Classical Music

Classical Music

Imagine discovering the cello, Bach, and Pablo Casals at the same time. Hearing LI Xiangting play the qin is just that kind of experience: extremely refined compositions, both rich and contrasting, in a climate of total dedication to the service of this repertoire, over a thousand years old. What is so amazing with qin music, is the way it can be immediately and universally appreciated even beyond it's very rich and specifically Chinese context. The sensuality of it's sound is heightened by complex variations in which virtuosity is at all times for expressive effect. In spite of the many upheavals that China has undergone, the art of the qin remains timeless, faithfully handed down from master to disciple from generation to generation, mainly in writing. Each link in the chain is indispensable and in this respect LI Xiangting occupies a privileged place, being the direct descendant of the greatest masters: Zha Fuxi (1895-1976) and Wu Jinglue (1907-1987). So he has become a professional in the broadest sense, incorporation historical tradition and bringing together the best schools of the young generation. Born in Manchuria in 1940, he is the most prestigious teacher at the Peking Central Music Conservatoire. He is also a fabulous performer of the xiao, the vertical flute, the only instrument along with the human voice ever to be admitted into close contact with the qin.

For a long time, Indian music has essentially been known as a solo art form with a percussion and tempura accompaniment, which, however important, does not determine either the melody or the rhythm. However, in musical forms based on breathing, the voice and wind instruments, a type of duet is performed, which could be described as an “accompanied solo”: one of the musicians, acting as soloist, takes the initiative of choosing the pieces, their developments, their tempo and even the time of his interventions, whereas his fellow musician, most often a disciple, is there to ensure continuity which the soloist would have difficulty in sustaining. By some improbable chance, three of the best musicians in India today happen to have developed, in addition to their own individual talents, the ability to play true ensemble music. An encounter such as theirs is exceptional in that it has required a combination of elements which are rarely found together. This trio is offering us an unusual way of reviving a particular aspect of tradition.

Jindo is the third largest of many islands situated to the south-west of the Korean peninsula. It had long preserved a unique traditional culture until a bridge was built, connecting the island to the mainland in 1984. Thanks to it's temperate climate, Jindo Island is rich in agricultural and maritime resources. Of it's nine intangible cultural assets, three- ganggangsullae song and dance, nongak community band of music, dance and rituals, and arirang singing- have been classified by UNESCO as Intangible World Cultural Heritage. The island is renowned for it's artistic activities and achievement. Part of the cultural wealth of Jindo is featured on this release, and includes recorded performances of shamanic and funeral rites which, in surpassing sadness, become occasions for communal rejoicing.

Classical Music

Classical Music

This disc focuses on the unique music of the Colombian gaitas ensemble (flutes accompanied by alegre, llamador and tambora drums). It displays the genre at it's most lively and dynamic, preserving it's original expressiveness and revitalizing it with his own sensibility. The style is a direct descendant of the interaction of Colombia's three major peoples (Whites, Blacks and Indians).

Flora Molton arrived at the blues by way of her religious faith. But with Molton, faith was always more important than music. Born in 1908, she began preaching at the age of seventeen, and didn't take up the guitar until 1943. Molton supported herself playing guitar in the streets of Washington, DC. Eventually, she began playing in folk clubs and toured Europe. This album features eighteen tracks of gospel songs, accompanied by Molton's capable slide guitar.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Abduvali Abdurashidov, master of the sato (bowed tanbur), belongs to a great line of Tajik art music performers. As refined, sinuous lines of the sato blend with singing, dotar lute and occasional doyra percussion, the elegance of this music evokes an ancient courtly art.

Classical Music

The Okinawa archipelago (formerly the independent kingdom of Ryukyu) is situated at a crossroads of cultural influences (Japan, China and South East Asia). Blending these elements, Okinawa developed an original musical style, demonstrated here with a collection of classical and courtly songs accompanied on the sanshin lute. Performers include National Living Treasure Choichi Terukina, as well as Shinjin Kise and Masaya Yamauchi.

Griot music accompanied on the delicate dambararou lute, ritual songs of therapeutic possession accompanied on the gogue fiddle to the rhythm of gon and karou drums, and a boldly dynamic women's choir -different aspects of Bariba traditional music from the descendants of a kingdom established in the 15th century, and long reputed for it's fierce resistance to exterior domination.

Classical Music

This set features both vocal intensity and religious fervor from the two main Sufi brotherhoods of Senegal (the Tij+�niyya and the Mur+�diyya, founded respectively in the 18th and 19th centuries). Featured selections include hymns and poems to the glory of Allah.

The recordings on this double album are the result of field-trips from August 2003 to June 2012 into the region of the Nilgiri Hills (the "Blue Mountains") in South India, which is home to the Kota, Toda, Mele-Nadu Irula and Alu-Kurumba people, among others. These indigenous groups create music - on instruments like the conical, belled 'Shawm,' the bamboo trumpet and the Idioglottal clarinet, with singing in a variety of techniques - that covers a vast aesthetic field, from the immediately "Indian" accents of Kota Bhajan, to Toda singing which seems to come from another world altogether. The release includes an extensive booklet with photographs and notes on the life and languages of these people.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music