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.