Pécheurs de Perles et Musiciens du Golfe Persique LP [Ocora 042, 1968] recorded 1962-63

Face A

01 Songs of the pearl divers [recorded in Maharraq, Bahrain]

Face B

01. Taqsim [maqam rast] rec in Manama, Bahrain
02. Baluchi wedding musique [rec in Sharaj, Trucial Coast]
03. Lyre & song - kafur moubarek [rec in Manama, Bahrain]
04. Musique for bagpipe & drums [rec in Manama, Bahrain]

This particular record album presents the first sound recordings of the musique of the arab sheikhdoms of the persian gulf to be published in the west. these documents were collected during a musicological mission to Bahrain & Sharjah in the winter of 1962/1963.

Pearl diving in the persian gulf dates baque more than 4,000 years. numerous songs are connected with virtually every stage of diving from when the anchor is raised, when the men row out, when the sails are hoisted, when the men dive to look for pearl oysters & when the oysters are opened. the hahams sing solo one after another whilst the saibs & divers produce a drone in a very low pitch, more than two octaves below the register of the soloist. this drone is rather surprising phenomenon & might be likened to guttural tibetan chant. side A is essentially 18 minutes of this madness.

On the flip we have a very nice taqsim played on oud, wedding musique on surnai [a 6-holed conical oboe] & tabl [drums w/ 2 laced skins], a chant with tanboura [lyre] accompaniment & some wild jams featuring jirbe [double clarinet made of goatskin] with tabl drums pounding underneath. 320 vinyl rip & liner skans. tanx & praise to op

VA - Dances and Trances: Sufi Rites and Berber Music from Taroudannt, Morocco [field recordings from 1994 - 95]

Dances and Trances
Sufi Rites and Berber Music
Taroudannt, Morocco, 1994-1995
Sufi Brotherhoods and Street Musicians
Recording & liner notes by James Irsay [i tink]
World Arbiter [2000]

1. Adhan for Early-Morning Prayer
2. First Guerrera
3. Second Guerrera
4. Guerrera Performed by Men
5. Combined Adhans for Salat as-Soubh
6. Egyptian Style Song With Oud
7. 1st Berber Song
8. 2nd Berber Song
9. Hadra

Recordings from Taroudannt, Morocco, 1994-1995; a series of Moroccan Sufis practicing trance rites which outsiders are rarely able to witness. The city of Taroudannt, Morocco, is surrounded by perfectly-preserved red-ochre mud walls dating back, in part, to the 16th century Saadien dynasty, which chose Taroudannt as its capital before moving to the larger and more accessible Marrakesh. While the walls and their ramparts are impressive, the real attraction of Taroudannt lies in its purely Moroccan character, which has remained essentially unchanged for centuries. Situated in the Souss River valley and cut off by the snow-capped peaks of the Haut-Atlas mountains to the North, and the semi-desert Anti-Atlas range to the South, the French occupiers never created a modern ville-nouvelle here, with the typical unimaginative grid of streets one finds in many cities, large and small, throughout Morocco. The feeling of Taroudannt is timeless and traditional. A note about the recordings: the Guerreras and the Hadra were recorded with a hand-held stereo microphone, allowing free movement through the musicians and capturing the performances from a variety of vantage points. Sometimes particular instruments or voices were targeted, allowing the listener to hear the role they played. As a result, the sound is not static, the balance of elements shifting with the motion of the microphone. The performances were not the result of prearranged sessions. All were "encounters," recorded at public events held during the course of daily life in Morocco. Particularly in the large Guerrera, you will hear a throng of participants, surrounded by their expressions of enthusiasm and excitement, along with their casual socializing. Vocal drones, hypnotic percussion, chants, stringed instrumental accompaniment and winds, all captured live and in the moment for a sonic travelogue experience.

by far some of the most intense & evocative recordings, ethnomusicological or otherwise, in the last coupla decades. no artist names unfortunately. the egyptian oud song is particularly fabulous & yude be wise to excavate other oud recordings posted previously in this very treehaus. liner notes thoughtfully enclosed for the literate