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Every two weeks the Folk And International Roots Album Club votes for an album that they will listen to and discuss in the coming weeks.
Anyone can vote in this poll, but if you vote, please follow through and be ready to discuss whichever album wins the poll.
For the first time we have nine nominations to choose between, including one from very welcome newcomer to MB, Joy Circumcision. Anyway, I hope you can all make a choice between the following profusion of musical gems :-
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Zion Roots by Abyssinia Infinite (2003)
From the oozing sax of the opener, Bati Bati, to the gentle pulsing loop of the closer, Ethiopia, Gigi`s seductive voice leads us through some beautifully produced traditional East African music.
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Greenhouse by Leo Kottke (1972)
OK, it`s been around a long time - in fact it`s been around since before Americana was a commonly used term - but this is still my favourite LK album. He covers a couple of Fahey compositions, but with this album it`s tempting to say that the student has outstripped the master; seven tracks of sparkling, unadorned acoustic guitar and four vocal tracks
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Originally Posted by Frownland
I'll nominate "Neshamah" by Tim Sparks. It's a nice solo acoustic guitar album that explores several different types of traditional Jewish music with some jazzy themes.
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Originally Posted by stp
Toumani Diabaté - The Mandé Variations (2008)
Featuring Toumani Diabaté playing solo kora. This video has some background on the musician and on the kora.
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Originally Posted by Frownland
I'll nominate Mayo Thompson's "Corky's Debt to His Father". It's a fantastic album by one of the Red Krayola's founding members and is essentially folk rock that blends together several different genres and is a fantastic listen, even for those who aren't fans of his later post punk work.
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Originally Posted by joy_circumcision
Really excited about this club, and I'll probably work on hearing all the picks you guys have made over the next couple of weeks. To give back, I'd like to nominate a personal favorite:
Frantz Casseus: Haitian Dances (1954)
A lovely lovely departure through the supple Caribbean fingers of Casseus, Haitian Dances briefs the listener on some of the best folk works in Haiti's canon. The album feels like a soothing lullaby for a gone day and goes well with sunsets and hammocks or a smoke-filled lonely island bar evacuating its final patrons at three in the morning.
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Originally Posted by stp
Sir Richard Bishop - Polytheistic Fragments (2007)
Quite an interesting mix here exploring various world influences and experimental outings.
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Originally Posted by stp
Group Bombino - Guitars From Agadez Vol. 2 (2009)
A modern evolution of northern African music traditions.
Keep in mind these are live field recordings so the quality's not great but the energy is pretty kicking.
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Originally Posted by stp
Hamza El Din - Al Oud: Instrumental & Vocal Music of Nubia (1965)
Bit of Oud music this time from an Egyptian born musician who apparently played with The Grateful Dead at one stage.
Thanks as always to everyone who makes the effort to share their enthusiasm for FAIR music here.
Now let`s get voting ....
__________________ "Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953
This is a really difficult choice—I'm interested in almost all of these—but I guess I'm going to have to go with Hamza El Din.
Hamza El Din basically made it his mission to collate as much Nubian folk music as he could before the region was flooded for a massive dam. I believe this album represents part of that effort.
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Originally Posted by Frownland
Voting Sir Richard Bishop here, I love his work with Sun City Girls.
From my understanding the Sun City Girls were probably more out there than the tracks on Polytheistic Fragments. Many of the tracks are just Sir Richard Bishop on acoustic guitar but there is some nice playing on the there. Speaking of Sun City Girls do you have any recommendations? I've yet to track some down.
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Originally Posted by stp
From my understanding the Sun City Girls were probably more out there than the tracks on Polytheistic Fragments. Many of the tracks are just Sir Richard Bishop on acoustic guitar but there is some nice playing on the there. Speaking of Sun City Girls do you have any recommendations? I've yet to track some down.
Oh I know of his solo work, I already have "While My Guitar Violently Bleeds", brilliant album. As per Sun City Girls, I'd either go with Box of Chameleons or Touch of the Mystics if you're going from Sir Richard Bishop to Sun City Girls. If you're new to them as a whole, I'd go with their s/t and Horse Cock Phephner. Be warned, they do--as you said--venture pretty far out there.
__________________
Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.
Hamza El Din basically made it his mission to collate as much Nubian folk music as he could before the region was flooded for a massive dam. I believe this album represents part of that effort.
Interesting though that the Oud is not a traditional Nubian instrument and for many it was their first exposure to it.
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Originally Posted by www.hamzaeldin.com
Born in Toskha, Nubia, in Egypt, Mr. El Din began playing oud while studying engineering at the University of Cairo. He also studied at the King Fouad Institute of Middle Eastern Music. Learning of plans to build the Aswan Dam, he quit his engineering job in Cairo and set off to preserve Nubian music before the people were dispersed. With his oud, an instrument unknown in Nubia, he traveled from village to village by donkey, gathering songs. He was playing in traditional Arabic style; it wasn't until his music acquired a distinctly Nubian flavor that it caught on.
"One day I felt the oud had a Nubian accent,'' Mr. El Din told The Chronicle in 1995. "I played for people in my village and they were mesmerized. I knew I had something.''
^ That`s an interesting story about Hamza El Din`s music, but I think I`m going to go for the Mayo Thompson this week as we`ve never had a folk-rock nomination before. I always hope for great things from folk-rock as a genre, but have usually been disappointed. Perhaps Mayo Thompson will be the exception !
As you say, Janszoon, there are a lot of interesting albums, and with a little patience we can get to most of them.
__________________ "Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953
OK, well there`s our winner for this poll : Frownland`s nomination by Mayo Thompson. Time to track it down if you can because there`ll be a discussion thread opening up on August 21, in which you can either praise it or damn it, whichever you feel is appropriate.
See you there, I hope.
__________________ "Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953
Vote for a FAIR album before August 14
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