INDONESIA – INDONÉSIE Java – Gamelans from the Sultan's Palace in Jogjakarta – Archiv Produktion 2723 017

INDONESIA – INDONÉSIE
Java – Gamelans from the Sultan's Palace in Jogjakarta – Archiv Produktion 2723 017, recorded by Jacques Brunet in 1972 (2 LP)

This excellent historic double LP released on the prestigious German classical music label Archiv Produktion was recorded at the Kraton (palace of the Sultan) of Jogjakarta built in 1755. Musicologist Jacques Brunet emphasizes that several Sultans of the dynasty were creative artists, some commissioned new gamelan, choreographed dances and composed gendings. His Royal Highness Hamengku Buwana IX (1912-1988), who reigned at the time of these recordings, maintained some 50 musicians and singers, as well as a large troupe of dancers in residence. Visiting musicians also came to the Palace – a major traditional cultural center – for important ceremonies.

This album showcases seven tracks performed by the court musicians and singers on seven different sets of gamelans, out of the Palace’s collection of 17 gamelans, some of which were recorded here for the first time.

 

Cet excellent double album historique publié sur le prestigieux label allemand de musique classique Archiv Produktion a été enregistré au Kraton (palais du sultan) de Jogjakarta construit en 1755. Selon Jacques Brunet, “ plusieurs sultans de la lignée furent des artistes créateurs. Certains firent marteller de nouveaux gamelan, créèrent des danses et composèrent des ganding ”. Son Altesse Royale Hamengku Buwana IX (1912-1988), qui régnait au moment de ces enregistrements, maintenait en résidence une cinquantaine de musiciens et chanteurs, ainsi qu’une importante troupe de danseurs. De nombreux musiciens de l’extérieur se rendaient également au palais – un centre majeur pour la culture traditionnelle – lors de grandes cérémonies.

 

Cet album présente sept morceaux joués sur sept gamelans différents – sur les 17 gamelans conservés au palais – dont certains ont été enregistrés ici pour la première fois.

 

A1 – Gamelan Sekati Kangdjeng Kyahi Naga Wilaga – Gending Andong-andong (The Venerable Fighting Serpent) 

A2 – Gamelan Kodok Ngorek Kangdjeng Kyahi Keboganggang – Gending Kodok Ngorek (The Venerable Fighting Buffalo) 

B1 – Gamelan Kyahi Surak – Gending Ulul-uluk 

B2 – Gamelan Kyahi Hardja Mulya – Gending Laras Ati 

C1 – Gamelan Kyahi Guntur Sari – Gending Gangsaran with Gending Roningatawan and Gending Bima Kurda (The Venerable Thunder of Flowers) 

C2 – Gamelan Kyahi Madu Kentir – Gending Babad  

D – Gamelan Kyahi Kuntul Wiranten with chorus, rebab bowed lute, and suling flute conducted by Mujiono – Gending Gambir Sawit (The Venerable Bird of Paradise)

Conducted by Raden Rja Gondokusumo (A1-C2) and by Mujiono (D).

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From 1963 to 1982, Jacques Brunet, a concert pianist turned musicologist, made a series of recordings of traditional music from South-East Asia, via his many explorations of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Burma, Malaysia and Indonesia. We owe Brunet tremendous gratitude for mapping out the vanishing traditional musics in these countries and the outstanding musical quality of his many releases.

Many thanks to David for providing the scans of this double album.

Our other Javanese gamelan posts:

Gamelan Garland – Gamelan Kjai Kanjut Mesem/Mangkunagaran Surakarta (1968) here

Gamelan Kjahi Kaduk, Manis Rengga – Gamelan Music from Java (1963) here

Musique de Java – L'Ecole de Loka Wangi (1971) here

Java – Glagah Wangi Gamelan – Une Nuit de Wayang Kulit (1971) here
Sunda – Gamelan Degung directed by Enip Sukanda (1972) here

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MAURITANIA – GUINEA – BENIN – IVORY COAST Afrique Vol. 4 – Collection du Musée de l'Homme – Vogue EXTP 1032

MAURITANIA – GUINEA – BENIN – IVORY COAST

Afrique Vol. 4 – Collection du Musée de l'Homme – Vogue EXTP 1032, recorded by Gilbert Rouget in 1952 (7 in, 45 RPM)

This seminal 7-inch album, recorded during the 1952 IFAN (Institut Français d’Afrique Noire) mission by the eminent French ethnomusicologist Gilbert Rouget (1916-2017), showcases great traditional West African music recorded in Mauritania, Guinea, Benin and Ivory Coast.

 

Ce remarquable 45 tours, enregistré en 1952 à l’occasion d’une mission de l’IFAN (Institut Français d’Afrique Noire) par l’éminent ethnomusicologue Gilbert Rouget (1916-2017), présente d’authentiques musiques ouest-africaines du monde traditionnel d’antan enregistrées en Mauritanie, en Guinée, au Bénin et en Côte d’Ivoire.

A1 – MAURITANIA (Moorish)

Mohamed Mbarek ould Manou plays the four-string tidinit lute and sings a poetic love song in Arabic composed by the Arab poet Medjoun. Ould Manou, a professional singer renowned throughout Mauritania, played in the style of the Trarza and Brakna provinces in southern Mauritania.

 

A2 – GUINEA (Malinke or Mandinka)

Mamadi Dioubaté (cover photograph), famous throughout Guinea at the time, plays variations on a theme to accompany an epic song on the 19-string kora lute.

 

A3 – BENIN (Yoruba)

Adjado sings and plays the single-string fiddle accompanied by three other singers, who also play calabash percussion and sakara drum. The musicians sing moral tales interspersed with praises addressed to the audience.

 

B1 – IVORY COAST (Adjoukrou)

Lohou Ceremony. This rite of passage initiates boys into the society of men. The boy’s choir engages in a call response with both the lead singer and the drums offering insight into the functioning of the African drum language.

 

B2 – IVORY COAST (Baoulé)

Two musicians play a small rudimentary xylophone with six raw wooden blades, the kind that farmers played when they spent time in the bush.

 

B3 – IVORY COAST (Ebrié)

The musician holds a musical bow’s vine between his lips to create a resonance, striking it with a long stick accompanied by a calabash rattle and a bottle rhythmically struck with a nail. The song is about a type of bird which always nods (saying yes), an allusion to an easy woman.

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Our other Gilbert Rouget music posts:

Chants des Maures Vol. 2 (includes performances by Mohamed Mbarek ould Manou A1) – recorded in 1952 here
Guinea & Ivory Coast – Musique d’Afrique Occidentale LDM – recorded in 1952 here

Photographs below are from a vintage postcard, Les Hommes de la Danse by Keita Fodeba & Michel Huet, 1954, Parures Africaines by Denise Paulme & Jacques Brosse, Hachette, 1956, and The Dances of Africa by Claude Savary & Michel Huet, Harry N. Abrams, 1996:

Musician, Grand Bassam, Ivory Coast:

Traditional acrobats, Man region, Ivory Coast:

Young Coniagui man with an imposing coif, Guinea:

Calabash dance, Labé, Fouta-Djalon, Guinea:

Nyon Néa mask and guide, Kono, Guinea:

Please help me purchase important traditional records to pursue my global 

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

INDIA – INDE T.N. Krishnan & Kumari Viji Krishnan – Classical Instrumental Violin – Inreco 2401

INDIA – INDE

T.N. Krishnan & Kumari Viji Krishnan – Classical Instrumental Violin – Inreco  2401 - 5050 A, released 1978 (LP)

The death of the brilliant Carnatic violinist Trippunithura Narayanaiyer Krishnan (1928–2020), aka Professor T. N. Krishnan, on October 6, 2020 marks the end of an era, depriving the world of one of the finest Indian musicians of the second half of the 20th century.

Krishnan prodigious talent was nurtured from an early age under the tutelage of his father violinist T. Narayana Iyer, (1896-?) and vocalist Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer (1908-2003). Krishnan rose to become the star accompanist to such legendary vocalists as Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar (1890-1967), Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar (1896-1974), Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer (1896-1970), G.N. Balasubramaniam (1910-1965), Madurai Mani Iyer (1912-1968), and M. D. Ramanathan (1923-1984) before pursuing a solo career most notable for highlighting the beauty of the Carnatic ragas.

We present this superbly lyrical 1978 album, with Krishnan playing alongside his daughter Vijiri Krishnan on violin, T.V. Gopalakrishnan (b. 1932) on mridangam and T.H. Vinayakaram (b. 1942) on ghatam, where, with his peerless bowing technique, this tireless promoter of Indian classical music over the last seven decades crafts a remarkable sound and melodic clarity to display his reflective, understated and expressive voice-like violin.

La mort du brillant violoniste Carnatic Trippunithura Narayanaiyer Krishnan (1928-2020), connu sous le nom Professor T.N. Krishnan, le 6 octobre 2020 marque la fin d'une époque et prive le monde de l'un des tout meilleurs musiciens indiens de la seconde moitié du 20e siècle.

Le talent prodigieux de T. N. Krishnan s'épanouit et se développa dès son plus jeune âge sous la tutelle de son père, le violoniste T. Narayana Iyer (1896-?), et du chanteur Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer (1908-2003). Il devint rapidement l'accompagnateur vedette de chanteurs légendaires tels Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar (1890-1967), Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar (1896-1974), Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer (1896-1970), G.N. Balasubramaniam (1910-1965), Madurai Mani Iyer (1912-1968) et M. D. Ramanathan (1923-1984), avant de poursuivre une carrière solo remarquable où il s’évertua à faire ressortir la beauté des ragas Carnatic.

Nous présentons maintenant ce superbe album lyrique de 1978, avec T. N. Krishnan jouant aux côtés de sa fille Vijiri Krishnan au violon, T.V. Gopalakrishnan (né en 1932) au mridangam et T.H. Vinayakaram (né en 1942) au ghatam, dans lequel ce chantre infatigable de la musique classique indienne au cours des sept dernières décennies façonne des sonorités et une clarté mélodique admirables grâce à sa technique d'archet incomparable qui lui permettaient d’exprimer un jeu de violon expressif, subtil et très vocal tout en retenue.

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Our other Carnatic violin posts:
T.N. Krishnan – SEDE 3609 Columbia, 1965 here
Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu – HMV EALP 1375 here
Lalgudi Jayaraman – HMV ECSD 2494, 1971 here
Lalgudi Jayaraman – HMV 7 EPE 1614, 1962 here

Photographs below are from the catalogue of the exhibition Rasa : Les Neufs Visages de l'Art Indien at the Grand Palais, 1986, and Art of India and Southeast Asia by Hugo Munsterberg, Abrams, 1970:

Lord Krishna dancing upon and subduing the serpent Kaliya.
Bronze,  Nilappadi, Tamil Nadu, 16th century.

Yakshi on gate of the Great Stupa, Sanchi. Sandstone, first century B.C.

The voluptuous body of a Yakshi tree spirit "symbolizes the fecund energy of nature, for her touch makes the tree burst into bloom. Combining the sensuous with the spiritual, they are uniquely Indian, for only in Indian art is there this intimate union between the world of physical beauty and the world of the spirit. To the Indian mind the dichotomy between the flesh and the spirit so deeply engrained in the Judeo-Christian heritage does not exist; in fact they are seen here as two aspects of the same reality."

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

NIGERIA – NIGÉRIA Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe – People's Club Special - 10th Anniversary – Polydor POLP 070

NIGERIA – NIGÉRIA

Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe – People's Club Special - 10th Anniversary – Polydor POLP 070, 1982 (LP)

I first discovered Ibo Highlife while traveling in Nigeria in the early 1990s, when I met B., a man passionate about his culture who introduced me to dozens of LPs by the main Ibo Highlife artists.

 

Ghanaian Highlife, known for its multiple guitars and horns and its incorporation of indigenous rhythms and melodies, was one of the first modern urban dance musics, along with Congolese music, with a Pan-African appeal. Following Ghanaian “King of Highlife” E. T. Mensah’s (1919-1996) concert tours in Nigeria in the 1950s an entire generation of musicians across Nigeria – including Bobby Benson (1920s-1983), Victor Olaiya (1930-2020), and Cardinal Rex Lawson (1938-1971) – enthusiastically embraced the genre, which quickly became all the rage. After the Nigerian civil war (1967-1970), Highlife was mostly played by the Ibo in Eastern Nigeria, while Juju music quickly became the most popular genre among the Yoruba in Western Nigeria.

 

This gorgeous album by singer, guitarist and band-leader Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe (1936-2007), who was born in Atani near Onitsha, exemplifies the fascinating fusion of Highlife and traditional Ibo music. Osadebe’s mellifluous voice is accompanied by some 15 consummate musicians who interweave guitars, bass, and horns – including muted trumpets in the time-honored Highlife tradition – as well as exquisite drums and percussions, to craft a fluid and sensuous music that maintains a relaxed yet inspired tension throughout this 37-minute song.

 

For those new to this music it may seem a little dull with little happening. Attentive listeners will notice the soft steady flow sustained by constant micro-variations in repeated guitar riffs and percussive instruments coming and going that perpetually refresh and renew the polyrhythmic groove and call-response patterns which resonate throughout our entire body.

 

Osadebe was one of the finest artists from the Golden Age of Ibo Highlife, along with Cardinal Rex Lawson* (1938-1971), Celestine Ukwu* (1940-1977), Oliver De Coque* (1947-2008), and Oriental Brothers*, featuring brothers Dr. Sir Warrior (1947-1999), Ferdinand Dansatch Opara, and Godwin Kabaka Opara.

 

J'ai découvert le Highlife Ibo pour la première fois lors de voyages au Nigeria au début des années 1990, après ma rencontre avec B., un monsieur passionné par sa culture qui m'a procuré des dizaines de disques des principaux artistes du Highlife Ibo.

 

Le Highlife ghanéen, réputé pour son utilisation de plusieurs guitares et de cuivres tout en incorporant des rythmes et mélodies traditionnelles, fut l'une des toutes premières musiques de danses urbaines modernes panafricaines avec la musique congolaise. Suites à des concerts du « Roi du Highlife » ghanéen E.T. Mensah (1919-1996) au Nigéria dans les années 1950, toute une génération de musiciens nigérians – notamment Bobby Benson (1920s-1983), Victor Olaiya (1930-2020) et Cardinal Rex Lawson (1938-1971) – adopta le Highlife avec grand enthousiasme. Après la guerre civile nigériane (1967-1970), le Highlife fut principalement joué par les Ibo dans l'est du Nigeria, tandis que la musique Juju s’imposa comme le genre le plus populaire chez les Yoruba dans l'ouest du pays.

 

Ce magnifique album du chanteur et guitariste Stephen Osita Osadebe (1936-2007), né à Atani près d'Onitsha, illustre bien la fusion fascinante entre le Highlife et la musique traditionnelle Ibo. La voix mélodieuse d'Osadebe est accompagnée ici par une quinzaine de musiciens accomplis qui entremêlent guitares et basse électriques et des instruments à vent – y compris des trompettes bouchées dans la pure tradition du Highlife – ainsi que des jeux de tambours et percussions de toute beauté, qui tissent une musique fluide et sensuelle qui maintient une remarquable tension inspirée tout au long de ce morceau de 37 minutes.

 

Pour les novices, cette musique peut de prime abord sembler un peu terne. L’auditeurs attentif remarquera plutôt le flux lyrique soutenu par des micro-variations constantes dans les riffs de guitare répétés et les percussion qui vont et viennent qui rafraîchissent et renouvellent perpétuellement le groove polyrythmique et les motifs d’appel-réponse que l’on ressent profondément dans tout le corps.

 

Osadebe fut l'un des artistes les plus marquants de l'âge d'or du Highlife Ibo, en compagnie de Cardinal Rex Lawson* (1938-1971), Celestine Ukwu* (1940-1977), Oliver De Coque* (1947-2008) et Oriental Brothers*, avec les frères Dr. Sir Warrior (1947-1999), Ferdinand Dansatch Opara et Godwin Kabaka Opara.

*Listen to the clips below

 

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Many thanks to Nuno for his help with the visuals.

Our other Ibo music post:

Nigeria III - Igbo Music – An Anthology of African Music – BM 30 L 2311 here

Our other modern African music posts:

King Sunny Adé & His African Beats – Check E – SALPS 26, 1981 here

Gbaari, Bariba music from the Radio Parakou Archives here

Bariba, Dendi & Fulani Peul music from the Radio Parakou archives here

Listen to Ibo Highlife classics & more: 

Oriental Brother's Ozo Wu Iwem from the Onye Egbula Onye Agbata Obi Ya LP (1979):

Oliver De Coque's (1947-2008) My Cherry from the Ogene Sound Super LP (1976):

Celestine Ukwu's (1940-1977) Ima Echi from the Ejim Nk’Onye LP (1975):

Paulson Kalu's (b. 1940) Ama Ndi Anéze from the Uche Chukwu Mee LP (1971):

Cardinal Rex Lawson's (1938-1971) Oko from the Greatest Hits LP (1960s):

And Fela Kuti's (1938-1997) Viva Nigeria from the Fela Fela Fela LP (1969),

with a strong Highlife component:

Please help me purchase important traditional records to pursue my global 

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