav
Szabolcs Árkosi - bassprim tambura, accordion, voice
Panni Avar - prima tambura, tambura-viola, bulgarian tambura, samica
Piroska Deli - voice, caval, double bass, tambura-viola, baglama, tambourine
Judit Jablonkay - shepherd's pipe, kaval. voice
Tünde Mag - voice
Edit Szick - violin, double bass, gadulka, bouzouki
Ágnes Tiszavári - voice, tapan, darbouka
Iván Vitányi - accordion, prim-tambura, bassprim, double bass, tapan, voice
Guests:
Roza Bancseva - voice (14)
János Krucsay - bagpipe, derbouka, tapan
Géza Orczi (from Zsarátnok) - bassprim tambura
László Perger (from Zsarátnok)- cello tambura
Link
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Unu = one in Rumanian, daou = two in Breton, tri = three in Serbian and Breton, chtar = four in Rom.
1 2 3 4 is the whispered beginning of many tunes, and represents four of the languages used by the musicians of this quartet : Erik Marchand, from Poullaouen, is a singer. Costica Olan, is a taragot and soprano sax player, his native language is Rom, he also use Romanian in his daily life. Viorel Tajkuna is Serbian and belongs to the Rom minority of the Serbian Banat, as a result he is trilingual. He is an accordionist and organist for weddings. Jacky Molard from Saint Malo, has been living in Spezet, central Brittany, for many years. He’s a composer, arranger and violin player, using a large range of musical languages.
Erik Marchand is a leading figure of Breton song. He has adopted a very strong Breton identity while remaining completely open to other cultures in which he immerses himself, then he searches deep in the popular music of Brittany for the resources to establish or recreate a dialogue with them.
01. Kened Eros Kened Eros
02. Kened Eros Olani
03. Speied
04. Lunca
05. Jaures
06. Marcel
07. Suita Moldovaneasca Stefaneti 1
08. Suita Moldovaneasca Stefaneti 2
09. Draghicesca Umblu Noapte Ca-Si Un Lotru Prin Padure Si Prin Codru
10. Draghicesca Draghicesca
11. Sopsteveni Raspored
12. Jaures
Link
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With a history of bizarre and dramatic destiny, Tales Forest been a long and unpredictable way - from rabid hooligan punk, a hardcore, psychedelic with a touch of shamanism and Irish folk, before these disparate components formed her own very unique style.
1. So far at Ladoga
2. Undead
3. Hey, the spirit
4. Vorojeya
5. Ulyatay
6. How nice
7. Jolta Ku
8. Ladoga
9. Kalyaki-Maliaka
Andrei Figa – vocal, accordion (music composer)
Pavlik Vlasov “Egypt” – shaman-drummer (poet)
Roma Tentler – contrabass
Petya Sergeev “Jaguar” – percussion
Volodya Molodcov “Professor” – flutes and bagpipes
Sergey Kirianov “Korotishka” – guitar
Dimarik Shihardin – fiddle
Link
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"Deolinda combines Portuguese fado and Brazilian music brilliantly.
Without a doubt, one of the freshest, most charming and beguiling releases I've heard in quite some time comes from the Portuguese group Deolinda, named for the fictitious female created by guitarist/songwriter Pedro da Silva Martins.
Within 22 weeks of its release, the disc went platinum in Portugal. Fronted by Lisbon singer Ana Bacalhau, a jazz singer by trade, the acoustic quartet takes a cue from traditional Portuguese fado and Brazilian music. It also trades on the stunning success of Portuguese singer Mariza although Deolinda is decidedly more folk. .
While you won't necessarily know it from listening unless you're fluent in Portuguese. , Deolinda's lyrics tell stories that are incisive slices of everyday life. In "Mal Por Mal," Deolinda explains to her lover that "I'm the person you've always wanted me to be/I have a job and a normal life/but when I get up and don't know who I am who I've become/I start going crazy/Your good is my bad."
Highly recommended!"
01. Mal Por Mal
02. Fado Toninho
03. Nao Sei Falar De Amor
04. Contado Ninguém Acredita
05. Eu Tenho Um Melro
06. Movimento Perpétuo Associativo
07. O Fado Nao É Mau
08. Lisboa Nao É A Cidade Perfeita
09. Fon-Fon-Fon
10. Fado Castigo
11. Ai Rapaz
12. Cançao Ao Lado
13. Garçonete Da Casa De Fado
14. Clandestino
Ana Bacalhau: vocals
Luís José Martins: classical guitar, ukulele, cavaquinho, guitalele, viola braguesa and vocals
Pedro da Silva Martins: composition, lyrics, classical guitar and vocals
Zé Pedro Leitao: double bass and vocals
Link
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Well known Hungarian folk and jazz musicians play sophisticated, intelligent world music. One can realise that the musicians are well trained and have solid roots in jazz music. World famous singer Irén LOVÁSZ is also featured on the album. (Her most famous release is called: WORLD TREE.) She and her music-mates can be found on albums of MAKÁM too.
1. 1999
2. Én felkelék - I Get Up
3. Iniciálé - Initial
4. Pókháló - Cobweb
5. Lélekbál - Ball of Soul
6. Szeszélyes - Caprice
7. Szárnyak - Wings
8. Időcsepp - Drop of Time
9. Szemek - Eyes
Bárány Péter - acoustic guitar, bass
Gavodi Zoltán - clarinet
Gyulai Csaba - violin, viola, viola da gamba, percussion
Koós László - guitar
Mizsei Zoltán - keyboards, piano, psalterium, percussion
Guests:
Lovász Irén - vocal
Váczi Dániel - sax
Kőszegi Péter - bass
Dés András - percussion
Link
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Big thanks Frankie for the CD!
Nikolay Oorzhak was born in December 1949, in the small village Khorum-Dag in western Tuva. After graduating from high school in 1964, he worked for four years as a shepherd, herding horses, sheep, and cows. There on the steppes, alone with his herds, he started producing sounds like his father and grandfather used to sing. This was Khoomei, or throat-singing. At that time, his only audiences were the horses, sheep, and cows.
In 1982, Nikolay caught the attention of the local authorities, who supported his bid for a professional education. So, in 1983 Nikolay began attending the Ulan-Ude cultural institute in Buryatia, where he also became Director for Public Theaters. This was also an opportunity to finally open his hidden talent of throat-singing.
In 1989 the First International Festival of Throat-Singing was held in the Tuvan capital of Kyzyl. Nikolay was awarded First Prize for Kargyraa style. At that time he already brilliantly performs in all the overtone singing (xorekteer) styles: khoomei, kargyraa, sygyt, borbangnadyr, ezengileer and became a Khoomeiji (Recognized Master of Khoomei) in his country. The same year he and fellow throat-singer Boris Kherly and scientist Zoya Kyrgys founded Ensemble Tuva. Meeting with great success, they toured internationally, including Norway, Sweden, Turkey and Mongolia.
In those days, it was common for such ensembles to include a dramatization of a shamanic ritual, and in addition to singing and playing with Ensemble Tuva, Nikolay portrayed the shaman. Elders often commented that he appeared authentic and suited for this role, and that perhaps he was meant to be a real shaman. Sometimes, after these performances, he felt dizzy and suffered headaches. He sought help from Oleg Toiduk, a well-known shaman. Oleg told him that Nikolay was destined to be a shaman, and was suffering the effects of energies sand talents that he needed to share with others for healing.
In Tuva, shamans often inherit their abilities, and Nikolay was no exception. There were shamans on his mother's side, and her father was a famous shaman in the Sut-Khol region of Tuva. On this basis, Nikolay started his healing way. Observing his progress, in 1998 the pre-eminent Tuvan shamanism scholar Prof. Mongush Kenin-Lopsan invited Nikolay to work for his shamanic society Dungur.
In 1995 Nikolay was invited to India to celebrate His Holiness the Dalai Lama's 60 birthday. He got the Dalai Lama's blessing, which enables him to increase his healing singing abilities.
In 1999 Nikolay was elected Chairman of Tuvan shaman society Tos-Deer, and that same year visited Vienna, Austria, with Prof. Mongush for the Shamanic Congress. He also toured Italy and Switzerland. Back in Tuva in December 1999 German television filmed a documentary on his outstanding technique of shamanism and throat singing. In 2000 he was invited to return to Germany for that year's Shamanic Congress.
In 2002 he made a successful three-month tour in Canada and USA on invitation of Mr. Steeve Sklar (International Association for Harmonic Singing) and Canadian Shaman's Society. During the tour, he had a meeting with Dr. Michael Harner, a famous founder of Foundation for Shamanic Studies, who has highly evaluated Nikolay's abilities.
Nikolay regularly gives a seminars in different towns of Russia, Ukraine and Europe, teaching the shamanism, throat singing and using the overtones in healing practice and self-development. He also is a welcomed and honorary guest at local and international music festivals.
01. Appeals
02. Kargyraa
03. Khomus And Sygyt Together
04. Khomus Solo
05. Sygyt
06. Shamans Song
07. Bowling
08. Trio 1
09. Trio 2
10. Moscow Mix (With Mikhail Zukov, 2000)
11. Improvising (With Vladimir Solyanik)
Link
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Majid Bekkas, oud and guembri virtuoso, guitar professor and singer, has long been a star in his home country Morocco. Over the last few years, he has found his way into the European jazz scene through his collaborations with Archie Shepp, Louis Sclavis, Flavio Boltro or Klaus Doldinger. Abdelmajid Bekkas was born and still lives in Salé, Morocco. He studied classical guitar and oud at the National Conservatory of Music and Dance in Rabat and learnt Gnawa music through the teachings of the master Ba Houmane. Gnawa appeared in the 16th century. During the conquest of Sudan, Ahmed El Mansour Dahbi set up the first trading and cultural links between Timbuktu, near Zagora where Bekkas comes from, and Marrakech.
The secular music is still considered the "healer of souls" from Essaouira to Marrakech, easily
understandable when you listen to the spellbinding sound of Bekkas´ voice, guembri and guitar.
Like a watermark, the mystery of Africa can be felt in the backround, alongside the blues. Gnawa´s intact purity is the essence of the authenticity. By claiming to be part of Africa, the mother of the blues and ist numerous offspring such as funk, Bekkas is placing Gnawa in its primary dimension. By opening the spectrum (including elements of contemporary western music), Bekkas attains a universal status that is nurtured by the path he travelled. These include: jazz, alongside pioneers such as Peter Brötzmann, Archie Shepp, Flavio Boltro, Louis Sclavis.
Bekkas´ openness and ability to balance modernism and memory with a rare talent that knews no compromise, frees the music from the stamp of time. The memory is that of pain and wisdom, of songs that come from the slaves of Africa.
01.African Blues
02.Mrhaba
03.Hamdouchi
04.Youbadi
05.Balini
06.Daymallah
07.Sandiye
08.Galou
09.Soudani Manayou
10.Mawama
Link
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Melech Mechaya is a festive journey through klezmer music, with a contagious sound of arabian flavours, gypsy rythms and the yiddish tradition. From Hungary to Israel, from the Balcans to New York, those are parties and celebrations with standing audiences and empty chairs. Between laughter and dancing, this is great party not recommended to those with heart problems!
Considered nowadays as an independent style – yiddish music – klezmer music was born on the musical tradition of the Jewish culture, and was developed as from the fiftheenth century. Its repertoire comprehend many dance and celebration themes, as well as delicate and moving songs.
If “klezmer” referred only to musical instruments, its meaning was widened to the instrumentalists themselves (the “klezmorim”), and nowadays it means an almost universal music: from Hungary to Israel, from the Balcans to New York.
The klezmer music that is played by Melech Mechaya is characterized by contagious joy and rythm, with energetic and festive dances and celebrations. With roots in
ancient jewish traditions from the peoples of the East Europe, Melech Mechaya's klezmer includes the energy of the balcan music, the cadenza of the gypsy rythms, and the elegance of the arabian melodies.
01. Dodi Li
02. Fanfarra
03. Bulgar De Almada (Com Tucanas)
04. Nigun 7
05. Dança Do Desprazer
06. Sweet Father
07. Rad Halaila
08. Budja Ba
09. Fado Tantz
10. Na Festa Do Rabi
11. Freylach 6.8
12. Hava Nagila
13. Melodia Da Rua
14. Cravineiro
15. Sabituar
16. Harmónica
André Santos – Guitar;
Francisco Caiado – Percussion;
Joao Graça – Violin;
Joao Sovina – Double-bass;
Miguel Veríssimo – Clarinet.
Link
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The ethnic project 'Bugotak' was found in 2004 in Novosibirsk, Russia, and currently located in the same region.
Bugotak plays native siberian music in these variations: Mostly - northern turkic (Altai, Tuva), but also Tungus-manchurian, and music of the Deep Northern folks (Eveny, Negidaltsy, Orci etc) Mostly - traditional folklore, but also ethnic turkic rock and hard ambient. Mostly - its own songs, but also original folk songs and tributes to rock classics, played in traditional siberian instruments.
The main idea of Bugotak's art is that only those traditions come alive, which develop itselves; stark traditions are subject to nobody. Mean both creativity and traditions.
Bugotak was found by George Andriyanov, a multi-instrument player and throat singing performer.
Awards in 2006: - 'The best folklore band' within professional performers on The Baykal Necklace international festival (Ulan-Ude, Russia)
01. Bass Barchyzy
02. All You Want
03. We Siberians
04. Young Shaman Returns Home After Medical Institute
05. The Wheels Must Rotate (Bermuda From Askat)
06. Makary Lykov
07. Assigning Heritage
08. Shaktar-Baatyr (Folk)
09. Kezitke Sening Söstöring
10. The Valley Is Covered With Ice Of Dead People's Tears
11. Of Course, The Word
12. What I See That I Sing (Parody Of Linkin Park's Breaking The Habit)
13. There Is No Fate (Dedicated To Yanka Dyagilevaya)
14. To Live Up To The Winter (Dedicated To People Who Weren't Able To Reach The Foot Of Their Own Mountain)
Sayan Andrianov
Taras Ablamsky
Barbara Sapozhnikov
Eugene Zhukovsky
Vladimir Glushko
Sayan Andriyanov
Nicholas Roerich, Irina Smirnova and Pavel Shaikin
Link
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The Bulgarian-Hungarian musician Nikola Parov who has been playing in several groups, this time went into studio with the finest ethno and world musicians to make his brand new album Balkan Syndicate. A kind of music was born which is up-to-date and modern, but at the same time it involves elements of world music as well. Hearing these temperamental rythms the amusement and fun is guaranteed. Thanks to Nikola Parov and the contributing artists, the audience can hear a world-standard album which holds its ground wherever in the global musical life, from an artists who has obtained his professionalism playing for several years on the Broadway and as a soloist of the Riverdance Orchestra.
01. Este jő/ Evening Comes
02. Kurva lesz a babám /My Darling is a Misstress
03. Flash & Crash /Flash & Crash
04. Fúdd el fúdd / Blow it Blow Away
05. Mi zörög / Crush in the Bush
06. Prela Baba / Prela Baba
07. Walter búcsúja /Walter’s Farawell
08. Szerelem betegje / Sick of Love
09. Anyám édes anyám / Mother Dear Mother
10. Mikor lesz már nyár / Wish for Summer
11. Repülj madár repülj / Fly Birdy Fly
Gyenge Lajos
Bantsheva, Roza
Dorozsmai Péter
Csonka Walter
Herczku Ági
Pain
Szalóki Ági
Rostás Károly
Varga György
Bognár Szilvia
Todorova, Elitza
Yordanova, Borislava
Parov, Nikola
Georgieva, Velitshka
Link
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Jon Boden is a busy man. One half of a superb duo with John Spiers; the singer and fiddler for Bellowhead, and a solo artist whose acclaimed debut, Painted Lady, was a dramatic work darkened by the hues of romantic obsession. Songs from the Floodplain is set on a larger, more epic canvas. It’s an apocalyptic vision of a world gone to hell in a handcart, a ravaged near-future where memory rasps like a collapsed lung over an open fire and whose inhabitants grapple with what has been lost, where they are now, and what they’ve got coming. He’s certainly got his timing right. Recession, depression, ruination, collapse – the four horsemen of the financial apocalypse could be the rhythm section here. Set against a rousing and deeply uplifting musical backdrop that draws on rock textures as well as folk and atmospheric chamber music. Boden plays all the instruments himself – guitars, fiddle, concertina, bass, percussion, bagpipes, banjo, harmonium. His voice is superb: it can carry heavy emotional freight – all the weighty, dark materials of his vision – but it can also rise above it with a declamatory ring of defiance, remembrance and confession.
This ambitious album captures the current zeitgeist of collapse, uncertainty and dread. Lyrically and musically it’s a tour de force, deeply atmospheric and resonant of common fears and escalating anxieties, but with an imaginative force that makes it an uplifting and deeply satisfying experience. Yes, things could turn out this bad. But there’s no doubt that Boden has turned out a consoling, classic album for troubling times.
01. We Do What We Can
02. Going Down To The Wasteland
03. Days Gone By
04. Penny For The Preacher
05. Dancing By The Factory
06. Beating The Bounds
07. The Pilgrim's Way
08. April Queen
09. When The Walls Come Tumbling Down
10. Don't Wake Me Up 'Til Tomorrow
11. Under Their Breath
12. Has Been Cavalry
Link
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01. Snimbe - Tama (Mali - Guinee Bussau)
02. Sinama Denw - Habib Koite & Bamada (Mali)
03. Awa Y’Okeyi - Papa Wemba (Republique Democratique du Congo
04. N’Dolo - Henri Dikongue (Cameroun)
05. Ancient Voices - Chiwoniso (Zimbabwe)
06. Kounka - Lulendo (Angola)
07. Mariama - Pape et Cheikh (Senegal)
08. Olhos Molhados - Bonga (Angola)
09. Malaso - Regis Gizavo (Madagascar)
10. Dimama - Sally Nyolo (Cameroun)
11. Wanita - Rokia Traore (Mali)
12. Mamy Kha - Rajery (Madagascar)
13. Mame - Senegal Acoustic (Senegal - France)
14. Kothbiro - Ayub Ogada (Kenya)
15. Tapera - Oliver Mtukudzi (Zimbabwe)
Link
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Erik Marchand, formerly of the group Gwerz, is a powerful singer of Breton songs. His trio came into being when accompanist Thierry Robin discovered that the oud, or Middle Eastern lute, could reproduce the unusual intervals of traditional Breton vocal music. Soon, the duo had recruited Hameed Khan, a tabla player, to round out their Breton-Arabic fusion.
01. Az Zoudar Maleurus
02. Ar C'hont Gwilhou
03. Eur Suivezh A Viz Mae
04. Jean-Louis Ha Marivon
05. Heuliad Fised (Trad.)
06. Bolom Kozh
07. Iwan Gamus
08. Son Ar Vot
09. Heuliad Plinn
10. Ar Graouenn Muskades
Link
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Hetric Free Folk - world music. A fusion of different Celtic music traditions: Irish, Scottish, and Manx with Balkan music: Moldavian, Transylvanian, Hungarian!
The group Hétrét is based in South-western Hungary. This corner of the country has always been a melting pot of different cultures and traditions. A meeting point of three countries: Hungary, Austria and Slovenia, the region is home to various nationalities and thus to a unique variety of musical traditions.
Originally a traditional Irish music group, Hétrét expanded their repertoire to combine folk traditions from the local regions: Hungary, the Balkans as well as Transylvania and Moldavia. The music is basically acoustic and one can hear a variety of instruments from the Celtic harp and tin whistles to the South-American charango.
01. Harvest Home (Traditional Irish and Hungarian)
02. Se kertembe (Traditional Moldavian)
03. Come by the Hills (Traditional Irish)
04. Szerelmese
05. Banks of Claudy (Traditional Irish)
06. Abbie
07. Tha Mi Sgith (Traditional Scottish)
08. I'm a Man (Traditional Irish)
09. Az ördög tánca
10. Ushag Veg Ruy (Traditional Manx and Transylvanian)
11. Bajdal (Traditional Moldavian and Irish)
12. Oidipusz bolyongása (Traditional Irish)
Boa Veronika Setanta - voice
Kimberly Coleman - fiddle, voice
Jon Hanson - fiddle, voice
Hochrein Judit - tin whistles, voice
Ityko - guitars, banjo, double bass, mandolin, keyboards, voice, percussion
Kardos Endre Bozi - flute, tin whistls, bagpipes, voice
Toth Istvan - guitars, charngo, bodhran, drums, double bass, voice
Guests:
Soós Tamas Attila - soprano sax
Szarka Gyula - voice
Szervatiusz Lilla - voice
Morvay Krisztina - voice
Szabó Perpetua - voice
Tóth Anita - voice
Link
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"Listening to Bea Palya’s new album, called JustOneVoice, you realize that just one voice is enough, when it’s Bea Palya’s. It’s powerful and subtle, playful and profound. Its effects are haunting and calming, uplifting and sensual. The songs have their roots in folk music, from Bea’s childhood, but she has always reached beyond the traditional, adding the passion and emotion from the music of Persia, Bulgaria, India. She plays with the melodies, and with all that the human voice can do, making cat sounds and scat sounds, with accompaniments from the real world – the sound of the ocean on a Mexican beach, the heartbeat of the bodhran, the sound of children playing or clapping and stomping. Bea bursts with energy and emotion – even when she’s talking...
Interview with Bea:
- You say the music on this album comes from within. How hard is it to express what’s within you?
- It’s easy and hard at the same time. I went back to my roots, musically, to Hungarian folk song collections of peasant women and men who sang alone, with just one voice. That’s where I got the idea to make an album with just my voice. I realized that that’s the first way I ever performed – I sang alone.
I also went back to my roots, spiritually, with songs for my mom, my dad, to express a new deeper relationship with them. I also sing with my grandfather, who was a Gypsy and a farmer and a bass player. I found an old tape of him singing that stopped in the middle, so I finished the song. Kind of like Natalie Cole with Nat King Cole.
- How have your travels influenced you recently?
- Every January I spend the whole month by the ocean, this time in Mexico. When you walk every day on the beach, you start taking a walk inside yourself, discovering yourself. I even wrote and recorded songs on the beach. What I do is from the very center of me. I have a new level of self-knowledge and self-confidence now.
- Which of the songs say the most about you?
- Well, the song From Branch to Branch used to be my ars poetica, because I felt like a bird flitting from branch to branch, singing to make brothers and sisters happy. Nowadays, I enjoy the notes and the sounds, so I sing it still. But I made a new song, The Browbeaters, that shows my feelings now. I like people to like me, but I don’t want everybody to like me. I don’t need that.
- What do you hope that people will get from your album?
- The album has sadness and anger, pleasure and laughter. The songs, half folk songs and half my own new compositions, are about love and loss, friendship and passion… But the final result is that I can laugh at myself if I need to. This helps me in life. I hope that people who listen can also hear their own stories in the songs.
Pick up JustOneVoice at a music store near you, or at Bea’s next concert..."
01. Hallgatóim
02. Elment a madárka
03. Szép szemű szeretőm
04. Szépen veri az eső a virágot
05. Az ördög meg a vén dög
06. Lábam alá hosszú utat
07. Csillagtalan setét éjjel
08. Anyám, anyám, édesanyám
09. Az elérhetetlen férfi
10. Mindenkinek kurv'anyja
11. Macskatangó
12. Szülésdal
13. Az én piros vérem
14. Rózsa
15. Úgy elmegyek rózsám
16. Szól a kakas már
17. Megmondók
18. Tata nótája
Link
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Russia-based world/jazz fusion collective Vershki Da Koreshki (a.k.a. VeDaKi) is a meeting of different cultures, rhythms, languages, energies, forces of the world (Africa, India, Russia, Tuva, Europe), and joining them together in search of natural understanding and communication, link between traditional and modern, roots and improvisation (not without humour and hope).
Plants hide their roots (koreshki) to protect them from bad weather while their leaves (vershki) are directly affected by the constant changes in the weather. These two vital parts develop simultaneouly but in opposite direction thus maintaining the balance of the overall organism.
The group Vershki da Koreshki grew in the same way: the roots are formed by two descendants of ancient cultures of Africa (Senegal) and Central Asia (Tuva). The leaves are two compatriots from Saint Petersburg who are nourished by jazz, classical and contemporary music and improvisation.
The synthesis of these seemingly contradictory elements results in the band's great freedom of style and concept.
1. Borbannaadyr
2. Toumkoumani
3. Trance-later
4. Ana
5. Khoomei-bas
6. Vershki da Koreshki
7. Khomouz-bas
8. Chimtchak Salghin
9. Pitchendebin / Khoomeyim Algap Tour Men
Kaigal-Ool Khovalyg: voix, khoomei, ighil, khomyss
Mola Sylla: voix, kongoma, xalam, kalimba
Alexei Levin: accordeon chromatique, piano, khomouz, kongoma
Vladimir Volkov: contrebasse
Paco Diedhion: sauruba
Link
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Erika Serre is a Gypsy singer who was noticed quite a while ago by two film-makers, Tony Gatlif and Emir Kusturica. This Parisian of Hungarian origin, knows how to surround herself with people : featured musicians on the Emigrante band include Gypsy and French musicians, a tabla player from Rajhastan, a jazzman, a bass player from Cameroon and some off-the-wall musicians like the drummer Buj or the Syrian-Sicilian guitar player Serge Leonardi who seals the wholeness of these brilliant compositions.
With this second album, the group starts to change its direction towards rock. The guitars of Sergio Leonardi are particularly put in the front, notably on the cover of "Kashmir" of Led Zeppelin. The result is one of indisputable originality.
01. Satore
02. Jaipur
03. Johnny Tu N'Es Pas Un Ange
04. L'Amor Senza Pace
05. Bismillah
06. Kashmir
07. L'Amour
08. Chalo
09. Yallah
10. Mando
11. Tzigane From Mars
12. Te Vas Sukarije
13. Morocharo
14. Sandala
15. Lélé
Erika Serre - chant
Sergio Leonardi - guitar
DD Bell - bass
Latif Ahmed khan - tabla
François Laizeau - drums
Link
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"This record is an extraordinary undertaking. It isn't often that a performer renders his message in several styles, several musical languages, and several artistic modes of expression within the framework of one production. What you will come across with István Pál Szalonna's violin playing, is definitely something different than a pianist's repertoire which extends from say Bach to Bartók. Here from the lean Mezőség peasant music (Transylvania), to the tunes from far Northeastern Hungary, the Gömör shepherd melodies and on to the style of the band from the village of Tarnalelesz, spilling over into (what's referred to as) "folksy composed Hungarian music": we get an ample taste of the colourful world of sound which has ripened over the last two or three hundred years of Hungarian violin folklore."
01. Új stílusban, ahogyan a Gyuszi nagyapja szerette
02. Román forgatós, legényes és szapora
03. Hármasban
04. Jáger Jóska balladája
05. Tiszta fehérben
06. Árva vagyok…
07. Piros alma a kezembe‘…
08. Hegedűt a kezibe...
09. Tibi Géza emlékének
10. Ahogyan nagyapám szerette
11. Kavalkád
12. Hangulatok egy kórógyi lakodalomból
13. Együtt
14. De én azért nem átkozom…
István Pál "Szalonna" - violin
Ágnes Herczku - voice
Attila Gera - clarinet, saxofon, kaval
Balázs Unger - cimbalom
Gyula Karacs - viola
Róbert Doór - double bass
Guests:
voice: Gergely Agócs, Milán Hetényi, László Papp
violin: Szilárd Albert, Károly Berki, Tamás Gombai, József Kállai, Ferenc Radics, Csaba Soós, Róbert Báder
cello: Albert Mohácsy, András Pachert
bassprim tambura: Dávid Eredics, Salamon Eredics
viola: Zsolt Nagy, Márton Éri, Zoltán Váradi
accordion: Zoltán Bobár, Lajos Pál, Zsolt Barcza
cimbalom: Zsolt Barcza, Sándor Ürmös
Mátyás Bolya - Moldavian lute
Attila Búzás - bass tambura
Áron Eredics - tambura, cello tambura
Benjámin Eredics - violatambura
Tibor Kolompár - second violin
Tamás Radics - double bass
Vilmos Seres - clarinet
Takács Ádám - violin-viola
Link
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Big thanks Frankie for the CD!
"Nature's creepy. It seeps into your wounds and infects you; it covers your trees with ice, and it stalls your car. It's not climate-controlled and it doesn't live in your home entertainment center. And it coats with dust and peppers with age "Through the Trees," the third record by the Handsome Family, the husband-and-wife duo of Brett and Rennie Sparks (he writes most of the music; she writes most of the lyrics). Expanding their sound from the standard bass, guitar and drums to include a wider range of instrumentation -- softer guitars, autoharp, banjo, Dobro, violin, bass, melodica, piano, a quiet, unobtrusive drum machine and Brett's sturdy, beautiful voice -- the Handsome Family create a strange amalgam of pre-World War II country music and a more current, subdued, slightly twangy rock, with lush but simple arrangements. They write songs with a perfect narrative arc, and they seldom waste time showing off; they just set to music tangled, tense stories that sit like perfect little objects of nature -- like pine cones or something.
Entering "Through the Trees" is like passing through the threshold of a cabin door and into the woods on the first day of spring, or just after an ice storm, into a mysterious world, one where "worms circle like sharks" and "crickets are screaming." In these settings the Handsome Family create emotionally wrecked characters who are constantly battling dangerous impulses as they roam around the woods -- or sometimes, through the streets of Chicago, where the Handsome Family live. In "Giant of Illinois," two boys who chanced upon a swan sleeping in the woods "stormed it with rocks till it collapsed in the reeds." In "My Sister's Tiny Hands," a girl, mourning the death of her twin from a snake bite in the forest, "set the woods to burning and choked the river up with stones." These are old-school country songs, grotesque and brutal, and through these narratives they offer something dumbfoundingly magical -- something far removed from anything remotely meta or post.
"Through the Trees" is also about relationships -- birth, death and the in-between -- and because a husband and wife are creating and performing these songs, an immediate context is laid before us: In "Cathedrals," the Handsome Family move from a cathedral in Cologne that "looks like a spaceship" to icy Wisconsin: "Hoping to feel love under the icicles, all we did was drink in an empty bar. But, stumbling drunk we crawled back to our motel room and I fell against you and felt your beating heart."
Underneath it all flows a debilitating sense of dread and awe; a restless black fog floats in the record's stomach, the result of playing with dangerous emotions -- fear, regret, passion, sorrow, loss and a steady stream of foreboding. The Handsome Family poke at it from different angles. Also inside is a wicked sense of humor that cuts through the existential dread. "My Ghost," the closing song on the album, tells the true story of a stay in a mental hospital: "Here in the bipolar ward if you shower you get a gold star. But I'm not going far till the Haldol kicks in -- until then, until then -- I'm stuck in this fucking twin bed and I won't get any cookies or tea, till I stop quoting Nietzsche and brush my teeth and comb my hair." Like some form of clairvoyant madness, "Through the Trees" sneaks in faintly, as though a whisper from a secret world -- one that's always there right outside the door, waiting patiently for an opportunity to consume you."
01. Weightless Again
02. My Sister's Tiny Hands
03. Stalled
04. Where The Trees Lean
05. Cathedrals
06. Down In The Ground
07. The Giant of Illinois
08. Down in the Valley of Hollow Loos
09. I Fell
10. The Woman Downstairs
11. Last Night I Went Out Walking
12. Bury Me Here
13. My Ghost
Link
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Authentic Gypsy Folk Music from Hungary and Romania: Transylvania, Szatmar, Serbia, and the Sub-Carpathian.
This second recording and the way this ensemble uses old and new, archaic and modern musical and mood elements so that they complement one another and form a lasting unity; has put them amongst the most prominent musicians from the younger generation of Gypsy musicians. Their repertoire is exclusively original, traditional material which forms a basis, the open and flexible receptive medium. The traditional northeastern Hungarian Gypsy music and melodies from Transylvanian Gypsy communities are paired with the Balkan pop influence, characteristic of the folk rooted Western European performers as well.
01. Korkore Zav Ande Kalyi Ratyi
Gypsy Dance From Serbia
02. Megyek, megyek hazafelé
Gypsy Rolled Song From Hungary
03. Trandatajduj Glazi
Sub Carpathian Gypsy Slow Song /Gypsy Slow Song And Rolled Song From Szatmar County
04. Akhardem Me Le Romen
Gypsy Dance Tune From Greece
05. Aven Mande Le Roma
Gypsy Dance Tunes From Romania
06. Diri, Diri, So Kerdjan
Gypsy Ballad From The Balkan
07. Ustyi Opre, Muri Gazi
Gypsy Dance Song From Transylvania
08. Lokhe Zav Me Pe Vulyica
Romanian Gypsy Dance Tunes
09. Kercimate Zav
Gypsy Love Song From Serbia
10. Álmos vagyok, mint a cica
Gypsy Rolled Songs From Hungary
11. Búzát szemel a vadgalamb
Gypsy Dance Songs From Hungary
12. Sasman Vurdon Taj Karuca
Slow Gypsy Song From Hungary
13. Corro Som Me, Laso Rom
Gypsy Dance Song From Transylvania
14. Phendjom Tuke, Muri Gazi
Gypsy folk Song From Transylvania
15. Phiravelamn Kalyi Phuv
Gypsy Dance Tune From Macedonia
16. Trusalo Taj Bokhalo Som
Gypsy folk Song From Romania
17. Akharenman Mure Phralora
Gypsy Rumba
18. Főbe vertek a cigányok
Gypsy Ballad From Hungary
19. T'avos Devla Barvalo
Gypsy folk Song From Romania
20. Aj Devlale Phen Mange, So Te
Gypsy Rolled Song From Hungary/Sub-Carpathian Gypsy Rolled Song
Ferenc Balogh - vocal, guitar, oral bass, spoons, derbouka
Ildikó Varga - vocal
István Pacal Balogh - oral bass, vocals, water can, spoons, guitar, derbouka
Ilona Farkas - vocal
István Nagy - vocals, tambouritza, bouzouki, mandolin, guitar, oral bass
Guests:
József Simon Balogh - vocal
Kálmán Balogh - cimbalom
Csaba Novák - double bass
Link
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"Di Grine Kuzine is a Berlin-based, klezmer-rooted, Balkan brass band. The connection between klezmer and Balkan brass band music is a natural one as the original Eastern European Jewish musical repertoire owed much to Romanian, Gypsy and Ottoman influences. Since klezmer musicians were expected to be able to play Romanian horas and Serbian kolos as well as freylekhs and bulgars it is likely that a well traveled Eastern European Jewish band had an extensive repertoire.
It is less likely that there were many klezmer brass bands until around the beginning of the 20th century. Law in many areas of Russia and Poland limited the musical instruments that Jews were allowed to play. In general, Jews could play quiet string instruments but could not play loud brass instruments. It wasn't until large numbers of Jews were drafted into the Czar's army that you had the conditions where Jews had access to horns, trombones and tubas. Draftees were allowed to keep their instruments when they mustered out of military service.
On Di Grine Kuzine's earlier albums, their repertoire was largely klezmer-based. On this new release, the songs are mostly Serbian, Hungarian and Bulgarian village dance pieces. The band's vocals are a strong suit. Alexandra Dimitroff has mastered the constricted throat sound that is often associated with Bulgarian vocal music. Listen to her vocal lead on cuts like "Esik Esö" and "Gigetanje." There's simply no other klezmer brass band that has a vocalist as strong as her.
Another strong suit is Steve Lukanky's excellent tuba playing. The newest member of the group, Lukanky shines on tracks like "Gustavs Son Tumbao." Compared to the string bass found in most other dance bands, the tuba adds a vibrant color to Di Grine Kuzine's music.
Raucous and unruly, Feribot is not traditional music. It's more like very hip village music played by urban post modernists. As the band says in the album's liner notes"On this ship there is room for you all."
01.Galizianer Tants (Traditionell)
02.Rumelaj (Traditionell)
03.Esik esö (Traditionell)
04.Auf Zeydns Tish (Traditionell)
05.Gigetanje (Traditionell)
06.Zabkowice Walc
07.Gustavs Son Tumbao
08.Papa Call
09.Zonka (Traditionell)
10.Zemer Atik (Traditionell)
11.Bavarski Cocek
12.Weseli Sebori (Traditionell)
13.Leggerezza
14.Spil Es Nokh Amol, Karel
Alexandra Dimitroff, accordion & vocals
Johannes Kevenhörster, clarinet & soprano sax
Karel Komnatoff, trumpet & fluegelhorn & vocals
Mr. Steve R. Lukanky, tuba
Snorre Schwarz, drums & vocals
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When Blanche first emerged in 2004, their mystique was part-rooted in how leader Dan Miller had previously spent time in a couple of late-’90s garage bands that included Jack White. For a while, they seemed happy to ride on the back of that connection. White strummed guitar on first single “Who’s To Say”, while Dan Miller’s creepy, often funny, countryphiles supported the Stripes on a major British tour.
The three-year interim has found Blanche in various states of health: backing Loretta Lynn on Van Lear Rose, sidelined by Miller’s new film career (he was in Johnny Cash biopic Walk The Line) and fielding rumours of a serious split. Thankfully, Little Amber Bottles is the work of a band recharged. Feeding off country’s primal impulse, they’re still the embodiment of Old Weird America. Visually, too, they’re spot on. The sort of shock-haired oddballs you’d expect to find stalking the back of the revival tent in O Brother, Where Art Thou?.
“What This Town Needs” finds both Dan and wife Tracee Mae in killer form – like Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood cavorting with The Gun Club. His voice is hard, hers oozes an odd warmth. Mrs Miller is best heard on “A Year From Now”, a gorgeous, loping ballad in which banjo and strings are eventually smacked aside by fat guitars. Her own “No Matter Where You Go” is eloquently plucked, aided by guest Isobel Campbell’s serene cello. Resident Blanche banjoist (and Raconteur) Jack Lawrence also offers his own fare, the heavily Gram Parsons-influenced “Death, Where Is Thy Sting?”
For the most part though, these are Dan Miller’s musings. The songs allude to hurdles overcome and demons placated, if hardly cast out. “We Didn’t Quit” is a dark relationship tale, while the initial calm of “The World I Used To Be Afraid Of” suddenly heads into murder ballad territory: “To let you turn your back on true love would have been a mortal sin/So I held you underwater until you finally gave in”. Unsettling to the last, it’s Blanche all over.
01. I'm Sure Of It
02. Last Year's Leaves
03. A Year From Now
04. No Matter Where You Go...
05. What This Town Needs
06. Child Of The Moon - Blanche, Jagger, Mick
07. Little Amber Bottles
08. The World I Used To Be Afraid Of
09. O Death, Where Is Thy Sting
10. I Can't Sit Down - Blanche, Traditional
11. (Exordium)
12. The World's Largest Crucifix
13. Scar Beneath The Skin
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