Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

This album is a presentation of the best performers of the Landes’ bagpipe, performed on this instrument which is unique among French bagpipes. Bagpipes throughout France are so diverse that a territorial situating of them is in itself a means of distinguishing between immensely different musical instruments. The distinction is all the more important to make since the bouhe, the bounloure, bouhaussac, or tchalemine with the many names it goes by in local dialect, nowadays called in French a “corenmuse landaise,” is in itself a whole brance of organology distinct from other traditional French bagpipes. But what is curious, is to find this organology present in certain Central European countries. Did it spread there? Or was it the result of a parallel evolution? In the case of the “cornemuse landaise,” the world is one of shepherds isolated deep in the moorlands, in “a magnificent desert which enchanted our ancestors, unfolding its primeval nudity beneath a barren sky in a straight, limitless expanse where the eye is perpetually dazzled by the nothingness and the soul enlarged, intoxicated, brimming with novel, childish joys which lose themselves in ineffable, tender moments of sadness.” Thus wrote Felix Arnaudin in 1912. The songs included on this release will transport the listener directly to this world with the beautiful sounds of the Landes’ bagpipe.

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.

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.

Louis Gibson writes of this monumental release: “Radio France has been at the forefront in recording the music of the world for decades, and via its Ocora label it has made a massive library of the true roots of many world cultures. To try and put together a representative collection of the world's traditions is of course a ridiculous undertaking, and even the six full length CDs in this set barely put a dent in what is out there, let alone what this organization has collected. But if you want a concise reference guide to many of the most important and amazing musical entities on the planet, you can't do much better than this. The set is divided into regional collections: South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, North and West Africa, Africa (western and central), and Europe…There are the old styles: solo pipa in China, singers and dancers in Gambia, village gamelan in Bali, and tavern singers in Greece. Each is excellently recorded on location--rarely in the studio--and never produced, staged, or overdubbed. The booklets that come with each CD are comprehensive, providing both regional history and reasonable details on the individual artists and pieces presented. Ocora has released hundreds of records over the years, and each has an important place in any library, but this compendium is certainly a vital starting point.”

Jali Nyama Suso was known and loved throughout his native Gambia and renowned the world over as one of the greatest kora harp players. This recording was the first release of a solo kora and griot music album anywhere. Jali Nyama, whose real name was Mohamadu Lamin Suso, was the eldest of four brothers, and the only one who took up the kora to follow the profession of traditional music and oratory of the Mandinka people, known as jaliyaa. A practitioner of jaliyaa is known as a jali (or if a woman, jali muso). Jaliyaa is multi-faceted, requiring the jali to be a singer, oral historian, genealogist and praiser, with emphasis on one or more of these depending on ability, interest and circumstance. The kora is a 21-string harp, strung today with nylon, but in the past with rawhide. The body is made from a large half calabash covered with cowhide and pierced through by a stout neck of rosewood that also forms the tailpiece. This manner of construction identifies it as a spike harp, a type of instrument unique to West Africa. The traditional role of the kora in jaliyaa is to accompany singing. The kora player himself may sing, or he may accompany a vocal soloist, male or female. In addition, kora players create solo pieces from songs by varying the basic ostinato, by adding improvised passages called birimintingo, and by playing the vocal line on the instrument.

Compositions by Wayan Lotring, one of the greatest Balinese musicians of the first half of the 20th century, finally a part of the musical mythology in a country where the soul of an artist is nature’s most coveted gift, and the most sacred that the gods can grant. Lotring was born in 1898; every night at the age of six he played with the members of his family and accompanied the performances of shadow theater. A few years later, he had a ‘semar pegulingan’ made which would become the most beautiful gamelan of Bali. Because the semar pegulingan is pure crystal, it’s water that flows from the still limpid spring, it’s the voice of the gods- gamelan once being reserved for princes, they were built with infinite care. Never before will one have heard a more beautiful, a more limpid, a more perfect one than his. In the 20s, his fame crossed borders and in 1936 he spent several weeks in Ceylon- in the meantime Asia had heard of him: the greatest Indian dancers made the trip to visit him, artists from Siam and even Japan met him, thus recognizing his reputation for being the greatest musician in the Far East of his time.

Classical Music

Straight out of the pages of history, Subhan Ahmed Nizami belongs to the prestigious school of Hindustani music known as "Qawwal Bach�" (Delhi gharana of Karachi) founded in the 13th century by Hazrat Amir Khusro (1253-1325), that flourished through it's affiliation to sanctuaries and music masters of imperial and princely courts. Subhan Ahmed Nizami descends in a direct line from the first disciple of Amir Khusro, Mian Samaath: since the 13th century, there has never been a rupture in the chain of transmission of this dynasty of musicians whose secrets have been taught from father to son for 33 generations, for over 750 years. Subhan Ahmed Nizami has in his possession nearly 2000 manuscripts of poems in their original language (Persian, Braj, Hindi, Sanskrit, Urdu), the secrets of which were shared from generation to generation, manuscripts which would doubtless find a place of honor in any museum. For this first album, he has chosen to present compositions from his family's repertoire: qawwali singing with deep roots -in essence a message of peace, fraternity and spiritual love.

The three masters Dariush Talâ'i, Mohammad Musavi and Majid Kiâni, present the refinement and creativity of Persian music: from theradif (canonical ensemble of melodic forms for each modal structure), they are free to improvise, find melodies and create according to their own taste… Nothing being more ephemeral than an oral tradition’s music, in the mid-19th century, great musicians decided to preserve what they had salvaged of their ancient heritage for posterity. Collating musical material from the four corners of Iran, they formulated a model repertoire, theradif, designed to lead through methodical study to the very core of the art and its musical inspiration. The aim of creating the radif was to preserve not only melodies, but also modal structures which, in time, would have become hermetic and eventually extinct, without models at one’s disposal to refer to.

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.