Lisnaholic

Here´s a chance for anyone to comment on -or ask about- this album chosen by misspoptart:-

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"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

misspoptart

Ya'll better vote right now! It's one of my favorite albums ever! Here are a few more songs for your listening pleasure:







The last song is quite possibly my favorite song to listen to when feeling down, ever. It doesn't exactly lift you up, but it makes you feel like your problem is really trivial.

Please give it a listen!

Lisnaholic

Great to see some fighting spirit, misspoptart ! I´m afraid the club has hit one of it´s ocassional doldrums. For myself, I´ve been rather busy and had trouble locating the Niyaz album. Still haven´t tracked it down, but I´d like to mention some first impressions about your clips.

I like the overall sound; smooth but mysterious, and I really loved the last song with it´s ethereal, melancholy mood; my only complaint is that it´s not long enough ! I was just settling into it and it finished,but that used to be the golden rule of the live entertainment business, didn´t it ? "Always leave them wanting more."

^ This is my favourite song,though.
Ordinarily, I let world music vocals wash over me, more like an instrument than a language, but with this clip you can see what´s going on; the powerful question and answer dynamic of the song and the string of clever rural/romantic metaphors. You can also see how the song is beautifully constructed around a sequence of phrases that repeat, vary and accumulate. In this case it leads you along to a great, sustained bit of singing at the end. The insight into the lyrics really added to my enjoyment of this tour-de-force from the singer.

Here´s another example of the repeat-and-add pattern that I´m thinking of. It´s a pattern that has a universal appeal, I suspect; especially, but not exclusively for children:-

So, lots to like about Niyaz; I´m hoping to find the album and vote at the weekend.

Finally, regarding the FAIR club, we´ve missed a complete voting cycle, but I´ll put up another poll on the 21st. Nominations welcome as always !

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"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

misspoptart

I'll try to send it to you!

Thank you thank you for the feedback. I'm glad you like "In the Shadow of Life" that much! I really do too. Maybe I can make a looping version that we can listen to for 10 hours on youtube. JUST KIDDING!

Lisnaholic

You´re welcome, misspoptart ! Thanks for offering to help, but another club member has been kind enough to oblige and I am now giving the album a proper listen, so an actual vote should turn up soon.

Many thanks to the club member who shall remain nameless for fear of legal reprisals !

__________________
"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

Stephen

I've been trying to think of a nice way of saying that I found it unexceptional. Sorry misspoptart to disparage one of your favourite albums . I liked it well enough but I wasn't particularly moved. Reminiscent of Dead Can Dance at times which is possibly a good thing but meant that it was a sound I am more than familiar with. I suppose one could argue a certain degree of authenticity over Dead Can Dance who merely emulate an Eastern sound.

Perhaps of interest to you Lisnaholic I thought you may have recommended the Huun Huur Tu album Eternal at some stage though I couldn't find the post I imagined.



This was recorded with Carmen Rizzo who is one of the core members of Niyaz.

misspoptart

Hey stp, no problem at all. I'm glad you have a different opinion, really. Now I'll have to check out Dead Can Dance and Huun Huur Tu.

Lisnaholic

^ Well, I think you found a great way of doing exactly that.

As I listened to the album, I also felt that I´d heard something quite similar elsewhere. Maybe what actually stands out for me is that this album doesn´t have any weak tracks at all; from start to finish, there is a consistent high quality. There may be no cutting-edge experiments going on, but there is a rich tapestry of sounds; turn it down and it´s nice background music, turn it up and you can hear how the different instruments are contributing. In fact, I was going to vote "Good" for Niyaz, but now I´ve talked myself into voting "Excellent" instead !

^ No, I didn´t come across Eternal; I stopped exploring after finding If I´d been born an eagle and Where young grass grows. A meeting point between Huun Huur Tu and Niyaz certainly sounds intriguing ...

^ Here´s a place to start, if you like, misspoptart:-

http://www.musicbanter.com/country-f...n-huur-tu.html

- and Stephen (formerly stp) is a total Dead Can Dance expert. He can probably fix it that they go round and play in your living room for you !

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"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

Stephen

I guess I did imagine it.


I'm not so sure about my influence seeing they barely made it to Melbourne on their recent tour. I do have renewed respect for them though after seeing them live. Lisa Gerrard's voice was quite spectacular. Listening to Niyaz though I did find myself pondering Dead Can Dance's authenticity. I believe I mentioned somewhere that Lisa Gerrard sings in a language she basically made up. She tends to use fairly Eastern sounds and I found myself wondering if she would get away with it if they had chosen another style. For instance if they played faux Chinese and she sang gibberish with Chinese inflections I don't imagine she would get away with it without coming across as a racist tosser. I still love their music but that thought did trouble me .

Lisnaholic

^ Yes, it´s a bit disappointing when a band feel that they´re too busy to visit their grass-roots fans. What town, btw, did Dead Can Dance start out in?

Now that you mention it, Lisa Gerrard has made a very unusual career choice as a vocalist. Plenty of precedent for singing gibberish, of course, although stuff like with a hey-nonny, do-be-do-be-do, etc. are usually added into proper lyrics. There is another artist who does a lot of wordless singing: Meredith Monk, who I came across thanks to Freebase Dali and dankrsta. IMO this track is easily the best thing she did:



She´s not imitating some regional style though, so she doesn´t have to worry about authenticity or respect for someone else´s culture. I wonder how Dead Can Dance would go down in Asia Minor ? Would people find it offensive, do you think? Maybe we can persuade misspoptart to conduct an opinion poll on the streets of Istanbul for us.

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"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953