ERITREA Music of Eritrea – Ethiopia Vol. 3 – Tangent Records TGM 103

ERITREA – ÉRYTHRÉE
Music of Eritrea – Ethiopia Vol. 3 – Tangent Records TGM 103, recorded by Jean Jenkins, released 1970 (LP)

This excellent anthology showcases Eritrea’s mosaic of languages, cultures, religions, and ways of life, from Muslim desert nomads to Christian Orthodox highland farmers, and the Kunama people who follow their own spiritual traditions.

Eritrea gained its independence from Ethiopia and became a sovereign state in 1993.

Cette excellente anthologie présente la riche mosaïque de langues, de cultures, de religions et de modes de vie de l'Érythrée, allant des nomades musulmans du désert aux cultivateurs chrétiens orthodoxes des hauts plateaux, en passant par le peuple Kunama qui suit ses propres traditions spirituelles.

L'Érythrée accède à l’indépendance et devient un État souverain en 1993.

A1 & A2 – The Arabic-speaking Rashaida people are nomads inhabiting the desert coastal lands of northeastern Eritrea. These two captivating tracks feature female voices and drums recorded during an all-night celebration (also see photograph below).

A3 – The pastoral Beni Amer people live between Agordat and the Sudanese border. A man sings the story of a cow with a five-string rebaba bowl-lyre and ululating women.

A4 – The Baria people live in the arid Gash River region in Western Eritrea. Girls drum, clap, sing, and dance to the beat while men leap in the air with their spears (see front cover).

A5 – The pastoral Afar people from the vast southern expanses between the Buri peninsula and Djibouti along the Red Sea coast lead a nomadic life in search of pasture for their herds. Here a group of Afar, near Mersa Fatima, sing and clap after a wedding celebration.

A6 – The Serae people belong to the Eritrean Christian Orthodox tradition. This stunning circular polyrhythmic music includes a long embilta horn, notched flutes, malakat trumpets, a chirawatta single-string fiddle, and large koboro church drums. Recorded at a feast in Adi Ugri.

A7& A8 – The church service of the Eritrean Christian Orthodox Church consists of two main parts: the qeddase liturgy (A7), directed by the Abuna (Bishop) Mikael Gebre Egziablher and recorded in the chapel of the Imperial Palace in Asmara; and the long Sunday service in which the congregation participates (A8). The only instruments used for the service are tsenatsil sistrums – associated with ancient Egypt – wielded by all members of the congregation, whose gently tinkling sound may be heard on this band, and the large Koboro drums played by the priests, who also dance.

The Eritrean Christian Orthodox Church has been the most isolated Christian church, which may account for the purity and richness of what is perhaps the oldest Christian church music in the world.

B1 – The Assaorta people are semi-pastoralists who cultivate the foothills of Akeleguzal during the summer and come down on the Red Sea coast with their cattle, camels and goats during the winter. They have an elected chief and are devout Muslims. The chief of the Minifere group near Arafuli is leading the Friday prayer. He uses Arabic for the scriptures from the Koran and most of the prayers are in Saho.

B2 – The Kunama people from the Barentu district, who practice their own spiritual traditions are known for their music. The funfera flute, recorded at Dukambia, has a deeper tone than most other flutes played by wandering cow herdsmen.

B3 – Zar evil spirits are said to invade the human body or mind and cause illness or pain and must therefore be exorcised. The leader of the zar ceremony inherited his special curative powers and spells from his father and grandfather, along with mastery of the five-string rebaba lyre, empowered with beads, amulets and mirrors, which can help call the zar from the afflicted person. The nightlong drumming, singing and praying often put the participants and the afflicted person in a trance-like state, when the zar is most easily exorcised.

B4 – The Bilen people farm the uplands near Keren. Girls are drumming and singing at a wedding.

B5 – The historical ballad of Negus is widespread in Eritrea, especially in Hamasien, Akeleguzai and Serae. The soloist sings in the Tigrinya language, accompanying himself on a steel-string kerar bowl lyre.

B6 – Kunama girls beat large drums to dancing men at a feast near Barentu which lasted two full days. And the vigorous dancing and singing continued unabated.

B7 – If one sings to a cow she will give her milk more easily. The Tigre-speaking chief of Afta, a village in the Zula district on the Red Sea, sings with great intensity to encourage his cow and then praises her for feeding everyone at home when the milk starts to flow.

*Condensed and paraphrased from the liner notes of Jean Jenkins.

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Jean Jenkins (1922-1990) was a major 20th century ethnomusicologist known for her seminal recordings of traditional music, notably from Africa, central Asia, and with a specific focus on the music in the world of Islam. She also wrote books and diaries, took many excellent photographs, and built a traditional musical instrument collection which she donated to the National Museum of Scotland in 1980.

The photograph below is from Faces of Africa - Thirty Years of Photography by Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher, National Geographic, 2004:

Rashaida People (tracks A1-A2) – Eritrea 

"Surrounded by admiring men, veiled Rashaida women dance at a desert wedding, twirling in circles and clapping their hands rhythmically. The men cry out 'Rashaida, Rashaida,' affirming with pride their ethnic identity and inspiring the women to greater fervor."

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MALAYSIA The Music of Malaysia – Ma'Yong Theatrical Music from Kelantan – Anthology AST 4006

MALAYSIA – MALAISIE
The Music of Malaysia – Ma'Yong Theatrical Music from Kelantan – Anthology AST 4006, recorded by William P. Malm, 1968 (LP)

This forgotten recording of music performed during Ma’Yong (or Mak Yong), a traditional dance-drama from Kelantan in northern Malaysia that is fast disappearing, offers a fascinating glimpse into a “mixture of indigenous and Islamic traditions that form one part of Malaysia's rich musical heritage.”* Performed as a royal theatre under the direct patronage of the Kelantan Sultanate until the 1920s, Mak Yong is also associated with healing rituals through song, trance-dance and spirit possession formerly conducted in rural areas.

“A typical Mak Yong performance opens with an offering followed by dances, acting and music, as well as improvised monologues and dialogues. A single story can be presented over several consecutive nights in a series of three-hour performances.”**

The Mak Yong orchestra’s stark three-stringed rebab bowed lute (replaced with a double reed serunai on track B5), a pair of gendang double-headed barrel drums, tetawak hanging gongs, voices and wailing chorus, weave delicate, otherworldly, abstract sonorities. The last track (B6), with an unidentified accompanying ensemble and a shaman, takes us back to the ceremonial-shamanistic roots of this multifaceted art. “The basic form of the music is a dialogue between the shaman-dancer and the rebab player who sings and plays intermittently, when the "possessed" shaman carries on a conversation with the spirit transferred from the ill person to the puteri [shaman].”*

*Liner notes by William P. Malm

**https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/mak-yong-theatre-00167

Cet enregistrement oublié de musique Ma'Yong (ou Mak Yong), qui associe danse et art dramatique traditionnels du Kelantan au nord de la Malaisie, offre un aperçu fascinant du « mélange de traditions autochtones et islamiques, qui font partie intégrante du riche patrimoine musical malaisien ».* Jouissant du statut de théâtre royal grâce au mécénat du sultanat du Kelantan jusque dans les années 1920, le Mak Yong est également associé à des rituels de guérison à travers le chant, la danse de transe et la possession autrefois pratiqués dans les zones rurales.

« Une représentation de Mak Yong commence par des offrandes, suivies de danses, de théâtre, de musique, de monologues et de dialogues improvisés. Les séances durent trois heures et peuvent se répéter plusieurs soirées de suite selon l’histoire choisie. »**

L’orchestre Mak Yong comprend un luth rebab à trois cordes (remplacé par un serunai à double-anche sur la piste B5), une paire de tambours gendang, des gongs suspendus tetawak, des voix et des chœurs, qui tissent des sonorités délicates, abstraites, et éthérées. Le dernier morceau (B6), avec un orchestre non identifié et un chaman, nous ramène aux sources cérémoniales-chamaniques de cet art aux multiples facettes. « La forme de base de la musique est un dialogue entre le danseur-chaman et le joueur de rebab qui chante et joue par intermittence, au moment où le chaman  possédé engage un dialogue avec l'entité invisible transférée de la personne malade au chaman puteri. »
*Notes de la pochette de disque par William P. Malm

**https://ich.unesco.org/fr/RL/le-theatre-mak-yong-00167?RL=00167

A1 – Instrumental Overture / Sedayong Tongget and Barat Anjor

A2 – Instrumental Overture / To'wak and Barat Patak

A3 – Introductory Dance Music / Mengadap Rebab

A4 – Journey Song / Kijang Emas  

A5 – Circle Dance Song / Sedayong Ma'yong

B1 – Lyrical Song / Charnpak Bunga

B2 – To'wak Song / sung by male vocalist

B3 – Clown Song / Yur

B4 – Instrumental version / Yur

B5 – Dance piece / Tani Ragam

B6 – Sedayong Pa'yong sung by a puteri / A shamanic version of Ma’Yong music

PERFORMING ARTISTS

Actresses and Singers: Halimah bind Abu Bakar; Fatimah binti Abu Bakar; Mainunah binti Umat; Minah binti Ma'Hassan; Emas bind Awang; Minah binti Yusuf; and Kelsom binti Lembet.

Comedians and drum and gong players: Abdullah bin Awang; Osman bin Harum; and Yusoh bin Awang.

Musicians: Ahmad bin Awang, rebab bowed lute; Ahmad bin Senik and Daud bin Sallah, gendang double-headed barrel drums.

Puteri shaman: Anak Gajah from Kampong Kadok. Unidentified accompanying ensemble (B6).

Recordings and photographs by musicologist William P. Malm (b. 1928) – renowned for his publications on Japanese traditional music – in Kok Pasir and Jalawat, July 1968.

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Our other Malaysian music share:

The Senoi of Malacca – Bärenreiter Musicaphon BM 30 L 2561, 1963 here

The photographs of musicians below are from Ngac Him and Jacques Brunet in Malaisie - Musique Traditionnelle - CBS 80934, 1975 (LP):

Raja Hassan Raia Ibrahim, rebab bowed-lute master

Ma'yong, drum and gong


Double-reed serunai player (B5)


Royal Gamelan of Terengganu

Royal Gamelan of Terengganu 

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curation project and share the best finds with you on this blog:

INDIA Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu – Memorable Violin Solos – HMV – EALP 1375

INDIA – INDE
Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu – Memorable Violin Solos – His Master's Voice – EALP 1375, released 1971 (LP)

Dr. Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu (1893-1964), born in Bengalore, Karnataka, was one of the great 20th-century masters of the violin, which was introduced in Carnatic music around 1800. Naidu was a major innovator, who developed a unique playing style that “infused the techniques of both Western and Hindustani music into his playing without compromising the Carnatic music tradition.”* He also took the instrument to another level by giving the first Carnatic solo violin recital in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, in 1938.

This enthralling album, originally recorded on shellac 78 RPMs, features his fluid, delicate and understated lyrical explorations and brilliant playing.

Dr Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu (1893-1964), né à Bengalore, dans le Karnataka, fut l'un des plus grands maîtres du violon du XXe siècle. Venkataswamy Naidu fut un innovateur majeur, qui développa un jeu unique « intégrant les techniques et les phrasés de la musique occidentale et hindoustani sans compromettre la tradition musicale Carnatic. »* Il a également élevé le statut de l'instrument, qui fut introduit dans la musique Carnatic vers 1800, en donnant le tout premier récital de violon solo Carnatic en 1938 à Vellore, dans le Tamil Nadu.

Cet album fascinant, enregistré à l'origine sur des 78 tours, présente les explorations lyriques, fluides et délicates du maestro et son jeu brillantissime tout en retenue.

*https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/music/rich-repertoire/article25565416.ece

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Our other Carnatic violin music shares:

Lalgudi Jayaraman – HMV 7 EPE 1614 HMV – 1962 here

Lalgudi Jayaraman – HMV – ECSD 2494, 1971 here

T. N. Krishnan – SEDE 3609 COLUMBIA – 1965 here

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Great News!

Some of the links on Tawfiq’s fantastic blog (https://oriental-traditional-music.blogspot.com) were no longer working.

Luckily, Louis Farrugia, Daniel Fuchs, and Gary Pro have worked hard to preserve this important library of incredible music making this priceless resource available to the world for years to come. Many thanks to them!

A clone of Oriental Traditional Music from LPs & Cassettes, with all of the audio files, can now be found here:

http://www.rudraveena.org/theBlog/oriental-traditional-music.blogspot.com/index.html

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The photograph below is from the catalogue to the exhibition Rasa: Les Neufs Visages de l’Art Indien at the Grand Palais, March 13-June 16, 1986, Paris.

Mauna-Vratin Vishnu meditating (observing the vow of inner silence), 

11th Century, Archaeological Museum, Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh:

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THE GAMBIA – SENEGAL – MALI African Journey – A Search for the Roots of the Blues Volume 1 – Sonet SNTP 666

THE GAMBIA – SENEGAL – MALI  
African Journey – A Search for the Roots of the Blues Volume 1  – Sonet SNTP 666, recorded by Samuel Charters, 1974 (LP)

Samuel Charters (1929-2015) was an American music historian, writer, record producer, musician and poet with a keen interest in folk, jazz and blues. Charters published the seminal The Country Blues in 1959 and was instrumental in the resurgent interest in blues and folk in the 1960s expressed by artists and bands like John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Cream, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan. Charters also recorded many jazz and blues artists, as well as two LPs of the Bahamian folk guitarist Joseph Spence on the Folkways label.

His interest in black music led the ever-inquisitive and passionate Charters to seek out the roots of these African-American musics in West Africa, and he released two scintillating field recordings on the Swedish label Sonet. After sharing Volume 2 here, we present Volume 1, featuring Jali Nyama Suso on the 21-string kora (A1, A4); Abdoulie Samba on the halam, or xalam, five-string lute (A2); a Diola village dance (A3), a Mandingo street drumming festival in the streets of Banjul (B1); Alhaji Amara Sahone on the konting lute (B2); a Fula procession with drums, rattles, flutes, balafons, lyres, single string violins and cattle horns (B3); and Alhaji Fabala Kanuteh on the balafon (B4).

“The musical cultures of West Africa have been one of the richest sources of the music of the United States and of Central and South America and the Caribbean. It was the blending of African vocal techniques and rhythmic concepts with European harmonic forms and rhythms that produced the spiritual, the blues, ragtime and jazz. It was not only styles of music that made the long passage to America, but instruments as well – like the halam, which became the banjo, and the balafon which became the xylophone. These recordings were made during extended journeys among the peoples of West Africa whose lives and culture have become part of the cultural history of America.”

Samuel Charters

Samuel Charters (1929-2015) était un historien de la musique, un écrivain, un producteur de disques, un musicien et un poète américain passionné par le folk, le jazz et le blues. Il a notamment publié The Country Blues en 1959 et a joué un rôle important dans le regain d’intérêt pour le blues et le folk dans les années 1960, qui verra le succès de groupes et d'artistes comme John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Cream, les Rolling Stones ou Bob Dylan. Samuel Charters enregistra également de nombreux artistes de jazz et de blues sur son propre label, ainsi que deux disques du guitariste folk des Bahamas Joseph Spence sur le label Folkways.

La passion et la curiosité de Samuel Charters pour la musique noire l'ont amené à voyager en Afrique de l'Ouest à la rechercher des racines de ces musiques afro-américaines, dont il a tiré deux albums pertinents sur le label suédois Sonet. Après avoir partagé le Volume 2 ici, Nous présentons ici le volume 1, avec Jali Nyama Suso à la cora à 21 cordes (A1, A4) ; Abdoulie Samba au luth halam (ou xalam) à cinq cordes (A2) ; une danse dans un village diola (A3) ; un festival de tambours mandingues dans les rues de Banjul (B1) ; Alhaji Amara Sahone au luth konting (B2) ; une procession Peule avec tambours, hochets, flutes, balafons, lyres, violins à une corde et cors (B3) ; et Alhaji Fabala Kanuteh au balafon (B4).

« Les cultures musicales de l’Afrique de l’Ouest ont été l’une des sources d'inspiration les plus riches des musiques aux États-Unis, en Amérique Latine et aux Caraïbes. C'est le brassage des techniques vocales et des concepts rythmiques africains avec des formes harmoniques et des rythmes européens qui ont produit le gospel, le blues, le ragtime et le jazz. En plus de ces styles musicaux, des instruments - comme le halam et le balafon qui sont respectivement devenus le banjo et le xylophone – ont également voyagé vers les Amériques. Ces enregistrements ont été réalisés au cours de séjours prolongés en Afrique de l'Ouest, dont les cultures font désormais partie intégrante de l'histoire culturelle des États-Unis. »

Samuel Charters

A1 – Kelefa Ba / Jali Nyama Suso, kora and voice (The Gambia)

A2 – Alfayaya / Abdoulie Samba, singing and halam (Senegal)

A3 – Jola (Diola) Village Dance (Senegal)

A4 – Kedo / Jali Nyama Suso, kora and voice (The Gambia)

B1 – Mandingo street drumming festival in the streets of Banjul (The Gambia)

B2 – Bowdi / Alhaji Amara Sahone, konting and voice (Mali)

B3 – A Fula Procession (Senegal)

B4 – Almami Samara Touray / Alhaji Fabala Kanuteh, balafon and voice (The Gambia)

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African Journey – A Search for the Roots of the Blues Volume 2 here

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“Listening to the Jali play – was it related to the blues? It was different from what we've become accustomed to think of as African music. It wasn't communal music; it wasn't related to dance: It was a man singing and accompanying himself with a repetitive, flowing rhythm on the kora, the most complex of all African instruments, a string instrument that has developed into a twenty-one string hand-held lyre. Many Mandingos had been part of the gathering of West African peoples in the Carolinas and Virginia, and he played in an alternating thumb-forefinger style I'd heard from many blues guitarists, sometimes tapping the instrument with his fingers with a rhythmic accent I'd heard from older bluesmen in Mississippi.

But what he was playing wasn't the blues, even though there were many things in it that had become part of the blues. The songs were historical, built out of tradition and history, instead of the personal experiences that the bluesmen sing about. The melodic form was freer, there was no basic harmonic pattern, the rhythm was without a stressed beat. But still I could feel – there in the small house in the hot afternoon, the dry wind blowing in the loose curtains at the door – that I was close to the roots of the blues.”

Samuel Charters (liner notes)

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curation project and share the best finds with you on this blog: