Around the World In 80 Posts

My pleasure! Again, I'm happy to hand out links if anyone wants them.

Russia
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Yat-Kha - Dalai Beldiri (1999)
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In terms of ethnic musical traditions, throat-singing is something that a lot of people attribute to Mongolia and Mongolia alone. I was guilty of this for a while too. It's actually an ancient vocalising tradition that's been passed down by generations of native Tuvans - Tuva being a rather small corner of southern Siberia on the Mongolian border. So, while this album may not exactly sound like something you'd expect from snowy old Russia, take my word for it, it's Russian! For those of you who have no idea what I'm on about, chances are that'll probably still be the case after I finish this sentence, as it's quite hard to explain without actually (trying to) demonstrate an example for you. Throat-singing is a style of musical expression that's been practiced by the people of Tuva for centuries, and is a very unqiue way of singing multiple notes or pitches or whatever you call them at once using, of course, your throat, producing some very weird, mesmerising results. In other worRAB, I can't really explain, so here's an exmple for ya.

There are different types of this of course, and kargyraa (a much deeper-sounding one than that of the video I just linked you to back there) is the one you'll hear lead singer Albert Kuvezin using. To say I think this is their best album would be a lie, as it's the only one of theirs I can call my own. But, this is definitely about as left-of-centre as musical experiences get if you've never heard this type of singing before. In terms of the actual instrumental backing, with its use of harps in tandem with acoustic guitars, there is still a very non-western feel to this album. The key to the album's appeal though is in the vocals, which not only show off this quite bizarre style of musical expression but, on top of that, the way it's harmonised with a 'normal' vocal track really does produce some pretty extraordinary results. Also, a lot of it, in particular the video below (wait 'til it really starts to kick in about half-way through), is very haunting and absolutely beautiful.

In other worRAB, definitely worth your time.
The best bits: Dyngyldai, Charash Karaa, Sodom I Gomora
[YOUTUBE]xdlxD3nTDBU[/YOUTUBE]

Tunisia
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Anouar Brahem - Barzakh (1991)
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Once again, I find myself making a post about a highly-respected-though-virtually-unknown-in-the-west oud player and composer, the one in question here being the Tunisian maestro Anouar Brahem. He's another fairly prolific fella, not to mention a man with his own slant on how music should be done given that he's a man who, upon all of a sudden being noticed in the late 80s, plays for jazz audiences as he mixes it up with authentically Arabic classical and folk music.

Unlike his fellow oud-wielding, already-mentioned contemporary Marcel Khalife though, there are no vocals on this album (given the guy's jazz influences and all). The best way to describe this album (and not the sort of general picture of his whole repertoire) would be as an Arabic slant on jazz. After all, the only musicians present on this recording are a trio of oud player, percussionist and violinist. All this makes for yet another incredibly fascinating and out of this world (for want of a better phrase) musical experience. After all, while it's basically an album's worth of jazzy improvisation, Brahem's oud really does give it a very unique flavour and a whole lot of colour, especially seeing as, like a lot of music you'll see me flag here, this isn't exactly something I listen to ad infinitum. Again, absolutely fascinating stuff.
The best bits: Barzakh, Kerkenah, La Nuit De Jeux
[YOUTUBE]BqIZKX4Er7E[/YOUTUBE]​

And with 10 albums mentioned, I think it's time for a mixtape! I'll get cracking on one soonish...
 
Lebanon
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Marcel Khalife - Best Of Songs (compilation)
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Many many thanks to a certain NumberNineDream for sending this album my way a few days ago as, evidently, I quite enjoyed it!

To give you a little bit of context before I get down to the nitty gritty here, Marcel Khalife is a poet, writer and one of the most respected singer-songwriters in the Middle East, not to mention one of the most prolific. He's something of the Bob Dylan of the area then, seeing as to how outspoken he seems to be about his worldview and how he gets his message across in his music. Of course, it goes without saying that I don't, so this is all judging from what I've read about him.

This best of compilation is certainly, for me, a gateway to a whole new world of music that I previously new virtually nothing of. I remember seeing a 3-disc compilation of Arabic music in Borders once or twice, and this fella might very well have had a song on it, but that's as far as my experience with Arabic musical culture goes (barring the odd song or album buried somewhere in my EHD, which I guess we'll get to later). Khalife here represents as good a starting point as any, as there's a very consistent and profound quality to whole set of songs, all conjuring (as the best non-Anglospheric music does) very strong and powerful images. This is mainly down to Khalife's primary weapon of choice - the oud (an Arabic member of the lute family). It's also down to the fact that there's a very significant variation in sounRAB here, ranging from eastern variations of Dylan-esque folk, waltzes and classical-leaning sounRAB. Well, that's what I got from it anyway. Either way, an absolutely fascinating album when all's said and done.
The best bits: Bel Akhdar Kaffannah, Enni Ekhtartoka Ya Watani, Tosbihouna Ala Watan
[YOUTUBE]V9fpiTY2pNI[/YOUTUBE]

Switzerland
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Guyer's Connection - Portrait (1983)
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Coming at you from rocky old Switzerland is part of the mainland European new wave/synth-pop scene and a long-playing effort from a band I know absolutely about (this album aside of course). It's something I came across at random on one of my many expeditions to mutantsounRAB, and an album that's obscure enough not to have a picture of its sleeve art any bigger than 150x150 on google images, which is what's up the dodgy picture I've found there.

Guyer's Connection are a part of a very rich musical movement of post-punk that might as well have just passed right under the mainstream press of the day's noses, which is a bit of a shame as there are some very neat little products of it, one of which is of course this album. This Swiss new wave duo, armed only with an arsenal of dodgy synthesizers and a microphone, make a fairly sparse use of vocals here, as this album's a lot more about the cyber punk-reminiscent sonic pictures that they can at least try to conjure with all the dated electronic wizardry they can. It's hardly the best album in the world by a long shot, and it's true that it sounRAB so cheap that it may as well have been recorded under the lead vocalist's bed, but that's all part of the charm. In the video below is a 12" they had out at the time, and is as such nowhere to be found on this album, but it gives you a good idea of the grim, bleak pictures that the LP itself conjures, with the odd dose of melody giving it all that much more spice. It's at least worth checking out, certainly if you're curious about this very obscure area of music.
The best bits: Pogo Of Techno, Ein Glas Voll Gurken, La Transformation
[YOUTUBE]qVtVWgrgNXk[/YOUTUBE]​
 
I'm glad you liked it, and very nice choice for 'best bits'.

But I just wanted to clarify, seeing the song with really absurd photos of animals, that the title says "I am Joseph, father" ... as in Joseph of the Old testament. He's saying how he got sabotaged and sold by his own brothers (kind of a metaphor of the political situation).

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As for the Guyer's Connection, I really liked them. Well it's always the case with everything I find on mutantsounRAB. I'll be checking them out.

And really loved the Matata band you talked about earlier this week, any ups?

Great work on the thread, btw :thumbs:
 
Thanks guys :) There'll be more on the way later this week - I owe Zarko's thread a review which I kinda forgot about yesterday, so that takes priority for now.


Funny you should mention that, being one of the first things I thought of and all ;) I might actually have to take you up on that sometime, especially as most of the stuff I've got's from Latin/South America and Africa.

And, yeah, just noticed your pretty similar thread a moment or two a go. You should get it started up again - we can have a musical race around the world or something :D
 
Top notch thread, Bulldog. But this...this....Thank you, thank you! Consider me in love. If I ever get my boom box fixed, I plan on carrying it around all day with this playing. :D

p.s. a link would be very much appreciated
 
^ May have to pester you for some good Eastern European stuff as well. At a quick glance, all I've got is an album by Ukraine's Truart (and a very good one it is too!), which I've long-since nicked from your journal.

That said, I've got a growing list of albums lined up for this, so I won't exactly run out of ideas anytime soon.
 
Guyer's Connection are tacky as hell, but as I say, it's part of their charm. Worth having a listen if you can - it's one of the first posts for this month over on mutantsounRAB, as far as I remember anyway.

And I think I've still got Matata online. I'll drop you a PM in a bit.

Thanks again for the Khalife links as well. I'll check the others you sent me soonish as well.
 
Great idea indeed. No one can truly delve into music while sticking to the anglophone countries. Sometimes other countries' folk, can be considered as progressive or even experimental and avant-garde if compared to the music we usually listen to.

If you need some albums from the central Mediterranean part of the world, just give us a shout =P.
 
Great thread so far Bulldog, you'll be voted best 2009 member yet. By the way, could I get an up for Feelin' Funky by Matata? Also, any idea where the other UK-released album is, River Wild? Couldn't find the bloody thing.
 
Thanks very much for the new thread Bulldog :) Found three new banRAB so far, and I've been wanting to check out world music for a long time. Sadly my collection is very limited, I've actually been getting into a lot of stuff from eastern Asia but very little from the entire rest of the world - and most of them are quite popular, banRAB like Buena Vista Social Club. Good thing this and the India thread both popped up. Something I've noticed recently with all this world music is that a lot of the atmospheric feel that post rock embodies seems to be very influenced by classical and folk music of countries outside the anglosphere. Maybe ambient drone stuff as well. Keep up the awesome work! Oh, and if you want anything from anywhere in Asia, let me know.
 
Great to hear that :D Every so often there's an artist you come across who'd been ridiculously far off of your radar 'til the moment you hear them and when you do, you kinda wonder where they've been all this time eh. Matata certainly had that kind of effect on me.

I'm 90% sure I've still got the album online. If I can find it, I'll drop you a PM...


...and the same goes for your good self! As for where River Wild is, your guess is as good as mine I'm afraid!

I'll get this thread updated again sometime soon enough too.
 
Thanks buddy, glad you like the thread :) I haven't properly had a look around for music from some parts of Asia just yet, but I'll let you know if I have any trouble when I get round to it.

I see what you mean about the atmospheric feel of a lot of world music too, especially with the obvious language barrier a lot of it has. The aforementioned Marcel Khalife embodies that kinda notion, and is one among so many. As such, 99% of the time I prefer it when music when doesn't have an English lyric - unless it can be pulled off with a lot of aplomb, it feels a lot more natural and much more effective that way. Most of the time anyway. There'll be a lot more examples coming up.

There are some countries which have a whole load of great albums from inside their borders that it's gonna be quite a harsh task coming up with one to represent it - I can see Argentina, Venezeula, Cuba, especially Senegal and Mali proving quite tricky, among others. Either way, I'll namedrop at least a couple more albums before the end of the week.
 
I'll let you know if I run into any problems/lack of options with Canada. Probably won't get round to them for a while though - gonna take care of the stuff from the farther corners of the world first.
 
Sure, I can rustle up a link for ya.

If you've got any recs for Southern Africa, feel free to PM me - I've got music from Zimbabwe, South Africa and that's about it.
 
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