• Music

    Various Artists – Cameroon Garage Funk

    Analog Africa produces yet another astounding compilation.  Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait a while for this one, because the release date is scheduled for September 3, 2021.  Still, considering the high quality of pretty much everything this label has produced, I’m expecting some fine music. Over on the Bandcamp release page, a question that had been in mind for a while has been answered.  How could Cameroon, with a rich musical history, be so poorly represented?  As it turns out, there was no infrastructure so speak of, so promotion outside the country would have been impossible in those days. From…

  • Music

    TienYinMen – Between Clouds (雲峽)

    TienYinMen are a collection of composers and musicians based in Hong Kong who release a lot of thematic soundtrack music played on traditional instruments and electronic instruments.  They have a healthy body of work to choose from, and I found this one to be the best out of a great lot.  I can see why they would be in demand for scoring TV programs as well as theater.

  • Music

    Muito Kaballa Power Ensemble – Mamari

    Fiddling around on the Youtube stream today as I have the house to myself, I came across a video of this album, and within the first second or so, I got hooked into a mix of Malian blues, funk, Cuban rhythms and a general Afrobeat vibe.  Muito Kaballa are a nine-piece band based in Cologne, Germany, and the label releasing this charmer is Rebel Up Records, a fine imprint out of Belgium.

  • Music

    Båul – Camel [شتر]

    Båul have managed to release an album which travels the world while residing in the beautiful state of Colorado.  They mix Arabic, Russian, Hebrew and other music together into a cohesive, energetic album.  Really fun listening.

  • Music

    Jisr (جسر) – Too Far Away

    It’s a minor tragedy that Jisr have not made their debut album available as a download on Bandcamp, but you can find it over at La Boîte à Musique and Turtle Records in Belgium, Deejay.de and Decks in Germany and surely other fine record shops near you, though I’d pick this up quickly as it’s running out of print everywhere I look. To the music.  This is ecstatic spiritual jazz infused with Kosmische Musik, odd progressive and improvisational rock (think Embryo and Dissidenten, especially since the legendary Roman Bunka is involved in this disc playing oud and guitar), but the…

  • Music

    Jauno Jāņu Orķestris – Div’ Svecītes

    The Jauno Jāņu Orķestris (The New Midsummer Orchestra) are a folk music band hailing from Latvia, an area we don’t get to cover terribly much here on this blog, which is a shame.  This is a one-track single of very well-done traditional music with, of course, updated production values and a very full sound.  The vocals are cheery and dramatic, and as far as I can translate the lyrics (shown on the band’s Bandcamp page), it’s hard to pin down if they are referring to early Christian or pagan times.  It’s a fascinating song regardless.

  • Music

    Kimilia – Chants d’un temps, ანუ ადრინდელი სიმღერები

    I can’t imagine there being traditional music more pleasant to the ear than that of Georgian polyphony.  Whether it is in an ecclesiastical setting or around the dinner table, the Georgians are incredible singers, and this particular band, Kimilia, do a phenomenal job interpreting songs that go as far back as to the country’s medieval period.  Stunning!

  • Music

    叶尔波利 Yerboli – 哈萨克精神Kazakh Spirit

    China has 55 legally recognized minorities, each contributing to the mosaic of the country.  This particular project, Yerboli, comes from the Kazakh community, but it is not ethnic music per sé.  This is folk music, but with a slightly more mystical element to it.  Shenzhen-based Old Heaven Books released this album, and they boast quite a healthy catalog of this kind of music.  They are worth exploring.

  • Music

    Zacharivna Pisnya Ensemble – Petropavlovka: Songs of Ukrainians from Kyrgyzstan

    The Zacharivna Pisnya Ensemble are made up of ethnic Ukrainians who reside in the republic of Kyrgyzstan, and have existed as a group since 1902.  Though some of their names have been Russified, they maintain their cultural ties to Ukraine via song. Antonovka Records have done astounding work documenting such ensembles throughout Russia and Central Asia, and they should be commended for maintaining such high quality throughout each release.

  • Music

    稷廬 / jì lú – 山與客聽 / Mountain, Traveler, Listener

    The Sichuan, China-based Jì Lú (稷廬) are a new project that has connections with one of China’s most innovated bands, Raflum.  The instrumentation on this album is sparse, but it makes for good listening, as bamboo flute and guitar seem to blend pleasantly. Some notes regarding the release: When talking about landscapes in the traditional context, it’s mostly about reclusion.  Although true recluses are rare, the mountains and rivers are always there.  Ironically,  the real landscapes are actually “horrible nature” instead of some leisure place.  The traditional landscape paintings are a kind of “tame nature,” which were described as “To observe with meditation, and lie down to experience” and “Sitting in the forest and spring instead of go to banquet” by ancient Chinese poets.  It emerge at North and South Dynasty, then become a game of finding the essence during the Five Dynasties and the Song Dynasty, and finally stuck in the static self-development after the Ming and Qing Dynasties.  The development of landscape paintings are just like how people detach with the nature and entering urban life.  This album is the continuation of this thesis.  In a time when the virtual reality are replacing urban life, we attempt to reinterpret this cliche with improvisation that based on the topic of “landscape.”  We also naming the songs by minutes and seconds instead of the traditional way of titling the songs, which is based on its imagery.  That creates interactive between the “teller” and listener, and reflects the beauties for individuals due to their own aesthetic experiences.  At this time, the distant, outmoded, cumbersome and vague image of landscape might leave a huge space for “starting again.” Instrumental by Liu Zhu (bamboo flute) /Qi Ya (Guitar) Recorded by Qi Ya at Ningbo、Hanzhou、 in 2016-2018 and Liu Zhu at New York in 2016 Mixed and Mastered by Qi Ya Artwork and Layout by Qi Ya Released by Pest Productions 在傳統語境中說到山水,多半關乎隱逸,真隱逸不常有,而真山水常有。葉公好龍的是,真山真水其實是「可怕的自然」,並非閒居宴坐的所在。山水畫作為一種「馴服的自然」,即古人說的「澄懷觀道,臥以游之」、「不下堂筵,坐窮林泉」,自南北朝鮮嫩的發端,五代兩宋的窮其理而後成為一種遊戲,到明清之後陳陳相因的體系內繁殖——其蓬勃發展的歷史反而是與人的身體離開自然山林而進入人工城市的歷史併行的。這張專輯也是對這一母題的延續。在人的身體都快離開人工城市而進入虛擬現實的環境下,給重複了上千年的「陳腔濫調」再增添一次重釋,帶著「山水」這一母題,以即興演奏的方式完成整張錄音。在曲目的定名上,也避開中國傳統的「意象命題」式標題,只以分秒為替代,在「說」與聽之間,帶著各自的審美體驗,進行一次互動,映照各自心中的佳山水。此時,山水形象的遙遠、陳舊、累贅和模糊或許又給「重新出發」以很大的空間。 演奏:六貯(竹管樂器)/ 栖崖(吉他) 錄音:六貯/栖崖 混音/母帶處理:栖崖 錄音時間:2016年04月至2018年11月 錄音地點:寧波 / 杭州 /…