Michael Church presents our occasional look at the finest world music releases
March round-up
When Ligeti fell in love with the rhythms of the Aka Pygmies and proved by juxtaposing his piano studies with their music that their rhythms were every bit as complex as his own, he opened a door through which other European musicians have gratefully passed. He may not have heard the music of the Gbaya in the Central African Republic, but he would have loved that too: for proof, listen to Gbaya Music – Thinking Songs, an Ocora LP title which has now been re-released. It all focuses on a thumb-piano called a sanza, whose gentle sound is amplified by its being set inside a resonating gourd, and the sophistication of its music is based on the mechanics of its small keyboard.
Its ten tongues are divided into two families, and in each family the tongues are called either ‘child’, ‘father’, or ‘mother’; the children are represented by the high tones, the adults by the deeper ones, and many forms of dialogue are thus possible. The instrumental playing on this disc, backed up with a rattle and a rhythm stick, has a dreamy quality to which the solo singers gently respond. These recordings were made in 1977 – a golden age compared with the present, with the country now being menaced by war and the encroachment of Ebola. (Ocora C583008 ★★★★★)
Who knows anything about the Baluchi? Who even knows where they live? Not an easy one to answer, since these Gypsy-like people have spread through much of Western Asia, as has their marvellous music. Ocora’s Baluchistan: The Instrumental Tradition is a dazzling display on instruments found nowhere else, with close stylistic links to North Indian raga. The star on this recording is Rasulbakhsh Zangeshâhi, a taxi driver by day who has refused to play on radio or television, but whose solos on the four-string sorud have intricacy and an ineffable sweetness. (Ocora 561105 ★★★★★)
Meanwhile Ensemble Yonin no Kai: Jiuta and Kotouta, recorded in 1979, is Japanese classical music at its most rarefied and graceful, with voice, shamisen lute, shakuhachi flute and koto zither. The recordings here were made by a celebrated foursome who had been playing together for 20 years; their historically important repertoire dates from the early 19th century. This disc is a re-release. (Ocora 583069 ★★★★)
Ever since the international success of Le mystère des voix bulgares, record companies have rushed to cash in on those beguiling sounds which had first been recorded by a Swiss song collector then reissued by Nonesuch. Angelite is the stage name of the all-female original Voix bulgares, and this new disc displays their artistry in arrangements of traditional songs which honour the essential qualities of Bulgarian folk song – four-square modal harmonies, vibrato-free sound and powerful female baritones – while developing their art form in new ways. (Jaro 4348-2
★★★★)
Finally, another fascinating reissue: Music from Turkey, recorded in the 1960s and ’70s by a group of Turkish musicians called the Sameyda Ensemble. Their disc, backed up by an informative booklet, gives an overview of Turkish traditional music in all its forms, from orchestral marches and vocal numbers to brilliant improvisations. Every musical tradition has its own terminology: this one holds that notes ‘suffer’ together when several strings are plucked at once. (Caprice CAP 21878
★★★★)