Iran: The Masters of Traditional Music, Vol. 1

The war in Iran, regardless of the views of who is at fault or not, is mostly a tragedy for the people of that amazing country, which has offered so much in the cultural realm for millenia.  This blogger's first exposure to the stunning music of the Persian people came in 1990, a few years before my wife and I began our relationship and there are fond memories of listening and discussing some of these performances with my late father-in-law, who hailed from Hamadan and then lived in Tehran before migrating to the United States in the late 1950s.

This recording from the stellar Ocora/Radio France label dates from 1979, the year that the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown in a revolution led by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and which was followed by the establishment of the Islamic Republic now attacked by the United States and Israel.  It features a quintet of pieces by Dariush Tala'i on tar and setar, Mohammad Musavi on the ney and Majod Kiani on the santur.

The depth and breadth of this music is also a reminder of the influences that span large segments of our little blue planet and defy borders, boundaries, ideologies and politics.  These masters deliver stunning performances with beautiful melodies, great technical skill, and a high degree improvisational ability.  As the liner notes explain, an effort was undertaken in the mid-1800s to preserve ancient musical concepts from throughout Iran, yielding a repertoire called radif.

This involved collating many melodic ideas, as well as the structures of tunes in modes, so that there are up to 300 of the first and a dozen modal systems and most of the radif are comprised of solo pieces in five genres.  There is, however, ample room for master musicians to express their own styles, including methods of improvisation.  This latter means that this trio of players are able to both follow the strictures of tradition while providing a freshness in their performances and delivering music remarkable for its richness as well as skill.

As this conflict continues, it is well for us to remember that the Iranian people are enmeshed in a terrible crisis not of their own making or desire, but their culture, including the incredible music in this recording, remains above the fray.

Anthology of the Music of Niger

Niger is a large landlocked nation of more than 26 million persons in the northwester portion of Africa, bordered by Benin and Nigeria to the south, Chad to the east, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west and Algeria and Libya to the north.  Four-fifths of the country is within the enormous Sahara Desert, so most of its people, almost totally Muslim, reside in the southern and western sections, the Sahel, with its capital, Niamey, in the southwestern corner along the river that gives the country and its neighbor their names.

This recording, another from the many released by the Ocora label in France, which ruled Niger as part of its West Africa colonies, was made in 1963, just a few years after the nation's independence, and it features thirteen pieces from various portions of the country.  This is music pared down to its essence, with soloists and ensemble vocals, a few kinds of lute and flute-type instruments, and percussion including hand-clapping.  The works reflect a variety of aspects of life for varying tribal groups in Niger and are  highly immersive and very compelling.

Topics of the songs include elements of weddings, tribal epics, a eulogy of workers like camel-drivers, a tale of a renowned hunter, religion and magic, love, praise of various kinds and the last, a remarkable one involving a game called charaou, in which a young man from the Peul people who is publicly lashed with a whip and encouraged by those observing with music and chanting to maintain his courage.  Other tribal groups represented are the Sonrai, Djerma, Touareg, and Hausa.

The percussion is often rhythmically complex and rich in its variations of sound and the instruments are also of great interest, but, for this listener, the most fascinating aspect is the great variety of vocalizations, including some remarkable solos as well as the choral work by different sized ensembles.  It was, obviously, brilliant that this music was recorded when it was, just after Niger became a new republic, though like many African nations after European colonialism, political struggles continue and are compounded by the increasingly drastic effects of climate change.  

This amazing recording captivatingly captures a great range of what was performed by tribes throughout the country and exposes those far away to incredible sound worlds greatly removed from their own.

L. Subramaniam: In Concert

From one violinist, Laurie Anderson, to another, we turn to the astounding Lakshminarayana Subramaniam, whose Carnatic music from South India is a wonder to hear.  This scintillating live recording from the November 1983 Festival de Lille in France and released by Radio France's Ocora imprint through Harmonia Mundi, includes three tunes, two well over 20 minutes and the other a mere seven, as the master, accompanied by his late wife, Viji (niece of the great Ravi Shankar) on tambura and Varadarao Kamakalar Rao, who died last fall, on mridangam.

Known as "L. Subramaniam," the virtuoso, the son of musicians, was a child prodigy and studied under his father before he was five years old.  An uncle was vocalist Ramnad Krishnan, whose Vidwan album for the Nonesuch Explorer series became a favorite when purchased around 1990, while his brothers were also accomplished musicians, as are the maestro's three children.  He studied medicine and was registered as a general practitioner before turning to music, including advanced study in Western classical music, as his vocation.

He has recorded prolifically and this blogger's first experience with Subramaniam's music was his Karnatic Violin album, also released by Ocora.  The liner notes call him "the Paganini of carnatic music," and, whether referencing a Western violin master is apropos or not, it is also striking that the text says that he "embodies both the serenity of the Indian musician and the magnetism of a Western movie star."  Whatever this means, Subramaniam is quoted as saying that his development was done "unconsciously," though he added that, under his father, "we had a very severe daily routine," even as he stated that he and his siblings could not get enough music despite the intense study.

The master added, "I wanted to return to the sources of carnatic tradition" and "to change the function of the violin, to no longer limit its function to that of accompanying the voice."  Moreover, he set out to widen the range from two or three to five or six octaves and this meant playing longer ragas, so that "that is why I only play two or three compositions during a concert" as this was "much more satisfying. I can get totally immersed in my music."  So do we, as he follows tradition in terms of beginning a piece slowly, expressing themes and then improvising at great length, increasing complexity and expression and at frequently dizzying speed and dazzling proficiency.  In Concert is a stunning exposition of Subramaniam's sublime art within the time-honored Carnatic musical tradition going back thousands of years.

Iraq: The Maqams of Baghdad

Here is another stellar recording in the series issued by Ocora, the label of Radio France, featuring amazing music from around the world.  Recorded in the Iraqi capital and ancient city of immense historical importance in 1972, The Maqams of Baghdad, runs not too far over 50 minutes and features three compositions in this traditional style, including the Husseini, Hleilawi and Seigah, with the first and last lasting just over 20 minutes each and the middle about half that length.

The hypnotic performances by vocalist Yusuf Omar and the Al Tchaighi Al Baghdadi ensemble, including Abdallah Ali on the santur, Sha-ubi Ibrahim and Hassan Ali on djoze, Abdul Razzak Madjid on tabla, Kan'an Mohamed Salih and Dia' Mahmoud Ahmad on deff are just spectacular.  Important with any recordings of music from other lands, the liner notes by Professor Scheherazade Qassim Hassan, who taught at the University of Baghdad from 1967-1982, established that city's Center for Traditional Music, and later taught in London, Paris and Prague written nearly a quarter century later, are very information and enlightening.

Dr. Hassan wrote that the maqam vocal tradition likely dates back to as far back as the 8th century and, with deep connections to other parts of the Islamic world, given Baghdad's central location, necessarily evolved.  She added, as is the case throughout the world, that intensive modernization and Westernization, not to mention economic, political and social conflict, led to a dramatic loss of performers and a simplification of the form.  Moreover, she emphasized the fact that the maqam in Iraq, of which there were some 50 examples, was differentiated from the maqam of other Arab countries in that it specifically concerned vocalization.

These three pieces are remarkable and indicative of what often happens to the traditional music of countries around the world when conditions change dramatically.  In Iraq, Saddam Hussein took control of the nation seven years after his recording and the terrible war with Iran followed, during which Professor Hassan left for Europe.  Hussein's ouster by the United States in the Second Gulf War involved more turmoil in the nation and Middle Eastern politics is, of course, incredibly turbulent and dangerous currently.  This recording, however, is a reminder of the amazing musical history of this ancient society and its culture.

Madagascar: Pays Antanosy Sarandra

Madagascar, an island off the southeastern portion of Africa (and probably only known to most Americans because of the 2005 film of the name) is more culturally related to the Indonesian archipelago a few thousand miles east across the Indian Ocean though it is also deeply tied to France because of the colonial control asserted by that European power for about six decades until independence came in 1960 and also has strong religious affiliations with Islam.

The Malagasy people include the Antanosy, who largely occupy the southastern end of the island, and this recording from the great Ocora label focuses on sarandra, a genre of singing that the liner notes compares to the performances of Andalusian flamenco vocalists in northern Spain.  Moreover, it is said that the genre "really comes into its own when performed at funeral wakes" as "this music plays the role of memory" and involves "a sort of emotional commentary on the deceased" and relationships with the living and ancestors.  The singing is also described as blues-like and employs many notes to a syllable in the lyrics and it is telling that "the Antanosy say they love musical expression because it makes them cry."

Instruments include the sosoly, a type of flute broadly called the sodina, and is related to the ney used extensive in Arabic music; the kabosa, or lute, and which also came from the Arab and Persian migrations of long ago and another word used is mandaly, akin to mandolin; the langoro, or membranophone, which is a two-skin cylinder-shaped drum hit with a pair of sticks; and, occasionally, the atrañatra, a xylophone played only by women and situated on their legs, jejo bory, or short lute, and the lokanga, or fiddle, though these have been falling out of favor.

A little more than half the tracks, the first 11, were recorded in Paris in 2006, while the remaining nine were captured in various locations in Madagascar between 1998 and 2000 and, while the instrumental portions can be quite remarkable, it is the vocalizations that are the most striking and evocative.  As with other music in areas of the world that are totally, or almost completely, unfamiliar, hearing this album is an incredible experience, opening vistas that help bring at least a modicum of understanding about what brings people from very different backgrounds together through the universal language of music.

China: Uyghur Music

One of the great tragedies of our time is the terrible treatment of the Uyghur people of the province of Xinjiang at the furthest western edge of China, with the government engaging in horrific efforts to suppress their culture and "reeducate" and indoctrinate them into Han Chinese society.  We can only hope that, ultimately, the cultural and social practices of the Uyghur will persevere in the face of such tyrannical actions, including the music.  

This recording from 2011 and released seven years on the incredible Ocora label of Radio France presents a dozen pieces, including the Chong Näghmä and the Dastan Näghmä, multi-movement works, and a Mäshräp vocal based on a Sufi poem.  Given the long history of these Muslim people, the musical ties extend throughout central and eastern Asia, including to Persia, Tajikistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan and other areas.

Vocals by men and women and instrumentation on frame drums and percussion, lutes and fiddles reflect a long tradition of complex and compelling music that is truly intoxicating to hear.  Hearing this music is a direct experience of how the famed Silk Road from Persia to China manifested its influences, just as music from India and the Middle East traveled, through the lute instruments from the sitar to the guitar, southwest through the northern portions of Africa to Spain via the incredibly rapid Muslim spread and then made the leap to the New World.

The muqam. or system of melodies based on arrangements of pitches, uses scales on which improvisation is developed and refers to these motifs during pieces that can often be quite lengthy.  So, on this October 2011 recording, the Chong Näghmä takes up well over a half hour and the Dastan Näghmä is just more than 23 minutes in length.  The mäshräp is a specifically male performance for social occasions typically one of significance for bonding Uyghur men.

Sadly, the repression of the Muslim Uyghurs threatens all aspects of their society, including their music, though one hopes that resilience will keep this remarkable tradition going in the face of oppression.

México: The Festival of San Miguel Tzinacapan

Issued in 1996 on the great Ocora label from Radio France, which has issued some of the most amazing world music available, this recording from the village of San Miguel Tzinacapan, in the state of Puebla northeast of México City, is a reminder of the importance of going back to the essence of music as a part of some vital human activity.

In this case, the hour-and-fifteen-minute album is a showpiece for the Nahuat people, who live in the Sierra Norte Mountains and merge ancient indigenous traditions with more modern European ones in the annual celebration of the festival of San Miguel (St. Michael.)  It is also good for us to remember that music and dance, as well as pageantry, theatrical presentation and others, are usually not separated in much of the world.

The performances here reflect Christian themes, as well as those relating to Spain of centuries ago, so the Santiago dances concern the Reconquista in which Spanish Christians battled to reclaim their land from the Muslim Moors, who conquered most of the Iberian peninsula in the 8th century.  This is reflected in dialogues in the sons, or the compositions, between St. James and Pontius Pilate, but there is also the syncretic aspect of words in Nahuatl, a language of the broader indigenous Uto-Aztecan family.

There are also dances related to bullfighting, to St. Michael the Archangel battling evil angels the voladores invoking indigenous gods of water and the negrito concerning a Black teenager's treatment for a snake bite with African rituals.  Drums, flutes and bells are the main instruments and, while there was an indigenous clay flute, the ones used in the recording seem more European.  

Listening to music from other parts of the world feels educational as well as entertaining and this one is a transport to a place that holds on to ancient native traditions while adopting those of the colonizers, even as these are now from five centuries ago.

Alim Qasimov: Azerbaïdjan

Along with the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the Pakistani Qawwali master singer, Alim Qasimov, who hails from Shamakha in the Central Asian republic of Azerbaïdjan (often rendered as Azerbaijan), is an amazing vocalist.

Qasimov did not come from a family of musicians, but his performances in the mugham tradition led him to the heights of recognition in his country while he was in his mid-twenties, including several genres as well as in playing the framed drum, or daf.  He has toured much of the world, including in Iran, where the mugham form began.

On this 1992 album from the remarkable Radio France label, Ocora, Qasimov is accompanied by the Mansurov brothers, Eisah on the kamancha, a bowed string instrument, and Malik on the tar, a plucked lute.  The trio, honing their skills in a partnership developed over years, perform seamlessly and telepathically, conveying the beauty and complexity of Azerbaijani mugham.  

Qasimov is obviously the central figure and his technique is stunning, projecting great clarity, enunciation, tone and emotion, as well as his remarkable improvised vocal effects.  It is said in the very informative liner notes by Jean During (who discusses Azerbaijani music, the instruments and the pieces) that, as is often true of master musicians, Qaismov and the Mansurovs were best appreciated in a large-scale live setting became of the impact they had on audiences.

Japan: Nagauta

This is another incredible release on the Ocora label from Radio France and features four long pieces (nagauta), ranging from 12 to over 31 minutes, of pieces performed in the Kabuki theater, along with classical dance.  Intense vocals accompanied by the shamisen, a three-stringed lute, and flutes along with three types of drums, provide a fascinating sound palette, though anyone who isn't attuned to the instrumental tunings and singing style, much less the length of the songs, may struggle with this music.

The Kineya Ensemble includes a quartet of vocalists and shamisen players, a flautist, and five drummers while the four works date from 1774, 1834, 1856 and 1933, with the first three dating to before Westernization became a priority in Japan to preserve its independence and prevent what happened to China at the hand of Western colonizers.  The 1930s piece, composed as the country was heading into the military dictatorship that led to Japan's near-ruin in World War II, draws from classical tradition, but did not accompany dance or theatrical presentation.

For this listener, classical Japanese music is fascinating and mesmerizing and, among the many recordings heard from that country and tradition, this is among the most interesting.  Kudos to Ocora for its issuing of this release in 1997 as part of its phenomenal roster of world music albums.

Ocora: The World of Traditional Music

This 6-disc box set is an incredible global tour of traditional music by the great Radio France label, Ocora.  For anyone interested in so-called "world music," this is a veritable feast for the ears and everything here is worthwhile and well-performed and recorded.

The first disc "From Mali to Madagascar" covers sub-Saharan Africa, with selections from fifteen countries, so the range geographically and in terms of varied traditions is very impressive.  Disc 2 is "From Morocco to Mongolia" and, while the coverage from North Africa to Mongolia seems unusual, the idea seems to follow the paths of Islamic movement as well as the Silk Road.

Disc 3 is of the music of the Indian subcontinent, including Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.  While the classical music of Northern India is well known, through Ravi Shankar, for example, and people may know the amazing Qawwali singing of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, there is much more to experience, including the Karnatic and other music of the southern part of India.

The fourth disc, "From Laos to Japan" covers eastern Asia and some of the most interesting material, aside from somewhat better known Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese and Korean examples, comes from the music of Laos and Vietnam.  Some of us who really are fascinated by the Gyuto tantra ritual performances know that many people may not find that particularly musical.

Disc 5 embraces European music, while the last is of the Americas.  For someone from these parts of the world, the interest may be with the first four discs, as this was the case for this listener, but there are really some great performances on these discs, including from eastern Europe, Yiddish songs, Albania and other areas not generally as familiar as other areas with the fifth, while much of the South American music and that from the Caribbean is fantastic.  

This set can be a little hard to find and is not inexpensive, but is well worth the money for those who have an interest in or want to explore traditional music from around the world.  It is definitely a global tour well worth taking.

Mohammed Aman: The Tradition of Hejaz (Saudi Arabia)

Having just read Karen Armstrong's history of Islam, this was a good time to revisit this excellent recording of the traditional music of the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia by the powerful singer and oud player Mohammed Aman and ensemble, released by the French label Ocora in 2001. Aman is said in the very informative liners by ethnomusicologist Jean Lambert to be "the last exponent in a long line of hijazi style musicians" and performs pieces both a capella, accompanying himself on the oud, a lute-like instrument, or with an ensemble utilizing the qanun, or zither, the violin, and a variety of percussion instruments, like the tar, darbuka, masga and naqrazan.

The first piece, sung solo by Aman and a prime example of his mastery of melisma (the singing of a group of notes for one syllable in a lyric), is a religious poem about the holy city of Mecca, while songs concern pilgrimage sites including Mecca, love poems, and a paean to the prophet Mohammed, some of these including lines dating back to the 8th century, whereas the "Ya ahi al-hawa" or "To People of Passion," has a poem written by Ibrahim Khafaji (1926-2017,) who composed the national anthem of the country.  As stated by Lambert, the history of music from the Hejaz has not been well documented or known but "thanks to the generosity of Mohammed Aman and his musicians, music-lovers in both the Levant and the West now have access to this heritage."  The Ocora label has many amazing releases of music from around the world and this is an excellent example from the Middle East.