Giant Donut Discs® – August 2009
31. 7. 2009 | Rubriky: Articles,Giant Donut Discs
O, River/O Nodi Re – Zoe and Idris Rahman
For being a slice of deliciousness. While working on the Bangladesh chapter for – excuse mouthful – volume 2 of the third edition of The Rough Guide to World Music encyclopaedia, the Rahmans’ Where Rivers Meet became part of my daily soundtrack. From Where Rivers Meet (Manushi Records MANUCD004, 2008)
Home Again – Martin Simpson
A song about finding your place that anyone can appreciate who has ever travelled, lived in different places or just stayed close to their roots. From True Stories (Topic Records TSCD TSCD578, 2009)
Altyn Altai – Edil Huseinov
For its ability to make connections, however spurious. Working on an article about Topic Records and its 70th anniversary for the September/October 2009 issue of R2, I repeatedly revisited Michael Church’s pre-Borat Kazakh collection. Edil Huseinov accompanies himself on zhetygen (7-string zither) on his composition that translates as ‘The Golden Altai’ – the Altai Republic borders Kazakhstan, Siberia and Mongolia. In my mind it morphed into Martin Carthy’s guitar accompaniment to the ballad Bill Norrie on his 1988 album Right of Passage. Life is about making connections, however spurious. From Songs From The Steppes: Kazakh Music Today (Topic Records TSCD929, 2005)
Further reading:
www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/michael-church-the-bbcs-growing-debasement-of-world-music-485175.html
Dirty Old Town – Ewan MacColl
Ewan MacColl captured in 1952 doing what he did so brilliantly. There’s something about Brian Daly’s guitar and the vibrato buzz to MacColl’s voice that summons unbidden an image of MacColl the Salford Cowboy. From Three Score & Ten (Topic Records TOPIC70, 2009)
Pibddawns Rhif Un/ Pibddawns Heol y Felin/Y Bibddawns Ffansi – Gwenan Gibbard
Not typical of the Sidan Glas (‘Blue Silk’) album as a whole but this instrumental hornpipe (pibddawns) medley shimmers. Gwenan Gibbard plays harp. Maartin Allcock plays guitar, bouzouki, bass and shaker. From Sidan Glas (Sain SCD2581, 2009)
Raag Darbari – Ali Akbar Khan
After Ali Akbar Khan’s death on 18 June 2009, this was one of several of his recordings that lifted me out of numbness and desolation. This performance from the Akashvani/All India Radio archives was recorded in December 1956. It encapsulates so much about one of the musicians that most shaped and sharpened my pointed little head. From Ali Akbar Khan (Sarod) Vol 7 (Super Cassettes Industries Limited SICCD 110, 1997)
Ken Hunt’s obituary of Ali Akbar Khan from The Independent of 25 June 2009: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/ustad-ali-akbar-khan-sarod-maestro-who-played-with-ravi-shankar-and-appeared-at-the-concert-for-bangladesh-1717981.html
Jon Lusk’s obituary from The Daily Telegraph – published without attribution as is the newspaper’s wont – of 21 June 2009: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/music-obituaries/5595714/Ustad-Ali-Akbar-Khan.html
The Mad Hatter’s Song – The Incredible String Band
A choice occasioned by a confluence of events. The first was going to the opening of John ‘Hoppy’ Hopkins’ photographic exhibition Against Tyranny at the Idea Generation Gallery (www.ideageneration.co.uk/generationgallery.php) on 18 June 2009 because Hopkins plays piano on this track. The second was the death of Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy, the sitarist masquerading as Soma on this track, on 20 June 2009 in Van Nuys, California. From The 5000 Spirits or The Layers of the Onion (Elektra 7559-60913-2, 1967)
From the same period and album, a televised Painting Box http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOyiDIUhbAE
Martinmas Time – James Yorkston & The Big Eyes Family Players
For its sound and the telling of the tale. A song acquired from the singing of Anne Briggs – originally on The Bird in the Bush: Traditional Erotic Songs (1966). Big Eyes is James Green. From Yorkston’s fifth studio album, Folk Songs (Domino WIG236, 2009)
www.jamesyorkston.co.uk
www.jamesyorkston.co.uk/?page_id=112
Read About Love – Richard Thompson
For the opportunity to quote myself on the subject of Thompson’s beginner’s guide to sex from the July/August issue of R2: “A nasty little squirt trapped in a great musical performance. No decoding necessary.” Long a favourite from Thompson’s canon, its presence on Live Warrior did the trick. From Live Warrior (Beeswing Records BSW007, 2009)
Mother Stood/Stála Matka – Iva Bittová
For its ability to transfix. Bathe in its pain. I have listened to this most months since even before its official release as my neighbour Dawn Bishop helped me with the Christian content when I did a spot of editorial and proofreading for Mater‘s original Slovak release. Not just another Stabat mater dolorosa (‘The sorrowful mother stood’). From Vladimír Godár’s Mater (Pavian Records PM 0024-2, 2006 and ECM 850602, 2007)
www.bittova.com
www.vladimirgodar.wz.cz