VA ~ Chine ☆ Xinjiang La Rout De La Soie [Playasound]

01 - Dulan Muqam
02 - Nawa Muqam
03 - Bayat-Nawa Muqam [Muqaddima]
04 - Mushawarik Muqam [Dastan Marghul]
05 - Sharh Aman
06 - Khushtarman
07 - Qambarkhan
08 - Nazirkhom
09 - Damulla
10 - Dart Alam
11 - Worksong
12 - Tagh Suleri

Recordings by Anderson Bakewell, 1986-87



'Musique is tremendously important to the inhabitants of the former 'silk road'. not only are their lives accompanied throughout by musique of professional musicans [sazanda], hired to play at births, circumcisions, weddings & innumerable religious festivals, but musique as an amateur pursuit is, unlike many Islamic countries, actively encouraged. Instruments are found in every home & often played from a very young age. Singers are hired to accompany farmers in the fields, wandering mendicants [habdal] chant religious hymns in the bazaars & virtually any social gathering can be transformed, at the slightest provocation, into a mashrap [celebration], a cultural institution in which song & dance is the central focus.

There are large number of Uyghur folksongs, many universally known in the tarim basin. they are, like much turkic musique, linked to poetic forms marked by strong rhythms & tinged with melancholy. The subject is almost invariably love: meditations on the beauty of the beloved & the anguish of seperation or unrequited affections. The intersection of the musical genres of the amateur & professional musician makes categorization of Uyghur musique difficult, but the muqum fits the description in the popular mind of a classical musique. The muqum is of great significance to the Uyghurs, not only as a repository of musical inheritance, but also as the symbol of their cultural heritage.' ~ liners

the last recordings we have from the venerable Anderson Bakewell & among his most interesting work. something for everybody eyed think, whether you dig the spike fiddle dronage or entrancing chants. full booklet skans with notes by bakewell in french & english thoughtfully included. 320 thanks to toro y loco for the hook-up

VA ~ The Yemen Tihama: Trance & Dance Music from the Red Sea Coast of Arabia [Topic/ British Library]

The ferocious heat on Tihama, the Red Sea coastal plain of Yemen, is matched in the intensity of the tibbal musique, an African-Arabian amalgam that features lyres, reeds and virtuoso drumming. Its practitioners are largely drawn from the akhdam, an outcast group with a reputation for sorcery. Recordings & text by the prodigious Anderson Bakewell, 1982

it is very warm here lately, but not nearly as hot as it is in Tihama, one of the hottest regions on earth, which receives little benefit from the bi-annual monsoons. The Tihami are a profoundly resilient people & just to listen to their recordings is to find out what these folks do when it's hot. be sure to read all about em in the enclosed booklet written by Anderson Bakewell to accompany his masterful recordings of these trances & dances. an invaluable resource for a globally warmer tomorrow. huge thanks to 博林戈 for sharing. further

VA - Music of Makran ~ Traditional Fusion from Coastal Balochistan [Topic] recordings by Anderson Bakewell, 1991

Music from Makran, Baluchistan, Pakistan
Anderson Bakewell field recordings
Recording date: 1991.11
Recording location: Gwadar, Makran, Balochistan, Pakistan

1. Sheki Saz (Recorded In Karachi)
2. Gwati Saz (Recorded In Gwadar)
3. Lilo (Recorded In Pishukan)
4. Sot / Sheyrwandi / Gwati Saz (Recorded In Pasni)
5. Zahirok (Recorded In Panjgur)
6. Zahirok (Recorded In Karachi)
7. Bagey Saz / Simorgey Saz (Recorded In Gwadar)
8. Sheki Saz (Recorded In Pasni)
9. Zahirok / Sot (Recorded In Jiwani)
10. Gwati / Sot (Recorded In Pishukan)
11. Shwanagi Saz (Recorded In Gwadar)
12. Zahirok (Recorded In Pasni)
13. Nach Saz (Recorded In Jiwani)



The remote coastal area of Balochistan called Makran is the setting for a fusion of musical cultures from the Middle East, Indo-Pakistan and Africa, which have developed over centuries into a tradition of great intensity and beauty. The Baloch ethnic group stretches across modern national boundaries. Their traditional homeland, Balochistan, extends throughout Pakistan's Balochistan province, Iran's Sistan and Balochistan provinces, and nearby portions of Afghanistan. Balochs also reside in the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa. Baloch music can be roughly divided in terms of three geographical regions: eastern Balochistan, central and northern Balochistan, and the coast of Balochistan. On this release, Music of Makran: Traditional Fusion From Coastal Balochistan, the tracks are drawn from Makran, a dry and hilly tract of coastal Balochistan that stretches between the Persian Gulf and India along the Arabian Sea. The 13 tracks herein encompass a diverse mix of sounds. The end-blown donail double flute, vertically played suroz fiddle, long-necked damburag lute, and a host of other instruments transmit trance-inducing sounds and soothing melodies in a variety of musical forms. These include instrumental shepherd paeans, ceremonial recitations, love songs, wedding and circumcision music, and mythological tunes. Much of this selection is drawn from the repertoire performed during healing ceremonies.a superb offering from a stellar imprint. infinitely rewarding & ever worthy of repeated listening. if you dig fiddle tunes, this one's a no-brainer. find out if you don't know. 320 daps to arcturus