Ali Farka Toure

This self-titled debut is an amazing collection, spotlighting the Malian guitarist in his full solo acoustic glory for a beautiful, intimate music that recalls American blues. The beauty of Ali Farka Toure lives in Toure's light, nimble touch on the strings as well as his flexible, reedy voice, which both perfectly complement his gentle, ambling rhythmic style. Tastier highlights include the cantering "Tchigi Fo," with haunting call-and-response sung in Songhai, and the oddly pastoral "Kadi Kadi," a sweet folk song about an encounter with a young woman and her gift of a gold chain. The Arabic praise song "Bakoye" is a comely love song that pulses with Ali's low, bubbling fingerpicking over which his voice soars in a lovely bucolic melody. "Amandrai," in both a studio and live version, is the kind of bluesy tune that's made Toure famous and earned him comparisons to Lightnin' Hopkins and John Lee Hooker. And in later releases, we indeed witness the Malian master collaborating with such Western artists as the Chieftains and Taj Mahal, but this loner of a debut features the guitarist's talents in a quietly understated, purely African light. --Karen Karleski

Track List

[01]. Timbarma
[02]. Singya
[03]. Nawiye
[04]. Bakoytereye
[05]. Tchigi Fo
[06]. Amandrai
[07]. Kadi Kadi
[08]. Yulli
[09]. Bakoye
[10]. Amandrai Live

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The Art Of Seduction - Belly Dance Music

The Art Of Seduction - Belly Dance Music
| EAC WAV 1411 kbps (420 MB)| Covers | MP3 320 Kbps (100 MB)

TRACK LISTINGS

1. Andetli Warda
2. Uotaaref Men Elihabek
3. Bir Ish Tamal Haavash - Sung In Turkish
4. Ana Ou Anati Ou Anti Ou' Ana
5. Dalamouni Haabibi
6. Asmaousemara
7. Ahsin
8. Ya Bay
9. Chataaraban

EAC WAV 1411 kbps [420 MB]

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Freshlyground - Ma'cheri

Credits to AmbroseBierce
Freshlyground
Ma'cheri
Sony/BMG, 2007

TRACK LISTINGS

01. Ma' Cheri
02. Desire
03. Pot Belly
04. Ask Me
05. Baby Tonight
06. Fired Up
07. Go Gorilla
08. Arms of Steel
09. Pink Confetti
10. Zulu Lounge
11. Ivana
12. uMalume
13. Crimeson Smile
14. Manikiniki
15. Bonus Track: Air Hostess

Zolani Mahola – Lead vocals
Simon Attwell – Flute, Mbira, Harmonica
Peter Cohen – Drums
Kyla Rose Smith – Violin, Vocals
Julio "Gugs" Sigauque – Acoustic Guitar
Josh Hawks – Bass Guitar, Vocals
Aron Turest-Swartz – Keyboards, Percussion, Vocals

Ask Me

If you ask me what streets I'm from you'd probably laugh at me,
You'd expect me to tell you tales of friends I'd made,
ran into trouble with and all those sorts of things
If you ask me what songs I know you'd raise your hands in the air
They're not cool, they're not hip,
they're not the ones you grew up with and all those sorts of things
If you ask about the clothes I swear you wouldn't give the time of day

They're not rude, they're not hip.
They're not ones you would be seen in if you were down to your last penny
if you ask about technology you'd roll your eyes in your head
I am one of those fundies who keep up so as not to get left behind...
and all those sorts of things

But ask me about what I know of the original source
What I know about what makes you sore when you're out in the world alone
Ask me about birds, ask me about flowers,
Ask me about smiling easily with someone you've only met that day...

My little brother didn't come to school today
the teacher didn't seem to know exactly what to say
But i saw him out the window - gold chiffon and pink flamingo
- oh those diamond rings! He was younger than I remember,
singing glory hallelujah I am free of this

all those sorts of things...
I asked him about what he knew of the original source
What he knew about what makes me sore when I'm out in the world alone
Asked him about birds, asked him about flowers
Asked him about smiling easily with someone he'd only met that day
Asked him about groove, asked him about mothers
Asked him about sunshine in the streets and faded rain on your windowpane
On truth I'll keep you inspired
Ask me about the hours in your garden baby oh how i loved your face!!

Desire

Desire I'm treading water. Going under. Did you say...?
My friends implore me...don't do it. You 'll get your heart
smashed to the ground, no way around it.
My friends assure me...you're too good for this.
Something better waits for you beyond the corner
Though my friends adore me; they pick me up around town,
take me out anytime I'm feeling sentimental,
my friends won't hold me when I can't sleep late at night.
When I can't put out the light.

Oh, this desire
I kiss your shoulder. You look me in the eye.
Without panic or surprise I know I'm falling into your rivers
I'm moving faster now; I'm flowing further into secret harbours
Your arms are open. You're too good to miss.
Without panic or surprise I know I'm falling.

Oh, this desire
But what about this loneliness? Maybe I should question this...

My head is under the bed... you're not ready for all this.
All you wanted was a moment's celebration.
I'm treading water. Going under. Did you say...?
My friends console me. They pick me up around town;
take me out anytime I'm feeling temperamental.
My friends will hold me when I can't sleep late at night;
When I can't put out the light.

Oh,this desire
But what about this loneliness? may be I should question this...

Pot Belly

Even though I have...
Fat thighs
Flabby arms
A pot belly...still gives good loving

I can't escape the thought that maybe we were destined to be together
The easy way we love confirms the fact:
it's just getting better

Dance with me, flirt with me. Have little fun!

I'm glad to see you're here with me.
Let's have a little fun!
We go to take a walk along the shore.
It's fine sunny sunny weather

The waves make their way across our toes: so good to be together!
Dance with me, flirt with me. Have a little fun!

I'm glad to see you're here with me. Let's have a little fun!

In another time I could say I love you
With your hand in mine, would I say I need you?
I'd need you every day and every hour...

In the morning, in the evening time...
After breakfast, after dinnertime...
Summer-loving in the wintertime...

Honey-loving only yours and mine: He still gives good loving

Anindo Chatterjee - Anindo & His Tabla

Credits to AmbroseBierce

Anindo Chatterjee
Anindo & His Tabla
Audiorec ACCD 1016-7, 1995

Anindo Chatterjee is recognized as one of India's most eminent tabla players. He was inspired to take up tabla by his uncle, the sitar player Pandit Biswanath Chatterjee, when he was just four years old. At five he was All India Radio's youngest artiste. At six Anindo became a disciple of Padmabhushan Gyan Prakash Ghosh, and studied with him for over twenty years. Gyan Prakash Ghosh was well known for his extensive knowledge of all tabla gharanas, as well as his own Faroukhabad gharana. His guidance gave Anindo's art a firm foundation. As an accompanist, he is known for his sense of balance and proportion, crisp tonal quality, modulation of sound production and rapport with soloists. Anindo has accompanied all of the top musicians and has toured with them all over the world. He has received numerous honors including Presidents Award in 1970. Anindo was the first tabla player to perform in the House of Commons in 1990.

Anindo Chatterjee started studies at the age of five under Ustad Afaq Hussain Khan of Lucknow gharana and then had thirty years of training under the famed Pandit Jnan Prakash Ghosh. Today, Anindo leads his generation of representatives of the Farrukhabad Gharana of tabla founded by Haji Vilayat Khan Sahib. Anindo apart from being one of the greatest performers is respected as one of the most important tabla makers, teachers and researchers . Anindo's performances are marked by clarity of tone, very crisp and clear bols and an intutive sense of rhythm and melody.
Since 1972, Anindo has performed solo as well as accompanied leading artists all over the world. Among those who he has accompanied are Pandit Nikhil Banerjee (sitar), Pandit Buddhadev Das Gupta (sarod), Ali Akbar Khan (sarod), Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur (voice), Budhaditya Mukherjee (sitar), Ustad Rais Khan (sitar), Gangubai Hangal (voice), Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia (flute), and Pandit Shivkumar Sharma (santoor) among many others.
Anindo's knowledge of various tabla gharanas and their styles knows no bounds and he is a dedicated teacher as well. Many of his students have achieved national and international recognition. Among them are Bhooshan Munja, Anindo Gangopadhyay, Sanjay Jhalla and Anil Datar.

1. Tal Nasruk
2. Ektaal (8.5 Beats)
3. Pravh & Laggi
4. Dharmar
5. Teentaal
6. Pancham Sawari

Anindo Chatterjee - Tabla
Ramesh Misra - Sarangi

192 kbps, no booklet!

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Part two

Miklos Rozsa - The Thief Of Bagdad

Miklos Rozsa - The Thief Of Bagdad, The Jungle Book

BAGHDAD, MOWGLI AND MIKLOS ROZSA

There are, of course, many kinds of film music, including the kind that is almost as much a part of the narrative as the dialogue. In the main. film scoring is a subliminal art, intended to be more felt than heard, but there are sometimes movies that require a score to illuminate them in such a way that it would not be amiss even if the orchestra was seen on the sidelines. The Thief of Bagdad and The Jungle Book are films of this kind, and the music Miklos Rozsa provided for them is a vital and delightful factor in their enduring success. Indeed, in the creation of film fantasy and the part played by musical scoring, there are no better examples than these.

The Thief Of Baghdad was put into production in the spring of 1939 in England by Sir Alexander Korda. By that time Rozsa has scored five Korda films, leaving little doubt that he would be given the Baghdad assignment. But doubt soon arrived in the form of director Ludwig Berger, who had just made a film in Paris with the eminent Viennese operetta composer Oscar Straus. Straus, insisted Berger, would write the music for his visualization of these Arabian Nights adventures. Unfortunately the result was music appropriate for Viennese Nights adventures, which sent music director Muir Mathieson running to Korda and making it known that the music was absolutely impossible. Recalls Rozsa, "I was then put in a very strange position. Korda told me to go ahead and write my score but not to tell anyone. He afterwards put me in an office next to Berger's and told me to play my music as loudly as I could on the piano. I did this for three days, until Berger came in and asked what it was I was playing. I told him it was my concept of the score. He said I was wasting my time since he already had a score, but what, by the way, was that last piece I was playing? I said it was an idea for the love theme. And what, he wanted to know, was that spirited little theme I was playing ahead of it? An idea for the song for Sabu. 'I Want To Be A Sailor.' He nodded and left. The next day he sent Straus a telegram saying that the distance between London and Paris made the collaboration impossible and that he would have to hire someone close at hand. He begged to be forgiven but I'm sure Straus never did."

The Thief Of Baghdad was almost three-quarters completed when war broke out in September 1939. All film production in England was put on hold, and in the case of the expensive Korda production investment was suddenly withdrawn. Since he had long had a distribution contract with United Artists in Hollywood, Korda decided to complete the film in California and set up an arrangement for possible future production there. Rozsa was brought to Los Angeles in May of 1940 to write the music for the new segments and to complete his recording of the score. This would also be his first opportunity to conduct one of his film scores: Muir Mathieson had conducted all previous Rozsa scores but he was not included in the move from London. Thereafter, Rozsa would conduct all his music for films.

The suite from this glowing score covers much of the plot of the enchanting film, surely one of the most successful of its kind ever realized on the screen. It begins with the King's fanfares and proceeds with the arrival in the port of Baghdad of the villainous Jaffar (Conrad Veidt), who intends to conquer the city with sorcery. Jaffar imprisons the handsome young heir to the throne, Ahmed (John Justin) but the mischievous little Abu (Sabu) steal the key to the dungeon and together they escape to Basra. There they see a procession and for the first time Ahmed catches sight of the Princess (June Duprez), and instantly falls in love with her Rozsa's love theme makes this abundantly and passionately clear. jaffar also desires the Princess and offers her father, the Sultan, a clockwork horse like Pegasus, which flies above the city with the Sultan on his back. The Sultan agrees to give his daughter but then meets his death when Jaffar presents another toy. the six-armed Silvermaid, which dances for the Sultan and then kills him. The final movement of the suite describes the happiness in the marketplace of Basra, as the people rejoice in the victory of Ahmed and Abu over the wicked Jaffar and the marriage of Ahmed and his lovely Princess. It is all a fairytale par excellence, and made the moreso by this splendid music.

Korda's success with The Thief of Baghdad paved the way for three more films to be made in Hollywood - That Hamilton Woman (more graciously titled Lady Hamilton in England), Lydia, and The Jungle Book, all of them scored by Miklos Rozsa. The latter reunited the composer with Sabu and would result not only in a wonderful music score but a recording in concert form, with Sabu as the narrator and Rozsa conducting the NBC Orchestra in an RCA album, among the first ever made of a film score. Issued in the summer of 1942 the album sold over forty thousand copies, a remarkable sale for a concert work in those years. In 1955 Rozsa again recorded the suite for RCA, this time with Leo Genn as the narrator. Another recording was made in Nurnberg in 1981 with the German narrator Elmar Gunsch, from which the suite minus narration has been drawn for this presentation.

As in the case of The Thief Of Baghdad, Rozsa's music for The Jungle Book goes beyond the normal functions of film scoring. It is not background music, it is accompaniment in which the music is part of the story telling process. Korda allowed for a loving treatment of Rudyard Kipling's story of the Indian boy Mowgli (Sabu), who wanders off into the jungle as a baby and is reared by a wolf pack. Both the beauty and the danger of the jungle are skillfully set by Rozsa's rich descriptivness - Mowgli is characterized by a folksong - like melody and the sadness of the mother who never forgets him is marked by a lullaby. But it is in his musical characterizing of the various animals that Rozsa achieves something quite rare in the annals of composition. The nature of each is captured by instruments that cleverly and charmingly spot them. The lumbering thunder of the elephants is marked by trombones and tubas, horn glissandoes speak for the hunting call of the wolves, cackling contra-bassoons limn the chuckling of Baloo the bear, muted brasses speak for Jaccala the crocodile, Bagheera the black panther slips through the jungle to the sound of shimmering strings, another contrabassoon, this time more dignified, signals the wise old python kaa and the gurgling of an alto saxophone suggests the mocking laugh of hyena. The hissing sound of the brass tells us of the poisonous cobra, the silly chatter of the monkeys comes across with the cheecky high notes of the woodwinds and the low. muted trombones warn us of the treacherous, murderous tiger, Shere Khan. The fight between Shere Khan and Mowgli is described by Rozsa with all its ferocity and all its triumaph, a victory that allows the animals to return to the peace and beauty of their jungle, thanks to the courage of the boy who loves understands them.

Had Miklos Rozsa composed only these two films scores he would merit a place among the listing of important, influential film composers. The Thief Of Baghdad and The Jungle Book are remarkable compositions, yet they represent merely a small part of a catalog that is incredible in its scope. Rozsa has proved himself a master of every form of film-romantic, ancient adventures and modern crime - and all of it in addition to his career as one of this century's most successful composers of concert and chamber compositions. His is a place in music unlike that of anyone else.

-Tony Thomas

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Japon - Shômyô, Chant liturgique bouddhique, Secte Tendaï

Credits to AmbroseBierce
Japon - Shômyô, Chant liturgique bouddhique, Secte Tendaï
Ocora C 580065, 1978

A carefully abridged representation of a mandala ceremony is sung by monks of the Tendai sect, recorded in a French studio in 1978. The music, said to maintain traditions from the 12th century, is severe but serene, rather like Gregorian chant. It is sung mainly in unison but with some elegant polyphonic sections, including one where independent melodies are sung independently.

TRACK LISTINGS

01. Shichi bongo san (inno alle quattro Saggezze, in sanscrito 5:10
02. Shichi kango san (lo stesso inno in cinese 4:32
03. Ungabai (assolo) 1:43
04. Sange 4:24
05. Taiyô 6:30
06. Kuyômon 7:28
07. Shôrei 5:31
08. Kyôgaku Shingon (assolo) 0:19
09. Kuhôben (I "Nove modi di ottenere l'illuminazione", solo il primo e l'ultimo canto) 4:04
10. Godaigan (assolo) 1:28
11. Dai san (Grande Inno) 3:21
12. Butsu san (Inno a Buddha) 3:21
13. Shichi bongo san 5:11
14. Kirigoe ekô hôben 3:31
15. Zuihô ekô 0:11

192 kbps including cover scans - no booklet

HERE

Japon - Shomyo. Chant liturgique boudhique

Credits to AmbroseBierce
Japon - Shomyo. Chant liturgique boudhique, secte Shingon Kôbôdaïshi Mieku
Ocora C 558657

Recorded at Maison de Radio-France on October 25, 1985 under the direction of Akira Tamba

The present recording of shômyô (Buddhist liturgical chants) was made on the occasion of the 1,150th anniversary of the death of Kôbôdaishi (or Kûkai), the founder of the Shingon sect.

TRACK LISTINGS

01. Shichibongosan
02. Saïmon
03. Ungabaï
04. Sange
05. Taïyô
06. Hyôbyaku
07. Jimbun
08. Shôrei
09. Daïnichisan (Zen san)
10. Rishukyô
11. Ekô

320 kbps including cover scans - no booklet

Part One
Part Two

Celtic Spirit

Tracklist

01. De Danann - The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba (In Galway)
02. The Fureys & Davey Arthur - Alcoholidays/Last Orders
03. Four Men and a Dog - The Kilfenora Sexy Jig
04. The Dubliners - Roisin Dubh
05. Davey Arthur - The Walk (Celtic Side saddle)
06. De Danann - Hey Jude
07. Four Men and A Dog - Shifting Gravel
08. Irish Mist - Boolavogue
09. De Danann - The Teetotaller/St Anne's Reel
10. The Fureys & Davey Arthur - The Lonesome Boatman
11. Irish Mist - Dark Island
12. De Danann - The Chicken Reel
13. The Kilfenora Ceili Band - Mullin's/Rio/Paddy Murphy's Wife Reel
14. The Fureys and Davey Arthur -Paddy In Paris
15. The Dubliners - Cook in the Kitchen
16. De Danann - Major Yates' Fancy (Title Theme To 'The Irish R.M.)
17. The Glenside Ceiliband - Golden Jubilee
18. Storm - 4610

CBR 320 kbps MP3 l 126mbs l Full scans

Part 1
Part 2

Diana Krall - All For You

Diana Krall - All For You - Dedication to Nat King Cole Trio

There were two Nat king Coles, though most people only remember one. The famous Nat Cole was balladeer with the taffy-rich voice, a pop idol whose recordings of "Unforgettable" and "Nature Boy" and "Mona Lisa" are playing on a hundred easy-listening stations somewhere in America at any given moment. The forgotten Nat Cole was one of the three or four best pianists in the history of jazz, a deceptively easygoing virtuoso whose crystalline solos and dead-center swing left their mark on a hundred distinguished admirers, including Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans. Put them together and you get a protean genius who influenced singers and instrumentalists in equal measure - Just as he appealed, Louis Armstrong-like, to everyone from casual listeners to connoisseurs. He was, in Duke Ellington's perfect phrase, beyond category, and when he died, the world wept.

The two Nat Coles came together in the King Cole Trio, for a decade the most popular combo in jazz, Cole, guitarist Oscar Moore and bassist Johnny Miller forged a sound that has been imitated but never duplicated, an irresistible mixture of crisp ensembles, no-nonsense solos and sly group vocals, welded together by Cole's come-hither singing. No sooner did "All for You" and "Straighten Up and Fly Right," the trio's first Capitol singles, hit the jukeboxes in 1943 than Nat Cole become, and remained, a star. He broke up the trio eight years later to concentrate on stand-up singing, but the King Cole Trio's hundreds of 78s remain a monument to just how good - and how smart - pop music can be.

All for you is a tribute to the King Cole Trio by a woman who is better equipped than any other jazz musician of her generation to evoke the spirit of Nat Cole. Diana Krall, who listened eagerly to Cole's records as a grew up to be that rarest of birds: a singer-pianist as comfortable and distinctive in one role as the other. You couldn't prove it by her; Krall's modesty is a byword in business. But her colleagues know better, and are quick to say so. " She plays all that piano." guitarist Russell Malone says, shaking his head and grinning, "and then she sings like that! I don't think she knows how good she is."

One of the things that makes this album so special is the fact that it was recorded by a working group. Diana, Russell and bassist Paul keller spent a whole summer on the road before going into the studio last October, and it shows: they play like three people with one musical mind. That's what jazz musicians mean when they say a group is "tight," and this group is as tight as the wedding ring on a fat man's finger. Most producers would have teamed Diana witha couple of big-name session players from New York or Los Angeles, but the thought never occurred to Tommy LiPuma. "Oh, God, no," he says, grimacing"No way, The only way you could have made this record is with these guys. Can't you hear the difference? This is a band."

The instrumentation is worth mentioning, too. It isn't easy to make a drummerless trio work. You can't coast, not even for eight bars. You have to dig deep into the beat all night long. But when everything clicks, the results are worth it, the jump tunes swing harder; the ballads take on an intimate, confidential feel. And this is a very intimate record. Close your eyes and listen. You could be sitting in a smoky club at two a.m., the hour when everybody has gone home except the serious listeners and the people with nothing to go home to but trouble.

Which brings us to Diana Krall's voice. It doesn't sound like Nat Cole, or anybody else. I once said it sounded like wild honey with a spoonful of Scotch, and Diana liked that, though she doesn't make any great claims for her singing. "I've always been very shy about it," she says, "and i tried to avoid it whenever I could. I got more work because I could sing, but I didn't like doing it in lounges as a single. I didn't feel I had a clear, precise voice - a pretty voice." She's right. It isn't pretty. It's beautiful. It's steeped in sorrow and the blues, and even when she's obviously having a ball, somehow you know she knows a thing or two about trouble. Yes, she plays piano like a funky angel; yes, she can swing you into bad health. But she can also put a cold hand your heart and remind you that love hurts, and there aren't many people who can do that. If Nat Cole could have heard Diana Krall do this songs, he would have smiled that wonderful smile of his; he would have known how good she is, even if she doesn't.

The first song of All for you, I'm an Errand Girl for Rhythm, is a Cole original, an up-tempo romp on "I Got Rhythm" changes, (The original title was, of course, "Errand Boy.") It's just right for kicking off a set- or an album.

Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You, recorded at the King Cole Trio's very first session for Capitol (immediately after "Straighten Up and Fly Right"), is by Don Redman, who wrote Fletcher Henderson's early charts, and Andy Razaf, whose most famous collaborator, Fats Waller, was another of Diana Krall's childhood idols, (Jim Carrey fans may also recognize it as the song Cameron Diaz sings in The Mask.) Cole took it at medium lope; Diana shows it down a couple of notches.

You Call it Madness is one of those '30s ballads Cole loved: suave on the surface, passionate underneath. Diana picked it up at second hand: she first heard it on an album by Monty Alexander, Herb Ellis and Ray Brown. "I was really pleased to get this one on the album," she says. "I always liked hearing Monty do it."

Boulevard of Broken Dreams features an added starter, percussionist Steve Kroon. His presence recalls the fourth member of the KC3, bongo player Jack Costanzo, who joined in 1949, adding a touch of Latin spice.

Frim Fram Sauce, a novelty tune recorded by Cole in 1945, was one of the trio's biggest hits. Nobody really Knows what the words mean, but when Diana sings them, it isn't hard to draw your own conclusions...

Baby baby All the Time is the other Bobby Troup song recorded by the King Cole Trio (the first one was "Route 66"). The "melody" is a simple as a Basie blues: one short riff repeated eight times, followed by the title. Master songwriter Alec Wilder, who hated riff tunes, made an exception for this one: "There is some marvelous insanity about Troup's insistence. I try to look away and it's no use."

Russell and Paul sing along with Diana on Hit That Jive Jack. It's not the sort of thing your modern-day jazzman usually does on the gig, but nei-there one boggled when she asked them to give it a try: "Whenever I suggest something to them, it's always, 'Yeah, O.K.' all the way. And the other way around, too. They're not sidemen. This is a collective. We really discuss things - and I trust them." And no wonder: this track moves.

You're looking at Me, another Bobby Troup special, was recorded by Cole in 1956 for After Midnight, one of the few records on which he played piano after disbanding the trio. Diana and Russell perform it here as a duet. "It's one of my favorite Nat Cole recordings," she says, "and I'm so glad to be accompanied by Russell. I've worked on it for a long time, and I suggested doing it as duo."

I'm Thru with Love goes back: Bing Crosby sang it on his very first nationwide radio broadcast in 1951. "I looked at it years ago, fiddled with it, and put it away," says Diana. "But Tommy [LiPuma] and I have this telepathy thing going on all the time. he suggested it. I said, "Oh, I don't know,' We tried it. He said, 'Man, you gotta do it!' So we did it - and I'm glad."

Deed I Do and A Blossom Fell are double-decker tributes. The intro on Deed I Do is lifted from "Bass Face," an Original by Ray Brown, jazz's most valuable bass player, who heard Diana playing in a Canadian restaurant 15 years ago, took her under his wing and started talking her up. As for A  Blossom Fell, it's sung here in homage to another Cole: Freddie, Nat's younger brother, a superb singer and pianist in his own right. "I went into Bradley's one night to see Freddie," Diana explains, "I'd never met him or heard him live. And when I walked in, he was singing A Blossom Fell, and I said to myself, Oh, this is so beautiful, I wish I could sing it like that.' So simple - not too dramatic."

No salute to Nat Cole would be complete without a stand-up ballad, and so Diana turns the piano over to Benny Green for If I Had You. She and Benny toured Canada in the summer of 1995, performing a program in honor of Cole that was the brainchild of their manager, Mary Ann Topper, and which became the inspiration for this album. "We're like best buddies - very close friends," Diana says, "I've always admired Benny, and he's always been very supportive of me, so I was really happy to be able to record with him. He's just an incredible musician. And I learned a lot from having him play for me."

Japon, Kinshi Tsuruta & Katsuya Yokoyama

Credits to AmbroseBierce
Kinshi Tsuruta & Katsuya Yokoyama
Japon
Ocora, C 580059, 1994

This CD on the Ocora label presents two of today's great masters of Japanese music, Kinshi Tsuruta on biwa and Katsuya Yokoyama on shakuhachi. The biwa is a Japanese lute played in its own particular way; it is used by singers to accompany themselves. Both Tsuruta and Yokoyama are known for their performance of "November Steps" by Toru Takemitsu, a piece that merged together biwa and shakuhachi with a Western orchestra. Tsuruta sings a single piece from the well-known Japanese epic Heike Monogatari (The Heike Story); titled "Atsumori," it lasts almost 28 minutes.
To appreciate the peculiarities of this piece, one must listen to it many times over -- and be ready to hear music that is out of the ordinary. For his part, Yokoyama performs five typical solo shakuhachi masterworks. He is one of the most known and best shakuhachi player today; a good number of his records are available outside Japan. With this record, one enters a musical world that is as fascinating as it is captivating. (AMG)

TRACK LISTINGS

1. Atsumori (27:56)
2. Ko-Kû [Vacuité] (9:46)
3. Tsuru No Sugomori [Nid de Grues] (6:27)
4. Daha [Brisement des Vagues] (3:54)
5. Shika No Tône [Bramements lointains des Cerf] (7:44)

Kinshi Tsuruta - Biwa
Katsuya Yokoyama - Shakuhachi

Buddhist thought captured in music by Mrs Tsuruta (song and biwa lute) and Mr Yokoyama (shakuhachi flute).

160 kbps including cover scans - no booklet

HERE

Cinquì Sò - Tarraniu

Credits to AmbroseBierce
Cinqui sٍ
Tarraniu
Al Sur ALCD 189, 1996
TRACK LISTINGS

01. Avà è sempri sé tù
02. U ventu
03. Tarraniu
04. U cantu di i pantani - pulifunia
05. El cant dels occels
06. Alla fiera del est
07. M'innamoru
08. Versu di Castiglione
09. Pa'te
10. I Fati
11. Un passu verdi u celu
12. U ventu - pulifunia

Carmino Belgodère - guitar, cetera, vocals
Andria Delogu - darbuka, bongo, vocals
Ghjuvan Petru Godinat - pifana, Irish flute, vocals
Eric Ressouches - guitar, vocals

Guests:
Pedro Aledo - guitar, vocals
Antone Belgodère - diatonic accordion
Miquèla Bramiere - vocals
Christian Brazier - double bass
Elena Ledda - vocals
Yves Ruiz - khorikheo
Fethi Tabet - fiddle


With TARRANIU, it is selfsame Mediterranean that stops off in Corsica on a musical journey whose meanderings are contained in the continuity of memories and space. In this Mediterranean continuity, identities are sublimated in a mysterious and profound similarity, in the same was as the most varied instruments mingle to give life to the harmonies of the new album of Cinquì So.
Poetic imagination occupies a mythical space in which desire and  TARRANIU take shape.

Mercator observes in his Atlas that : "The Mediterranean bears several names according to the countries that line its shores".
Diversity is also the parlance of the South, of the Corsica that bathes this new record in sunlight and whose intention it is to be the echo of a linguistic specificity existing uniquely to assert the wealth of a subtely shaded identity.

 The group Cinqui So endeavours thus to reinforce the links uniting Corsica to the rest of the Mediterranean.

Cinqui So, five elements, five vital forces sustaining the Mediterranean since the dawn of time : wind, water, iron, fire, earth. Vital forces conveyed by instruments such as the guitar, the cetera, the darbuka, the bongo, the pifana, the Irish pipe, the hurdy-gurdy, the double bass, the korikheo and the voices of Carminu Belgodere, Andria Delogu, Ghjuvan Pretru Godinat and Eric Ressouches. To these voices are added those of the Spanish singer Pedro Aledo, the Occitanian singer Miquela Bramerie and Elena Ledda from Sardinia.

With TARRANIU. Cinque So strives to envelop the plurality of Identities defined by the Mediterranean.

Maria Santoni
Trad. Jo Reeves

Its you now and forever
When you cross the plaza
the door to the house that awaits you
Opens, ready to welcome you
forever.

The house that awaits you
Now its you
my love.

When you sit at your balcony
My heart rejoices
To taste the pleasures,
You are always
in my heart.

The morning, when you hum
Hoping for better days
Your voice enchants me
And I forget my troubles.

Your voice is enchanting
Here, it is you
My burning sun.

When you burst into laughter
I hear the vault crumble
The echo of your voice is like flowers
that I pick with my desire.

The echo of your voice is like flowers.
You are
As beautiful as a flower.

Love of my heart
It is you now
The flower of my heart
It is you forever.

Love of my heart
It is you now and forever.
(Rinatu cati)

Wind

It shakes, it moves,
the wind shakes
It picks up the dust
I can hear it

Dust of worries
From today and yesteryear

The wind moves and shakes

It appears and disappears
the wind appears
It picks up the dust
I can hear it.

Dust of rumours
It sends its on the air and don't die

It works, it toils
The wind.
It picks up the dust
I can hear it.

Dust of distaff
that becomes mystery

It works it toils
The wind.

It swirls, it swirls
the wind swirls
It picks up the dust
I can hear it

Dust of despair
That it throws up in the air.

The wind swirls and swirls.

It howls, it howls
It picks up the dust
I can hear it.

Dust of pain
Such earthbeats

It whistles,
The wind.
It picks up the dust
I can hear it.

Dust of laughter
Quickly forgotten.

It whistles, it whistles,
the wind.
(Rinatu Coti)

At the fair
At the fair, for two cents, my father a mouse for me did buy.
At the fair, for two cents, my father a mouse for me did buy.
But the cat jumped out
and ate the mouse
that at the fair my father did buy.
But the cat jumped out
and ate the mouse
that at the fair my father did buy.

At the fair, for two cents, my father a mouse for me did buy.

Then a dog arrived
and bit the cat that ate the mouse
that at the fair my father did buy.

At the fair, for two cents, my father a mouse for me did buy.

Suddenly a stick did hit the dog
that bit the cat that ate the mouse
that at the fair my father did buy.

At the fair, for two cents, my father a mouse for me did buy.

But then the fire did burn the stick
that hit the dog that bit the cat that ate the mouse
that at the fair my father did buy.

At the fair, for two cents, my father a mouse for me did buy.

Then the rain did fall and douse the fire
that burnt the stick that hit the dog that bit the cat that ate the mouse
that at the fair my father did buy.

At the fair, for two cents, my father a mouse for me did buy.

The bull did drink the rain water that fell
that doused the fire that burnt the stick that hit the dog that bit the cat
that ate the mouse
that at the fair my father did buy.

At the fair, for two cents, my father a mouse for me did buy.

Then the butcher did kill the bull
that drank the rainwater that doused the fire that burnt the stick that hit the dog that bit the cat
that ate the mouse
that at the fair my father did buy.

At the fair, for two cents, my father a mouse for me did buy.

Then came the angel of death
He bled the butcher that killed the bull that drank the water
that doused the fire
that burnt the stick that hit the dog that bit the cat
that ate the mouse
that at the fair my father did buy.

At the fair, for two cents, my father a mouse for me did buy.

It was finally the Lord
That took away the angel of death that bled the butcher that killed the bull that drank the water that doused
the fire that burnt the stick that hit the dog that bit the cat that ate the mouse
that at the fair my father did buy.

At the fair, for two cents, my father a mouse for me did buy.

(Angelo Branduardi)

320 kbps mp3, including full booklet scans

Part One
Part Two

Afro Celt Sound Sustem Vol.2

As recording of the follow-up to the Afro Celt Sound System’s groundbreaking debut album was set to commence in 1997, tragedy struck. Jo Bruce, who played keyboards on Volume 1 and who was an active member of the Afro Celts’ core group, died suddenly and unexpectedly of an asthma attack. The loss of their dear friend and trusted collaborator hit the remaining members of the group very hard; and for a time it appeared that a second Afro Celt Sound System album might not materialize. However, a breakthrough came when the band collaborated with Irish singer Sinead O’Connor, who co-wrote the title track “Release” with the band and who also provided vocals for the song. The English-language lyrics seem to be written from the perspective of Jo Bruce himself, as he asks his band mates not to grieve his loss, but to celebrate his “release” from the shackles of earthly existence. The remainder of the album grew out of this cathartic experience, and found the band experimenting with more traditionally-structured songs and verses in addition to writing the extended ambient and dance numbers for which it had become known on Volume 1. By the time Volume 2 was released, the Afro Celt Sound System had evolved into a proper band, comprised of Simon Emmerson, James McNally, Iarla O’Lionaird, Martin Russell, N’Faly Kouyate, Myrdhin, and Moussa Sissokho. In addition to Sinead O’Connor, guests on the album included uilleann pipers Ronan Browne and Michael McGoldrick, and Dhol Foundation leader Johnny Kalsi (who would soon become an “official” member of the band himself. Volume 2: Release was an enhanced CD that contained the first-generation of Noodle, a “musical toy” developed by Realworld Multimedia. By inserting the CD into their computers, users could manipulate various onscreen graphics to “remix” their own version of the song “Whirl-Y-Reel 1” from Volume 1.

01. Release (Edited Master)
02. Lovers of Light
03. Eireann
04. Big Cat (Edited Master)
05. Rons (Even in My Dreams)
06. Urban Aire
07. Amber
08. Hypnotica
09. Riding the Waves
10.I Think Of…
11.Release (Instrumental)

CBR 320kbps mp3 l 160mbs l Full booklet Scans and 'noodle' program

Part 1
Part 2

The Rough Guide To The Music Of Scandanavia

the music of Scandinavia...
...the richest, most diverse and
creatively potent phenomena...

The roots based music of six Nordic countries, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Greenland and Iceland, plus Samiland is one of the richest, most diverse and creatively potent phenomena in contemporary music, encompassing everything from the purest traditional forms to the wildest electric freakouts. The contemporary folk music scenes of Finland, Sweden and Norway are the most highly evolved of all the regions and forms the primary focus of this collection.

There is a pronounced undercurrent of energy in contemporary Nordic folk music, a force that fuels its incredible creative evolution, and it is this energy that requires scrutiny. One vital element is the common thread of respect for tradition that connects each musician, each stylistic extreme and all points in between. Another is the absence, among most musicians anyway, of barriers between styles and genres, in recording and performing: these musicians (and they are countless in number) might, for example, make acoustic traditional music with one group of players one day, then turn around and make classical/chamber music, folk/jazz fusion, electric rock/folk, or even avant-garde improvisation, with another bunch the next day. It is quite a common modus operandi, this search for discovery. The simultaneous exporation of roots, coupled with the drive for
Innovation is part of what defines the Nordic music energy.

Perhaps the most significant and compelling manifestation of the Nordic force is the seemingly inherent talent for composing and arranging. It is much more than just a talent, however. In some sectors - Kaustinen, Finland for example - composing has actually become an integral part of the tradition. There and elsewhere, it seems almost genetic, the intuitive and skilful way that musicians arrange or compose music based on or inspired by traditional themes, styles or elements, but whose creations reach such a high level of sophistication and emotional impact. The Nordic countries are
awash with song sculptors, meloists, musicians that strive to make music that evolves and progresses, music to feel and experience, music to inspire, This is perhaps the most distinctive and consequential feature of the Nordic music phenomenon and the theme of this collection.

MARIA KALANIEMI - Playing the five-row accordion since age 8, with classical and folk music training, Maria Kalaniemi is one of Finland's most gifted, popular and respected accordionists, of any genre. Active on several fronts, including Swedish-Finnish group Ramunder, the international squeeze-box combo Accordion Tribe and the colourful Helsinki Melodeon Ladies (where she does her funky two-row thing), Maria's prime vehicle into international waters over the past few years has been her ensemble Aldargaz. The main thrust of the group is their striking, folk-inspired, original compositions (mostly by Maria and pianist Timo Alakotila)their complex yet emotionally engaging arrangements, and topnotch technical skills to match. 'Ahma' ('Wolverine')', the title track from the latest Aldargaz album,demonstrates the band's prowess and their ability to create an intricate and challenging work, while simultaneously setting those melodic juices gushing.

GARMARNA - Garmarna are family situated at the vanguard of modern electric Swedish folk music, spearheading a movement that has inspired numerous other bands influenced by their sound, style and achievements. Singer Emma Hardelin, with her unadorned yet seductive voice, interprets texts of medieval ballads with timeless and spellbinding effect. Instrumentally, the band expands their sound to bigger-than-life proportions with guitars, violins, drums, bass, hurdy-gurdy, Jews harps, bowed harps and more, all played with arresting power and emotional intensity. Both the heaviest electric rockers and modern production, samples, loops and effects provide the final zap to the cortex. 'Halling Järon', from Garmarna's third album, is an old Norwegian tune, reshaped and remodelled for maximum trip-inducing effect.

Annbjørg Lien - Norwegian Annbjørg Lien can rightfully be dubbed 'Queen of the Hardanger', A remarkably gifted musician, Annbjørg has a varied background, having played with jazz musicians initially, and folk musicians for the last decade or so, She currently works with Norwegian folk music group Bukkene Bruse, although it is her solo career that is generating the world wide acclaim. Technical skills aside, her talents as composer and arranger are well developed and she is keenly intuitive when selecting sympathetic collaborators - currently Bjorn Ole Rasch on keyboards and Väsen's Roger Tallroth on guitar. Together, they create a multilayered, rich, enticing, contemporary sound, 'Irianda' contains themes from music Annbjørg and Bjorn have written for a play, Stallubursa.

FRIFOT - The Swedish supertrio: multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, conceptualist and all-round musical guy Ale Möller, singer extraordinaire and fiddler Lena Willemark, plus fiddler and piper Per Gudmundsson. Ale and Lena, of course, are two of Sweden's leading folk music figures, internationally known foe their two excellent jazz-ish/folk Nordan albums on ECM. Ale has been one of the main architects of Swedish Folk for two decades, going back to the 1980s with the hugely influential band Filarfolket. Lena is known as Sweden's best folk music singer, with a diverse and successful career of her own. Per is a highly respected player, having recorded several solo and collaborative albums. Together they strike a common chord born of pure Swedish folk tradition, developed to express their collected creativity and a breathe new life into the old songs. 'I Denna Ljuva Sommartid' ('In This Lovely Summertime'), perhaps the most beautiful piece in the Frifot repertoire, is a popular hymn sung by Swedish schoolchildren on the last day of the summer term. This version, one of many known throughout Sweden, is given the brilliant and heart-hooking Ale Möller treatment, featuring harp, Lena's lovely voice and an irresistible melody.

TROKA - This dynamic and daring quintet from kaustinen, Finland, features three members of JPP (violin, harmonium, bass), plus viola and accordion players. Troka's distinctive features include Balkan and American influences and, of course, the accordion, played by nimble-fingered Minna Luoma. In Kaustinen - indeed in other parts of Finland, where composition is considered an essential part of tradition - Troka writers Matti Mäkelä and Ville Ojanen are regarded as two of the JPP's Timo Alakotila chipping in as well. Each piece breaks new ground and each one is an adventure of surprise and wonder. 'Kesäillan Tvist' ('Summer Night Twist') from their second album Smash, is a head-turner by violin/viola player Ville Ojanen, also known for his work with dance group Ottoset. Try keeping still for this one!

WIMME - Sámiland (lapland) covers the northern areas of Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola peninsula of northwest Russia. Apart from the drum, there is no traditional Sami instrument, so the joik is the primary means of expression. Joik, the Sami people's way of chanting or singing, is improvised and sounds similar to the chants of Native Americans. Each joiker has his or her own style. of course, and each Joike is presented in a different setting, either a cappella or with some form of accompaniment. Now the most popular male joiker worldwide, Wimme, from the Sámi village of Kelottijârvi, regions as 'King of the Modern Joik'. The most daring and innovative of all Sámi joikers, his voice is trance-inducing. almost otherwordly and is accompanied by acoustics, electronics, samples and trippy sounds. "Qainnahus' tells of a journey from Wimme's home mountain up to the frosty sky and the Northern Lights, and then beyond the real world behind the stars.

Värttinä - The Värttinä story is a long and fascinating one. What began in 1983 as a twenty-one- member group in Karelia, in south-eastern Finland, metamorphosed into a dynamic ten-piece, earned a platinum record with the album Oi Dai and went on to world tours and major-label record deals. The band's mission, then as now, is the revival and reinterpretation of Karelian runos (song-poems and Finno-Ugric vocal traditions, with contemporary presentation born of the collective creativity of the ten members. This involves composing original songs, arranging music among band members in a natural, organic fashion and delving deep into the vast wealth of old runos for texts and inspiration. Värttinä has thereby invented a sound like no other band in existence. An explosive female vocal quarter, six of Finland's best instrumentalists, endless percussive and rhythmic surprises, plus compositional and arranging abilities that improve with each album, converge to make Värttinä the chart-topping group they are and leaders in the Nordic music movement. 'Kivutar' ('Goddess of Pain'), a rhythmically challenging number with a distinctive string-section intro and outro, is taken from their latest Wicklow album IImatar (Goddess of Air).

EAC-APE & Full Booklet Scans [ 430 MB]

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Al-Andalus Collection [20]. Wallada - Ibn Zaydun

Al-Andalus Collection [01]. Salim Fergani - Prado de Gacelas
Al-Andalus Collection [02]. Naseer Shamma - Maqamat Z?ry?b
Al-Andalus Collection [03]. Eduardo Paniagua - JARDIN DE AL-ANDALUS
Al-Andalus Collection [04]. Salim Fergani - Dos Corazones
Al-Andalus Collection [05]. Naseer Shamma & Oyoun - Hilal
Al-Andalus Collection [06]. Eduardo Paniagua - Agua de la Alhambra
Al-Andalus Collection [07]. Omar Metioui - La Fuente del Amor Secreto
Al-Andalus Collection [08]. Latidos de Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus Collection [09]. La llamada de Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus Collection [10]. Ibn ‘Arabi - El intérprete de los deseos
Al-Andalus Collection [11]. Al Turath Ensemble - Hermana de la Luna
Al-Andalus Collection [12]. Al Turath Ensemble - Jardines de Jazm?n
Al-Andalus Collection [13]. LA BELLEZA CONTEMPLADA
Al-Andalus Collection [14]. POEMAS DE LA ALHAMBRA
Al-Andalus Collection [15]. Salim Fergani - Elegia a la muerte de Salah Bey
Al-Andalus Collection [16]. Salim Fergani - La noria de los modos
Al-Andalus Collection [17]. Eduardo Paniagua - Cantos Misticos Devocionales
Al-Andalus Collection [18]. Nuba Al-Istihlal
Al-Andalus Collection [19]. Cantoras de Tetuan

Wallada (Córdoba 994-1077) - Ibn Zaydún (Córdoba 1003-1071)

Una historia de amor y poesía - A story of love and poetry Eduardo Paniagua & El Arabi Sergheni Ensemble Contents:

1. Tiempo de amor - A time of love

Anon.
1. Taqsim ud' istihlal: Camino orgullosa - Proud path
Wallada
2. Dary al-istihlal: Estoy hecha para la gloria - I am made for glory
Ibn Zaydún
3. Muwwal istihlal: Córdoba lozana - Exuberant Cordoba
4. Dary al-istihal: Mirada furtiva - Furtive glance
Wallada
5. Dary iraq al-ajam: Cuando caiga la tarde - When night falls
6. Dary hidyaz: La separación - The separation
Ibn Zaydún
7. Moaxaja modo hidyaz: Enamorado nostálgico - Nostalgic lover
8. Taqsim y muwwal hidyaz: Pasa tus miradas - Cast your eyes
9. Qa'im was-nisf hidyaz kabir: Si tu sintieras por mi - If you felt for me

2. Desengaños y reproches - Disappointment and reproaches

Wallada
10. Dary rasd: Enamorado de Júpiter - In love with Jupiter
Anon.
11. Twishya de la núba rasd: Entre nosostros - Between us
Ibn Zaydún
12. Quddam rasd: Un secreto - A secret
13. Inshad rasd: Tras la ausencia - After the absence
Anon.
14. Twishya del quddam rasd: Noche sin ti - Night without you
Ibn Zaydún
15. Quddam rasd: Despedida - Farewell
Wallada
16. Melodía tradicional: Ave veloz - Swift bird

3. Amor idealizado - Idealised love

Ibn Zaydún
17. Qa'im wa-nisf nahawand: Vino y rosas (Wine and roses)
Wallada
18. Modo nahawand: Muy rico, contra Al-Ashbahi - Very rich, against Al-Ashbahi
Ibn Zaydún
19. Dialogo en la noche - Dialogue in the night

Playing time: 67' 47"
Performers
Eduardo Paniagua (flautas, darbuga, tar, cimbalos) & El Arabi Ensemble [El Arabi Serghini (canto, viola, darbuga, tar), Aouatif Bouamar (Canto, coro), Larbi Akrim (laúd, coro), Jamal Eddine Ben Allal (violin, coro)] - Eduardo Paniagua, dir.

Wallada

In the year 711, the history of Cordoba, Spain, was about to witness a dramatic change. The Muslims who were conquering Spain, were about to receive the most precious of the Iberian Jewels, Cordoba. However, surrender of the city was based on an agreement, which allowed Jews, Christians, and Muslims to live peacefully.

The Great Mosque, the oldest building still in use (now as a Cathedral) has an interesting history that illustrates some toleration. It was built on land that had been part of a monastery. The Muslims paid for the land. The Mosque was built in the 8th c., and Cordoba remained Muslim until Christians from the north took over in 1236. The Christians built a cathedral inside the mosque. Interestingly, the Mosque was not destroyed except for those portions of the interior where the altar, choir and other parts of the Cathedral were placed. There are no walls to the Cathedral. It simply was placed inside the much larger mosque.

Over the centuries, families paid for small chapels, which line one wall of the former Mosque. A Christian bell tower was also added. The Mosque/Cathedral is in the heart of the historic district surrounded by narrow streets of the former Jewish Quarter. Today the former Mosque functions only as a Cathedral. A nearby Jewish synagogue has been preserved for its historic value, but is not used.

That tolerant city under the Muslims was the birthplace of a very liberal poetess, Wallada Bint Al Mustakfi. There is no question that Wallada and many other Poets and artists would not have been able to write or create what they have done in any other place. Until this day the city has several monuments and statues dedicated to “los enamorados”, the lovers, of whom Wallada gained a very wide-spread fame.0

The love story of the poet Ibn Zaydun and his beautiful, courageous Princess is still alive in the hearts of the people of Cordoba, the capital of Arab Spain and of the Umayyad Caliphs.

Who really was the passionate and daring Umayyad princess?

When Cordoba was the greatest and most sophisticated city, not only of the Moorish civilization but also the entire known world, the Princess Wallada (born in 1011 and died in 1091) achieved fame for her court of learning, many centuries before France's legendary Madame de Rambouillet held sway over her literary salon. Wallada gathered around her the finest poets and musicians of al-Andalus, who would sit around her on cushions and rugs, improvising ballads and epic sagas to the sound of the lute and zither.

Wallada, was the daughter of the Caliph al-Mustakfi Billah, Mohammed the Third, who reigned for only two years, 1923-1025. She was greatly admired for her fair skin and blue eyes, which gave her a very special, exotic appeal for the Aristocats of Cordoba. She had a unique reputation for wit, eloquence and intelligence. Famed for beauty as well as independence, Walladah inspired verses from other poets and wrote her own, becoming poet and author as well as singer. Her poetry was noted for its boldness. In fact, she was so proud of her beauty that she refused to wear the veil when she went out in the streets of the city, thus enraging the local religious people. It was the time of the great fitna, (rebellion) when the Berbers were rising up against the Umayyad Caliphate, and religious tension was high.

But Cordoba was in many ways very liberal indeed. This was because the Andalucian society of the time was a multi-cultural one, a mixture of the Islamic, Christian and Jewish cultures, which made up medieval Spain.

Wallada not only refused to cover her face, she also was very outspoken and free in her personal behaviour, thus becoming a symbol of liberation for the women of her time. She resisted all efforts to keep her in her traditional place, and to prevent her from choosing the lovers she preferred.

When the great Moorish philosopher and supreme judge of the city, Ibn Rushd, known to Europeans as Averroes, accused her of being a harlot, she responded with an act of defiance. She had one of her own poems embroidered on the gown she wore in the street, for everyone to read. It said:

On the left side:

I am fit for high positions by God
And am going my way with pride.
And on the left:
I allow my lover to touch my cheek
And bestow my kiss on him who craves it.

Her most famous relation, a true and passionate love story, was with Ibn Zaydun, one of the greatest Arab poets of the time, born in 1003 and died in 1071.

Although Ibn Zaydun was a leading figure in the courts of Cordoba and Seville, he was most famous among the people of his day because of his scandalous love affair with Princess Wallada. They did nothing to hide their passion, and at her literary circle, when the poets began improvising, as was their custom, they would allude to it quite openly. On one famous occasion, Wallada uttered this impromptu verse, as she gazed upon her lover's face:

I fear for you, my beloved so much, that even my own sight even the ground you tread even the hours that pass threaten to snatch you away from me. Even if I were able to conceal you within the pupils of my eyes and hide you there until the Day of Judgment my fear would still not be allayed.

And he, returning her glance just as ardently, responded:

Your passion has made me famous among high and low your face devours my feelings and thoughts. When you are absent, I cannot be consoled, but when you appear, my all my cares and troubles fly away. When she offers me jasmine in the palm of her hand I collect bright stars from the hand of the moon.

Ibn Zaydun's prestige, as the leading poet and the lover of the most beautiful woman of Cordoba, awakened much jealousy among his rivals, such as Ibn Abdus, the Caliph's Vizir. He created a venemous intrigue aimed at destroying his enemy's friendship with the Caliph and also his romance with Wallada.

At first he failed, but then succeeded in catching Ibn Zaydun making love to Wallada's favourite slave, an African girl. The proud Princess was so hurt that she wrote him a poem of rebuke:

If you had been truly sincere in the love, which joined us, you would not have preferred, to me, one of my own slaves. In so doing, you scorned the bough, which blossoms with beauty and chose a branch, which bears only hard and bitter fruit. You know that I am the clear, shining moon of the heavens but, to my sorrow, you chose, instead, a dark and shadowy planet.

Ibn Abdus then made his rival jealous by letting it be known that Wallada had taken him as her lover, and by walking beside her in the streets of Cordoba. The arrow hit its mark, and the wounded Ibn Zaydun bitterly wrote these lines to the woman he thought had spurned him:

You were for me nothing but a sweetmeat that I took a bite of and then tossed away the crust, leaving it to be gnawed on by a rat.

Although the Caliph was fond of Ibn Zaydun, the scandal reached such proportions that he had him thrown into prison, and later exiled him to Seville. The hapless poet languished there, far from the gardens of the great palace, Medina Zahara, and he passionately missed his beloved Princess. Fortunately for him, the Caliph died soon afterwards and Ibn Zaydun was able to return. The lovers forgave one another and for a while their affair continued, just as passionate and stormy as before. But Wallada now lived in the home of powerful Vizir, who gave her protection, and Ibn Zaydun, disenchanted, eventually decided to return to Seville, where he spent the rest of his life as the favourite poet of the Sultan.

Only nine of Wallada poems have been preserved, of which five are satirical, daring, risqué and caustic. Some of her most impressive love lined she wrote to Ibn Zaidun, and some of her harshest satires were also addressed to him!

Ibn Zaydún

Abu al-Waleed Ahmad Ibn Zaydún al-Makhzumi (1003-1071) known as Ibn Zaydún (Arabic full name,أبو الوليد أحمد بن زيدون المخزومي)was a famous Arab Andalusian poet of Cordoba and Seville. His romantic and literary life was dominated by his relations with the poetess Wallada bint al-Mustakfi, the daughter of the Ummayad Caliph Muhammad III of Cordoba.

Ibn Zaydun was born in Cordoba of pure Arab descent, from the Arab tribe of Makhzum, which was one of the first tribes to migrate to al-Andalus

Ibn Zaydun grew up during the decline of the Umayyad caliphate and was imprisoned by the government. He sought refuge with one local ruler and then another in Seville. He was able to return home for a period after the ruler of Seville conquered Cordoba. Much of his life was spent in exile and the themes of lost youth and nostalgia for his city are present in many of his poems. In a poem about Cordoba he remembers his city and his youth:

God has sent showers upon abandoned dwelling places pf those we loved. He has woven upon them a striped many-coloured garmet of flowers, and raised among them a flower like a star. How many girls like images trailed their garmets among such flowers, when life was fresh and time was at our service...How happy were, those days that have passed, days of pleasure, when we lived with those who had back flowing hair and white shoulders

By Wijdan al shommari

A few months ago I was sitting at a sidewalk café, in the shadow of the medieval walls of Cordoba - and just a few steps from a curious statue of two hands, which seem to be reaching towards one another. I knew, from my studies in Damascus, that it pays tribute to a great Moorish poet and the Princess, also a poetess, whom he loved.
It was Saint Valentine's day, a bright winter morning. I pretended not to know what the statue represented and, just to see what he would say, asked the young waiter if he did, as if I were any other tourist. "That statue is dedicated to los enamorados, the lovers". he said, as he served my cup of coffee.
The love story of the poet Ibn Zaydun and his beautiful, courageous Princess is still alive in the hearts of the people of Cordoba, the capital of Moorish Spain and of the Ummeyad Caliphs. But where I was born, Syria, their poems are studied in every high school student's Arabic literature class.
But who really was the passionate and daring Ummeyad princess?
When Cordoba was the greatest and most sophisticated city, not only of the Moorish civilization but also the entire known world, the Princess Wallada (born in 1011 and died in 1091) achieved fame for her court of learning, many centuries before France's legendary Madame de Rambouillet held sway over her literary salon. Wallada gathered around her the finest poets and musicians of al-Andalus, who would sit around her on cushions and rugs, improvising ballads and epic sagas to the sound of the lute and zither.
Wallada, who was the daughter of the Caliph al-Mustakfi, was greatly admired for her fair skin and blue eyes, which gave her a very special, exotic appeal for the men of Cordoba. In fact, she was so proud of her beauty that she refused to wear the veil when she went out in the streets of the city, thus enraging the local mullahs. It was the time of the great fitna, when the Berbers were rising up against the Ummeyad Caliphate, and religious tension was high.
But Cordoba was in many ways much more liberal in its customs than some Middle Eastern countries are today. This was because the Andalucian society of the time was a multi-cultural one, a mixture of the Islamic, Christian and Jewish civilisations, which made up medieval Spain. This meant that no single religion had full power over the men, and particularly over the women, of the city.
Wallada not only refused to cover her face, she also was very outspoken and free in her sexual behaviour, thus becoming a symbol of liberation for the women of her time. She resisted all efforts to keep her in her traditional place, and to prevent her from choosing the lovers she preferred.
When the great Moorish philosopher and supreme judge of the city, Ibn Rushd, known to Europeans as Averroes, accused her of being a harlot, she responded with an act of defiance. She had one of her own poems embroidered on her gown and wore it in the street, for everyone to read. It said:
"For the sake of Allah! I deserve nothing less than glory I hold my head high and go my way I will give my cheek to my lover and my kisses to anyone I choose."
She had many lovers, but the most famous was the Ibn Zaydun, one of the greatest Moorish poets of the time, born in 1003 and died in 1071.
Although Ibn Zaydun was a leading figure in the courts of Cordoba and Seville, he was most famous among the people of his day because of his scandalous love affair with Princess Wallada. They did nothing to hide their passion, and at her literary circle, when the poets began improvising, as was their custom, they would allude to it quite openly. On one famous occasion, Wallada uttered this impromptu verse, as she gazed upon her lover's face:
"I fear for you, my beloved so much, that even my own sight even the ground you tread even the hours that pass threaten to snatch you away from me. Even if I were able to conceal you within the pupils of my eyes and hide you there until the Day of Judgment my fear would still not be allayed."
And he, returning her glance just as ardently, responded:
"Your passion has made me famous among high and low your face devours my feelings and thoughts. When you are absent, I cannot be consoled, but when you appear, my all my cares and troubles fly away."
Ibn Zaydun's prestige, as the leading poet and the lover of the most beautiful woman of Cordoba, awakened much jealousy among his rivals, such as Ibn Abdus, the Caliph's Vizir. He created a venomous intrigue aimed at destroying his enemy's friendship with the Caliph and also his romance with Wallada.
At first he failed, but then succeeded in catching Ibn Zaydun making love to Wallada's favourite slave, an African girl. The proud Princess was so hurt that she wrote him a poem of rebuke:
"If you had been truly sincere in the love which joined us you would not have preferred, to me, one of my own slaves. In so doing, you scorned the bough, which blossoms with beauty and chose a branch which bears only hard and bitter fruit. You know that I am the clear, shining moon of the heavens but, to my sorrow, you chose, instead, a dark and shadowy planet."
Ibn Abdus then made his rival jealous by letting it be known that Wallada had taken him as her lover, and by walking beside her in the streets of Cordoba. The arrow hit its mark, and the wounded Ibn Zaydun bitterly wrote these lines to the woman he thought had spurned him:
"You were for me nothing but a sweetmeat that I took a bite of and then tossed away the crust, leaving it to be gnawed on by a rat."
This caused much amusement in the city, because Ibn Zaydun had compared the unpopular Vizir to a rat. The ugly old man went straight to the Caliph to complain, but rather than mention the insult to his own person, he pointed out that the poet had compared a Princess of the realm to a pastry crust.
Soon after, Ibn Zaydun fell out of favour altogether. Wallada discovered him with a man. Homosexuality is forbidden in the Koran, but was widely practiced by the Moors of the time nevertheless. She used the occasion to send him back an even more hurtful poem than the one he had addressed to her:
"The nickname they give you is Number Six and it will stick to you until you die because you are a pansy, a bugger a fornicator a cuckold, a swine and a thief. If a phallus could become a palm tree, you would turn into a woodpecker."
Although the Caliph was fond of Ibn Zaydun, the scandal reached such proportions that he had him thrown into prison, and later exiled him to Seville. The hapless poet languished there, far from the gardens of the great palace, Medina Zahara, and he passionately missed his beloved Princess. Fortunately for him, the Caliph died soon afterwards and Ibn Zaydun was able to return. The lovers forgave one another and for a while their affair continued, just as passionate and stormy as before. But Wallada now lived in the home of powerful Vizir, who gave her protection, and Ibn Zaydun, disenchanted, eventually decided to return to Seville, where he spent the rest of his life as the favourite poet of the Sultan.
The sculpture of the hands of Ibn Zaydun and Wallada was placed in the plaza known as El Campo Santo de los Mártires in 1971, to commemorate the 900th anniversary of the great poet's death.

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Rumberos Catalans - Son de Perpinyá

Credits to AmbroseBierce
Rumberos Catalans
Son de Perpinyá
Al Sur ALCD 260, 2000

Saint-Jacques, City Center and Heart of the Question
Saint-Jacques (or Sant Jaume, as they call it there ) is part of the city center of Perpignan, though it remains rather marginal. Some people avoid this labyrinth of tiny streets, where laundry bangs drying outside apartment windows, where young and old alike loiter on the tiny sidewalks, where people yell to each other from one building to another, and the crows of fighting cocks can be heard through open windows.
Yet for gypsy music-today for the rumba- Saint Jacques is the heart of the question! Since the early 15th century, numerous gypsy caravans came through this area from Greece, mostly likely passing through the Roussillon. It was at Perpignan in 1493 that the Spanish king Ferdinand ordered the liberation of one of these groups, who had come from Calvi the intention of going into Spain, and had been detained by Admiral Bernat de Vilamari. Before the Pyrenees Treaty, there was hardly any documentation concerning gypsies in this between 1550 and 1595 at Ille-sur-Tet and Thuir, and a police report in 1623 about a brawl between rival bands at Vernet, now a suburb of Perpignan. It wasn't until the 19th century that one of the streets of Saint- Jacques was named "rue des Bobemiens". And it was even more recently - in the 1940s, after the Jews bad abandoned many houses in the quarter- that the gypsies began moving into the defunct army barracks at the place du Puig. Previously they had mostly camped at the edge of town and by the banks of the Tet river.

Hubrid Quarter, Hybrid Music
The uniqueness of Saint-Jacques is that it is not an ethnic ghetto. Although they are a majority, gypsies are not the only group there, Catalonians, Spanish, many North Africans, and French from all over the country, live together in the network of tiny streets which fans out hybrid music par excellent, a confluence of Africa, Spain, And Latin America) underwent a major development towards the end of the 1950's, in a world dominated by flamenco.

The Saadna brothers, founding members of the Rumberos Catalans, are truly born representative of Saint-Jacques, with a North African father and a Catalonian gypsy mother. Clearly music follows spoken language here, since it is the gypsy aspect which dominates, with the musical transmission mostly coming from their maternal uncles, the Gimenez brothers. Uncle Chele is a master of several flamenco styles-bluerias, soleares, tanguillos - whereas uncle Luis has especially concentrated on the rumba. In his day it was all the rage in Barcelona, where Cuban rhythms were undergoing rapid development in this new context, at the bands of great gypsy artists such as El Pescailla and Peret. Horns and percussion were replaced by guitars, with lyrics often sung in catalan. themes were also adapted, with songs about the local neighborhood and family. For example, it was in homage to his father that Peret composed El Mig A ("Half-Friend"). Uncle Luis was one of the fist to bring the rumba to Perpignan. His nephew, Bruno and Mambo Saadna, were quick to carry the torrch, founding the Rumberos Catalans in 1971. Of course they played for many marriages and family parties, but they also began very early to play in night clubs and small concert balls. the big stars of that era in barcelona were Peret. El Chacho, and the Amayas, and their bits were quick to cross the border. In perpignan, People would jam themeselves into cars to listen toon the radio- cassette player. Our Saint- Jacques Rumberos also drank deeply from this stream, yet adapting the music to their own style and voices, always strong and energetic.

In 1982 the group grew when Aand Roberto, the two younger Saadna brothers, joined. Following in the footsteps of Gato Perez, the Rumberos shifted from rumba towards salsa, and their new sabor de salsa included as many as 10 musicians.

From Nantes to Zenith
1989 was also a pivotal year. At the instigation of guy Bertrand, a professor at the Perpignan Conservatory, some 30 gypsy musician piled into a bus and headed for the Nantes Summer Festival. Coming from different, sometimes rival, neighborhoods, the found themselves on the same stage, and playing together for the first time. This created many new contacts, both among themselves and with the other groups at the festival. Much of this was due to the charisma of Chabo, their elder spokesman, who had been a guitarist in Manitas de Plata's group, and who, along with Pedro Soler, helped the young musicians' progress. Every performance was a huge success, with the audience dancing. For these underprivileged youth of Hunt Vernet and Saint-Jacques, it was a sort of retribution for the contempt and humiliation they had so often suffered in their own towns. Harboring no bitterness, they were proud to represent Perpignan and the Roussillon on center stage at a major international festival. But they were especially interested in promoting and supporting their own neighborhood, and it was in 1991 that some 15 of them recorded their album on Al Sur label, with the perfect title "De sant Jaume Son" ("They're from Saint-Jacques"). The Rumberos group had two songs, Tanguillo and Matame, with their characteristic dynamism already evident. That same year, the Rumberos joined the Gitans de Roussillon ("Gypsies of Roussillon"). Again with the help of Guy Bertrand, this Group played at the Printemps de Bourges festival, where they won the honor of "greatest discovery of the year."

The year 1993 brought the collaboration with Thierry Robin, who mixed the voices and guitars of the Rumberos with the flamenco singing of Paco El Lobo, and the Indian voice of Guravi Sapera. Another record called "Gitans" (naive/auvidis) was soon released, with tours of Africa, Canada, Japan, Germany, Portugal, and Italy. In 1999 the group performed with Idir at the Olympia in Paris, and is now preparing their conquest of Zenith there in March 2000, still with Thierry Robin and Idir.

"Han Arribat"
This new record offers a complete unity of tone and rhythm (essentially that of the rumba), while avoiding any monotony. Two flamenco tanguillos return us to their Saint-jacques musical origins, enlivened here by the memory of Camarón. This great flamenco singer, the cantaor de La Isla, who died prematurely in 1992 at the age of 42, had an extraordinary impact on all young gypsies in Spain, France, and elsewhere.
The diversity of the album is found in this themes, melodies, arrangements, supplemental instruments, and languages. Spanish alternates often with Catala, sometimes with Arabic and Kaló. In this era of experimental hybrid mixtures, that of the Rumberos Catalans is anything but artificial. It reflects the musicians' own origins, and the reality of life in their native Saint-Jacques. One might characterize it as a "pure" hybrid, with no additives or artificial coloring. The subtle appearance here and there of an oud, an accordion, a saxophone or Percussion, is by no means a departure from authentic Perpignan rumba, and its unadulterated gut feeling. At the same time, the numerous refrains are enlivened by the characteristic "Sant Jaume" style, vibrant and muscular. Whether they are playing rumba or salsa, the feeling is far from caribbean languor. These artists' voices were tempered by the toughness of life in a quarter where they have been singing in the streets for small change since early childhood. Like the voice of Piaf or an Amalia Rodriguez, their voices disturb us and shake us up, for they show the effects of the harsh realities of daily life from early childhood on. Beware, good people of"Han Arribat.."--they've arrived! The Rumberos of Saint Jacques!

Bernard Leblon (with Joan Escudero and Daniel Elzière)

TRACK LISTINGS

01. Chiquita ven!
02. A esta mujer
03. Gitano Antَn
04. Carmela
05. Fandangos, corrits
06. Mata me!
07. La Baraka
08. Han arribat
09. Tanguillos catalas
10. Que cantante grande!
11. Enamorada estoy
12. Palabras!

Joseph "Mambo" Saadna - vocals, guitars, palmas
Amar "Bruno" Saadna - vocals, guitars, palmas
Farid "Roberto" Saadna - vocals, solo guitar
Estephan "Abraham" Gonzalès - vocals, guitars, percussion
Francis Varis - accordion
Pascal Stalin - bass
Guests:
Abdelkrim Sami - vocals (1)
Thiery Robin - ud (4)
Renaud Pion - saxophone (8)

320 kbps mp3, including full booklet scans

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Part Two

Sheila Chandra - Weaving my ancestors voices

'The ancestors of this album are spiritual – those singers that have gone before me and provide me with my inspiration. Interestingly enough none of my family in India were professional singers and, although within that culture people sang more freely in everyday life, the 'ancestors' here could not be genetic ones!'Some people seem to be interested in analysing the differences between different cultures and traditions. I'm interested in comparing the similarities and weaving them together– to take threads of thought that come from different techniques and singers and weave them into my own pattern. 'The voice is the first and ultimate instrument – it is the one means of expression used by every culture. Although different instruments often have relationships with each other across the continents, they come in different forms, they are played differently... but the voice remains biologically the same across all people. The means by which it is used, the sounds different peoples choose to emulate, is fascinating. The voice is connected to your blood supply! Because of this biological relationship, it is always going to be closer to your instinct, your soul and your emotion – rather than your intellect. The spirit of my ancestors is more accessible to me via the voice – it links into all cultures throughout time. 'One culture's way of expressing something is just as valid as another's. I am fortunate to live in a time when a century of recordings of great singers from around the world are available to me – hearing their means of expression enriches my own. ' On this album I've drawn upon a lot of musical traditions – it makes me feel strong to absorb these influences and yet remain an individual. I chose to record a simple voice and drone album because I wanted to say that 'fusion' doesn't just happen when you put different instruments from different cultures together – or even if you layer different vocal styles – it can happen in one voice, one mind. 'I was born and brought up in England by my Indian family, and growing up I felt a great gap – an absence of roots and a context in which to place myself. In England I was surrounded by cultural stereotypes and images of the 'English rose' and knew I was never going to be like that. I was always an obsessive singer and when my adult voice developed, it was in a low register. In most Western traditions it is felt a woman's voice needs to be high but, to my great relief, I discovered that in the Asian tradition it is quite acceptable for a woman to have either a high or low range.My vocal technique developed from there with an instinctive interest in ornamentation. I then found something which was 'home' – and for me music is home. That is where I express my intention most accurately. 'For me, this album is also a statement about going beyond Asian fusion. I do not want to be an Indian living museum piece here in England. Although I'm passionate about Asian music and culture, and though I involve the knowledge I have of Asian structure in my work, this album is more of a statement about me as a 'world citizen'. I believe that my heritage comes not specifically from my own culture. I believe I am a spiritual heir to a universal form of inspiration.' Sheila Chandra 1992

Tracklist

01. Speaking In Tongues I
02. Dhyana And Donalogue
03. Nana/The Dreaming
04. Ever So Lonely/Eyes/Ocean
05. The Enchantment
06. The Call
07. Bhajan
08. Speaking In Tongues II
09. Sacred Stones
10. Om Namaha Shiva

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