Bali: Court Music and Banjar Music CD
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Various Artists
UNES-08059
$16.99
The Indonesian island of Bali is so small and densely populated that there has long been a complex system of cooperation among banjar, community groups within a village. Every family member shares duties in the household, every community member shares duties in the village, and every musician shares duties in creating a song. In the same way neighboring rice farmers have coordinated alternating watering patterns for maximum production, Balinese courtmusicians have developed interlocking melodies for maximum expression.
The gamelan ensembles heard here—consisting of bronze gongs and metallophones, bamboo flutes, and hand drums—are played in the kebyar ("lightning") style, at times so fast that it would be physically impossible without cooperation between paired players. The resulting music culls harmony from seeming chaos. The liner notes explain this phenomenon, as well as a brief history of Balinese musical tradition.
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Bali: Balinese Music of Lombok CD
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Various Artists
UNES-08272
$16.99
Easily overlooked for its tourist-destination neighbor, the Indonesian island of Lombok lies about twenty miles east of Bali. Hindu Balinese make up a very small minority population in Lombok, with cultural expressions that have greatly diverged from those in Bali. The music preserves some elements of ancient Balinese traditions and religion but also incorporates influences from the Lombok Islamic majority.
This album focuses on the religious and ceremonial context of the songs, illustrated through use of the gamelan, an ensemble with bronze percussion, flute, and hand drums. Some selections include voice, combining languages of Java, Bali, and the Sasak majority ethnic group in Lombok and solo performances, such as the preret double-reed oboe. The liner notes provide a brief introduction to the music and commentary about each selection on the recording.
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| Switzerland: Zäuerli, Yodel of Appenzell CD
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Various Artists
UNES-08026
$16.99
This collection of traditional zäuerli (wordless yodels) was recorded by ethnomusicologist Hugo Zemp in the Appenzell region of northeastern Switzerland, an area known for its dairy farms. Zäuerli are among the most celebrated yodels in the world and have a very distinct sound. Contrasted with the yodeling of central Switzerland, which is high and fast-paced, Appenzell zäuerli are sung in the lower register of the vocal range and feature a relaxed voice, slow tempo, and an elongation of the tones. The yodels compiled here are songs of work—sung while milking cows or herding cattle—social life, and celebration. The liner notes are in English, French, and German.
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| Sicily: Music for the Holy Week CD
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Various Artists
UNES-08210
$16.99
During Holy Week, proceeding Easter, many Sicilian villages celebrate with costumed processions through the streets. Often accompanied by music on themes of the Passion, these popular parade ceremonies have roots in agrarian pre-Christian rites. The songs are mostly sung in distorted Latin, though some are in Italian, and feature a polyphonic structure and choral style with soloing. Some of the songs included on this album are derivations of ancient liturgical hymns, while others are lighter, more modern compositions. These songs were recorded under the supervision of Elsa Guggino and Girolamo Garofalo in the late 1980s and early '90s. The liner notes are in English, French, and Italian.
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Corsica: Religious Music of Oral Tradition CD
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Various Artists
UNES-08012
$16.99
Recorded in 1977 in the remote Corsican village of Rusiu (or Rusio), the music featured on this album is performed in a style of medieval folk polyphony that has been adapted to the modern world. The paghiella singers—typically three, a lead tenor, a second tenor, and a bass—form a close team whose repertoire has been passed on to them over centuries through oral tradition.
Following a Mass Dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary and a Requiem Mass, the final track on the album, "Dio vi salvi Regina," is one of the most popular songs in Corsica. Believed to be composed in the 18th century, it was performed in 1735 when Corsica was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and is considered a national song.
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| | | Fourteen (14) New UNESCO Re-ISSUES
ATTN: Colleges and Libraries
UNESCO Re-issue CD SALE
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Nowhere else, as far as we know, can you get these titles for $15.29!
Visit our home page, scroll toward the bottom, and you will see every UNESCO CD re-issue now available: 86 titles in all, so far. When you search for the UNESCO titles on our website, the catalog code is UNES.
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Afghanistan: Music During the Civil War (1979–2001) CD
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Various Artists  UNES-08320
$16.99
Afghanistan: Music of the Civil War (1979-2001) is one of twelve previously unreleased albums from the UNESCO Collection of Traditional Music. The album includes music from 1979—the year of the Soviet Union's invasion—to the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001. These 22 years of civil war greatly impacted the cultural life of Afghanistan, with extreme censorship and economic poverty resulting in the deaths of many artists, and an exodus of many others. Although the circumstances have now improved for artists, annotator Jan van Belle states that "it will still take a long time to rebuild the musical infrastructure, create the conditions for the return of musicians and instrument builders in exile." The artists featured on this album are professional musicians once employed by Radio Kabul, living in poor conditions during the time of these recordings.
This album features mostly folk music (musiqi mahalli), with vocals taking a prominent role over other instruments. All of the tracks are sung in Dâri (Fârsi), the main language spoken in North Afghanistan, where most of the recordings took place. The melodies used on this album mainly feature the bairawi mode, which resembles the Phrygian mode in Western classical music. Common characteristics of Afghani folk music include a small vocal range, double and triple rhythms, and asymmetrical meters. Other instruments featured on the album include the rubâb (double-chambered, short-necked lute), ghijak (bowed lute with two or three strings),and the tabla (pair of small kettle drums).
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Turkish Classical Music: Tribute to Yunus Emre CD
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Various Artists  UNES-08303 $16.99
This 1991 recording is a tribute to the poet Yunus Emre on the 750th anniversary of his birth. Emre was a 13th-century troubadour and mystic whose poems focused on God and nature.
Beginning in the 19th century, Turkish composers began to use Western music notation to document their classical music. Before then, Turkish music was not notated, being passed by memorization from generation to generation. As a result many compositions were lost to history. For example, only 30 works of Abdülkadir of Maraga, a great 14th-century composer and musicologist, have survived into modern times. This recording by the National Choir of Turkish Classical Music sets to music the works of 13 of Turkey's greatest poets and composers.
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Oman: Arabian Weddings CD
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Various Artists  UNES-08305 $16.99
Arabian weddings in Oman are multi-day celebrations involving hundreds of participants, announcing to the community a union between two individuals, families, or tribes. In a rapidly modernizing society, weddings are also occasions for Omanis to keep their distinctive regional arts alive. This recording features a diverse assortment of performances by organized groups, which combine singing, poetry, dancing, and instruments including cymbals, drums, a conch trumpet called jim, and the oboe-like mizmar.
Recorded in 1990, this previously unreleased album from the UNESCO Collection of Traditional Music captures the sounds of a typical wedding of Omani Arabs in the Batinah, the northern coastal region of Oman.
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Solomon Islands: Fataleka and Baegu Music from Malaita CD
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Various Artists  UNES-08027 $16.99
Malaita, the most densely populated of the Solomon Islands, is located about 1,200 miles off the northeast coast of Australia. The island is home to the Fataleka and Baegu peoples, whose music is influenced by the traditional religious beliefs that were practiced before their conversion to Christianity in the 19th century.
This album showcases the varied contexts in which these groups use the ubiquitous bamboo bundle panpipe (susuku). The songs of the maome (funeral rituals) weave together panpipes with clapping sticks and a choir singing with closed mouths in polyphonic harmonies. In other ceremonial songs, dancers become musicians with rattles on their ankles, stomping the ground to create a striking beat. Women play a prominent role on the album singing and playing a two-string bamboo bow.
In 1992, French electronica duo Deep Forest heavily sampled "Rorogwela" (track 8) in their hit song "Sweet Lullaby."
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Byelorussia: Musical Folklore of the Byelorussian Polessye CD
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Various Artists  UNES-08005 $16.99
Covering southern Belarus and northern Ukraine, the region of Polessye is known as "the land of legends, fairy tales, and songs." Influenced by a landscape filled with forests and meadows, the traditional music from this area often revolves around seasonal changes, harvests, and related festivities. The vast terrain also inspired the practice of open-air group singing, which can be heard throughout the album. These spirited songs are colored by polyphonic chants around instruments including the fife, violin, and, on one track, the dulcimer—rare in Polessye music.
The liner notes provide full details on instruments and the cultural significance of each track.
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Peru: Andean Music of Life, Work, and Celebration CD
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Various Artists  UNES-08307 $16.99
UNESCO's previously unreleased album Peru: Andean Music of Life, Work, and Celebration presents a wide array of rural indigenous musical traditions, culled from the most outstanding historical field recordings found in the archives of the Institute of Ethnomusicology of the Catholic University of Peru. The vast collection includes previously undocumented pre-Hispanic genres, such as the Harawi and Wanka ritual styles. Music of courtship, marriage, work, ritual, celebration, and Christmas devotion takes us into the heart of indigenous life in many regions of Andean Peru. To better guide the listener, the recording is divided into five sections: Music and Lifecycle, Music and Work, Music and Dances, Carnival Music, and Religious Songs and Christmas Songs. Compiler and annotator Raul R. Romero provides meticulous liner notes, which give the listener a thorough overview of the recordings on this new release.
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Indonesia: Java - Music of the Theatre CD
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Various Artists  UNES-08078 $16.99
Traditional Javanese theater exists in various forms, featuring either puppets or dancers, and music from gamelan percussion ensembles. Musicians set the tone for each scene, softening or intensifying as they accompany the dalang (story narrator) and waranggana (chorus).
This recording presents two styles of classic Indonesian musical theater rarely performed today. "Langen mandra wanara" ("Song of the Monkeys") is a large-scale dance-drama based on a segment of the Hindu Ramayana epic. "Langen driyan"("Diversion of the Heart"), performed with an all-female cast, illustrates a centuries-old Hindu-Javanese legend of a royal battle. Both pieces use the pentatonic slendro tuning system, recognized as more dynamic and dramatic for theater, and both are considered unique to Java in the diverse world of Indonesian music.
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Viet Nam: Court Theatre Music: Hat-Bôi CD
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Various Artists  UNES-08058 $16.99
The traditional court theater of Vietnam is called hat bôi (hat: theater; bôi: masked or painted face). Although hat bôi bears a superficial resemblance to Chinese theater, the instrumentals and vocals are distinctly Vietnamese. This musical theater genre began in the early 14th century, reaching a peak in popularity in the 19th century. In the mid-20th century it all but vanished due to the rise of modern theatrical styles; however, the reunification of Vietnam in 1975 has resulted in further study and interest in the preservation of the tradition by educators and musicians.
This album recorded by noted musicologist Trân Van Khê presents excerpts and scenes from traditional plays performed by musicians and singers from the Academy of Dramatic Art and the traditional theater troupe of Ho Chi Minh City.
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Yemen: Traditional Music of the North CD
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Various Artists  UNES-08004 $16.99
The music of Yemen has evolved in a different manner than that of other Arab countries: it is predominantly vocal, and it does not use the maqam modal system. Religious restrictions limit the use of musical instruments, but the Yemenite oud (a type of lute or lyre) is the basis for a distinctive prepertoire, with evidence of its use tracing back to ancient texts. Playing of the oud may be supported by the gasaba (flute), mizmar (clarinet), and drums.
Of note on this recording is an excerpt of music from a Yemenite Zafat, or wedding. A Zafat is the most accessible public ceremony in Yemen, and the music becomes the soundtrack to a street procession of the groom and his guests to the wedding house. Although the processional music (a responsorial song) normally lasts about an hour, this example reproduces only the concluding section with common Yemenite traditional melodies. For more on the relationship between the songs and customs, see the liner notes.
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Wayang Kulit Collection 21 DVDs
(MCM-5000) $199.00 Special Sale Price!
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The performances in this collection include the three major performance styles of wayang kulit performed today: "classic" (klasik), "contemporary-interpretive" (garapan), and "condensed" (padat). The landmark work contained in these two packages — available as a full collection -- includes a total of 21 DVDs and 33 hours of performances.
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JVC Smithsonian Folkways World Regional DVD Collections
ON SALE
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