World Encounters
FolkWorks March-April 2004 - Page 9
Artist: USTAD NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN & PARTY: PUKAAR
Title: THE ECHO
Label: NAVRAS
Why this one, you may wonder? It is not a new release but I was completely enraptured listening to this CD again. Having seen and experienced Nusrat several times performing to an almost exclusively Pakistani crowd which hardly ever stopped dancing, it conveys so magically what ecstatic sufi (Muslim mysticism) singing really means. There are not any of the later fusion elements to be found here, just two singers: Nusrat, with Ustad Sultan Khan (from Rajasthan, on sarangi) and with Ustad Abdul Sattar Tari (on tabla). Although they met, the two singers never actually performed together live. Nusrat died in 1997 and the recording is actually the result of mod- ern technology. Here they alternate in a seamless blend, starting with Nusrat’s signature song, Allah-hoo, Allah-hoo, Allah-hoo in an emotional version. There is only one other song you have to hear in order to understand the Nusrat magic: Ali Ali Ali Maula Ali Ali, Haq!
Artist: VARIOUS
Title: TRADITIONAL INDIA
Label: NAVRAS
One of the few Indian CDs you’ll ever need and one I can listen to every day: Soul, sufi, classical, and lots of ghazals (poetry)– it’s all here on 2 CDs in a really great compilation. There are outstanding tracks by Anup Jalota (bhajans), Shweta Javeri (performing a track from the movie Dance With the Wind), the great Lakshmi Shankar, Rajasthani gypsy music, Abida Parween (the only female qawwalli singer) and, of course, the master himself, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, plus many pleasant surprises by lesser known artists.
Artist: SUPER RAIL BAND DE BAMAKO
Title: KONGO SIGUI
Label: INDIGO
This recording is not groundbreaking but a continuation of their previous work. The official train station band of the capital of Mali, this is a group which has survived since the 1970s, mostly thanks to their guitarist Djelimady Tounkara, who has been called Africa’s greatest one. Try the title track to see whether you agree. This style of music has been called “Manding swing,” and it now incorporates elements of rock, blues, Cuban, reggae, and other types of music. The title track, for example, with its sweeping, hypnotic sound, makes for great driving music.
Artist: FAUDEL
Title: ANOTHER SUN
Label: WRASSE
Attention: Pop album!
A few years back Faudel was the wunderkind of rai, the successor of the Voice, Khaled. This is Faudel’s first release in a long time and a fun, pan European release, full of flamenco and reggae influences. Purists will snub this one but if you want to feel like stopping in Paris and Sevilla, this is for you. All songs are smartly translated into English and there is Faudel’s warm voice, of course.
Artist: MARCOS VALLE
Title: CONTRASTS
Label: FAR OUT
Marcos Valle is still one of the innovators of Brazilian music: How about the sound of Nêga do balaio? Like his previous recording on this label, this one is firmly based in his past and not related to the current sounds we are used to hearing from that country. Just in case, there are a few remixes for DJs.
Artist: IDRISSA SOUMAORO
Title: KÖTE
Label: WRASSE
He’s the guy who was left behind. While the Super Rail Band and Boubacar Traore (from Bamako) worked on their careers, Idrissa Soumaoro stayed behind and taught music to the visually impaired and supported his family. The result is that nobody outside Mali knew about him. That is changing now thanks to a new recording that starts out on a very sweet note. By the second track we know that his groove means busi- ness. The music is laid back and an unusual touch is the added percussion, harmonica, flute and accordion. Idrissa Soumaoro sings, and plays guitar and ngoni for his people, the Bambara.
Artist: VARIOUS
Title: ROUGH GUIDE TO EGYPT
Label: ROUGH GUIDE
Ever since the great Oum Kalsoum, Egypt has been the center of the Arab music (and film) industry. It was inevitabe that the Rough Guide folks would come up with their own compilation, one conceived for the ears of the western listener (meaning that one would hear a different sound in the streets of Cairo). There are plenty of old and new vibes, performed by Amr Diab, the superstar of the Arab world, from Nubia, Hamza el Din and the sadly underrated Mohamed Mounir (on a very hypnotic track with a drum and bass undercurrent). And yes, there are a couple of classical tracks by Warda, Abdel Halim Hafez, and Mohamed Abdel Wahab, plus a fair meas- ure of new, interesting voices with contemporary instrumentation, such as Nagat El Saghira, and Angham.
Artist: ZARSANGA
Title: SONGS OF THE PASHTU
Label: LONG DISTANCE
The Pashtu are mountain people in Pakistan and Afghanistan – think Peshawar that we have heard much about! Their language is of Iranian ori- gin and is spoken by about half of the population of Afghanistan. According to the liner notes this recording features Zarsanga, the voice of a people, a female one no less, a shepherdess and mother of many children, whose songs are love poems. The sound is related to folk music from India or Rajasthan, with the main instrument a sort of metallic-sounding lute and a drum (dholak or tabla).
Artist: TERUHISA FUKUDA:SHAKUHACHI
Title: KINKO SCHOOL
Label: OCORA
The shakuhachi is a very difficult to play bamboo flute with six apertures. It was originally used for court music in Japan and later by Zen monks for spiritual research, thereby equating the practice of the instrument as meditation, such as the Kino School. Teruhisa Fukuda has widely collabo- rated with western musicians and therefore this recording differs from traditional shakuhachi players.
Artist: VARIOUS
Title: MUSIC OF INDONESIA – MALUKU AND NORTH MALAKU
Label: CELESTIAL HARMONIES
If you have been following the news you may realize that the music on this recording from 1989 may not exist any more due to recent problems in Indonesia (religious fighting, etc.). A former Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch province, area consists of many former spice islands.
As local religions were Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, and nature-spirit based, the music became an interesting mix of content and instrumentation. As to be expected by this label, this double CD comes packed with informative liner notes and most of all, absolutely interesting and unusual music: Bamboo flutes orchestras with brass trombones and tuba, performing at rice-stamping or weaving dances, martial dance songs, “peace-restoring blood-drinking ceremonial dances,” songs of praise, etc.
Also recommended:
BARBAROS ERKÖSE ENSEMBLE and DEEPAK
RAM (Indian crossover flutist) (both on Golden Horn Records).
VIOLA’S RESOURCE LIST
Book:
World Music, a Very Short Introduction by Philip V. Bohlman
Magazines:
The Beat (American), Songlines (from the UK), and fRoots (formerly Folkroots)
Websites:
http://www.sternsmusic.com (mostly African music)
www.mondomix.org (all aspects and types of world music)
http://www.bbc.co.uk (serious musicology plus world music links)
www.afropop.org (NY-based radio show with links, information on concerts etc.)
http://www.maqam.com (Arab music)
www.greekmusic.com (Greek music)
http://www.piranha.de (WOMEX, world music conference)
www.canzone-online.de (labels and releases not available in U.S.)
World Encounters
FolkWorks March-April 2004 - Page 9