KENYA – TANZANIA – UGANDA Musical Gems from Lake Victoria – Sapra Ltd - CMIL 102

KENYA – TANZANIA – UGANDA
Musical Gems from Lake Victoria – Heartbeat of Africa – Sapra Ltd - CMIL 102, recorded by David Fanshawe (7 in, 33 RPM)

This rare album recorded by David Fanshawe on Sapra, a Nairobi-based label, features inspired traditional music performed by various ethnic groups living on the shores of Lake Victoria in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lakes (69,000 sq km/26,500 sq mi) and the world's second largest freshwater lake after Lake Superior in North America.

Cet album rare enregistré par David Fanshawe sur le label Sapra basé à Nairobi présente des musiques traditionnelles inspirées interprétées par divers groupes ethniques vivant sur les rives du Lac Victoria en Ouganda, au Kenya, et en Tanzanie. Le Lac Victoria est le plus grand lac d'Afrique (69 000 kilomètres carrés) et le deuxième plus grand lac d'eau douce du monde après Lac Supérieur en Amérique du Nord.

A1 – Yongo Wao fishermen (Kenya) singing the praises of Luo chiefs with Nyatiti harp accompaniment;

A2 – Busoga fishermen (Uganda) singing that fish here are bigger than in any other lake with voices, thumb piano, and clapping;

A3 – Nyamwezy (Tanzania) playing intoxicating drums to the Monster of the Lake to obtain his blessings and good luck;

A4 – Samia Bugwe fishermen (Uganda) sounds of nature / singing and rhythmic rowing;

B1 – Sounds of the lakeshore at night with singing and harp;

B2 – Abaluya song (Kenya) with singer, harp, and percussion;

B3 – Bunyoro fishermen (Uganda) with Madinda box-resonated xylophones;

B4 – Abaluya (Kenya) Sukuti funeral dance with voices, three drums, horns and dancers.

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David Fanshawe (1942-2010) was an English composer whose most famous work was the album African Sanctus (1972), which combines Western choral harmony with his recordings of traditional African music. Fanshawe passionately explored the great diversity of our dying global traditional musical heritage and painstakingly recorded thousands of hours of indigenous music in Europe, Egypt, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Afghanistan, Iraq, Bahrain, and the Pacific islands.

Our other shares of East-African recordings by David Fanshawe:

Tanzania – Fabulous Gogo Music from Tanzania – Sapra Ltd here

Kenya – Sounds of Masailand – Sapra Ltd here

Photographs below from vintage postcards:

Fishermen on Lake Victoria:

Bunyoro, Empago Drum Ceremony, Uganda (see B3)

Kikuyu Chiefs, Kenya

Samburu gentleman, Kenya

Please help me purchase important traditional records to pursue my global 

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TURKEY Gazeller II – Ottoman-Turkish Vocal Improvisations in 78 RPM Records – Kalan Müsik 18872

TURKEY – TURQUIE
Gazeller II – Ottoman-Turkish Vocal Improvisations in 78 RPM Records – Kalan Müsik 18872, (Cassette)

This cassette on the Turkish Kalan label presents a choice selection of traditional Gazel vocal improvisations recorded on shellac 78 RPMs between the early 1910s and the 1930s. The Turkish/Ottoman version of Ghazal poetry, which originated in Arabia in the 7th century, was a spiritual and metaphorical art form connected to Sufism that expressed “Divine Love.”

The early 20th century also marked the end of the Ottoman Empire and the advent of Mustapha Kemal Atatürk’s Turkish Republic in 1923 which sought to modernize the country and reform the old order and aesthetics. The burgeoning recording industry initially revived this dying art, but driven by changing tastes and commercialism, Gazel music became increasingly sentimental and about “earthly love.”

The music here features great Gezal masters, accompanied by ud lute, violin or ney flute, including Hafiz Kemal (A3, B1, B5, B6), Münir Nurettin Selçuk (A1) Hafiz Sadettin Kaynak (A2, A4), Udi Marko (A6), Hafız Osman (A5), Hoca Izak Algazi (A9), Hafiz Burhan (B2), Nevzat Akay (B9), N. Bey (B7), Hafiz Memduh (B3), A. Celal (B4), Hafız Sami (A7), Hafız Aşir (A8) and female Gazel singer Hamiyet Yüceses (B8).

Cette cassette sur le label turc Kalan présente une sélection pertinente d'improvisations vocales traditionnelles de Gazel enregistrées sur disques 78 tours entre le début des années 1910 et les années 1930. La version turque/ottomane de la poésie Ghazal, née en Arabie au 7ème siècle, était une forme d'art spirituelle et métaphorique liée au soufisme qui exprimait « l'amour divin ».

Le début du XXe siècle fut également marqué par la fin de l'Empire ottoman et l'avènement de la République turque de Mustapha Kemal Atatürk en 1923 qui s’efforça de moderniser le pays et de réformer l'ancien monde et son esthétique. L'industrie du disque en plein essor relança dans un premier temps cet art mourant, mais poussé par l'évolution des goûts et le mercantilisme, le gazel devint plus sentimental et s’éloigna peu à peu de ses racines religieuses.

La musique ici présente des grands maîtres du Gezal, accompagnés par un luth ud, un violon ou une flûte ney, notamment Hafiz Kemal (A3, B1, B5, B6), Münir Nurettin Selçuk (A1) Hafiz Sadettin Kaynak (A2, A4), Udi Marko (A6), Hafız Osman (A5), Hoca Izak Algazi (A9), Hafiz Burhan (B2), Nevzat Akay (B9), N. Bey (B7), Hafiz Memduh (B3), A. Celal (B4), Hafız Sami (A7), Hafız Aşir (A8) et la chanteuse Hamiyet Yüceses (B8).

Further reading:

*The Life and Death of the Turkish Gazel by ethnomusicologist John Morgan O'Connell here

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Many thanks to João for sharing his cassette collection!

Our other Turkish music shares:
Nuit Précieuse au Sérail - ARION 30 U 97, 1970 here
Musique de Turquie - ALFA 5018, 1973 here
Rythmes et Mélodies de Turquie - Le Club Français du Disque 92, 1957 here
Orient-Okzident - Musik Aus Südost-Europa - Museum Collection Berlin, 1968-1980 here

Photographs below are from Treasures of Turkey, by Akurgal, Ekrem, Cyril and Ettinghausen, Skira, 1966, and The World of Islam by Ernst J. Grube, McGraw-Hill, 1967:

Portrait of Sultan Mehmet II the Conqueror (1451-1481) by Sinan Bey:

Painting from a copy of Siyar-i Nabi (Life of the Prophet), 1594. 

The Prophet Muhammad, Abu Bakr, and Ali on the Way to Mecca.

"All in the Ottoman court school style, a mixture of hieratic abstraction and almost popular realism in detail, the Siyar-i Nabi paintings are unique in Islamic art in the way their intensity of religious feeling transcends the historical events depicted."

Please help me purchase important traditional records to pursue my global 

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

MAURITANIA Chants de Femme par Nasserhalla mint Ngheïmich – Musée de l'Homme - LD 45-3

MAURITANIA – MAURITANIE
Chants de Femme par Nasserhalla mint Ngheïmich – Musée de l'Homme - Chants Maures Vol. 1 – LD 45-3, recorded by Claude Ernoult, 1958 (Vinyl 7 inch, 45 RPM published in 1960)

This rare 1958 recording showcases the powerful and inspired interplay between Nasserhalla mint Ngheïmich’s spellbinding high-pitched voice and the intense ardin harp, which is reserved for female griots.

Traditional Moorish griot music is a subtle and highly sophisticated art form with five main musical modes, each associated with a specific mood, that could be played either in the “black way” or the “white way,” along with many sub-modes. Through their mastery of poetry, history and oral tradition, and prodigious virtuosity, Moorish griots weave music at the heart of Moorish identity.

Cet enregistrement rare de 1958 présente l’interaction puissante et inspirée entre la voix aiguë et envoûtante de Nasserhalla mint Ngheïmich et son jeu de harpe ardin d’une grande intensité.

La musique griotique maure traditionnelle est un art subtil et hautement sophistiqué, avec cinq modes musicaux principaux, chacun associé à un sentiment spécifique, pouvant être joué dans la "voie noire" ou la "voie blanche", avec de nombreux sous-modes. A travers leur maîtrise de la poésie, de l’histoire, et de la tradition orale, et leur prodigieuse virtuosité, les griots tissent des musiques au coeur même de l’identité maure.

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Our other Moorish music shares / Nos autres partages de musique maure:

Musique Traditionnelle des Griots Maures – Selaf Orstom - CETO 752-3, 1975 here

Chants d'Homme par Ould Mèni et Ould Manou - Musée de l'Homme LD 45-4, 1952 here

Musique Maure - Ocora 28, 1965 here

Vintage postcard of a Moorish woman in front of her house, Oualata, Mauritania:

Please help me purchase important traditional records to pursue my global 

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