The latest release from the revered Kronos Quartet, entitled Floodplain, contains works written for Kronos by composers from Palestine and Serbia, traditional works from Lebanon, Turkey and Iran, contemporary interpretations of the classical music of Azerbaijan and India, and popular music from 1940s Egypt, and 1970s Iraq. Over the course of more than three decades, San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet has commissioned more than 600 new works, performed thousands of concerts world wide, released more than 50 recordings, and collaborated with dozens of artists.
Omar Souleyman / Dabke 2020 (Folk and Pop Sounds of Syria)
I’ve always been a fan of wild singers, and Omar Souleyman more than qualifies. The label Sublime Frequencies releases some wonderful CDs and Dabke 2020 is one of my favorites. What a vital sound. Distortion rules!
Checkpoint 303 / Checkpoint Tunes
I met Karim ‘MoCha’ Jerbi of Checkpoint 303 in Lyon, France recently and we had a fantastic conversation about music and life. He gave me their seven track demo. I’m very interested in the work of this creative group and how they bring the daily sounds of life in Palestine into their music.
Xploding Plastix / Treated Timber Resists Rot
Xploding Plastix from Norway has written for Kronos in the past, and they just sent me their new CD. The creativity and spirit of this group is wonderful, and we’ll figure out where to go from here.
Zehnder / Kraah
When Kronos performed in Duisburg, Germany recently, Christian Zehnder and his group Kraah performed the same night, as well. At some moments, Christian sounded like Martyn Jacques, and at others like Tom Waits. He sang a Schubert song, and the effect was especially cool.
El Tanbura / Between the Desert and the Sea
Simon Broughton of Songlines Magazine recommended this marvelous Egyptian group to me recently. I love to learn about new groups and new ways of making music. El Tanbura has become a nice addition to my daily listening. Kronos will be going to Egypt next year and I’ll look El Tanbura up, for sure.
Gamelan Galak Tika / Bronze Age Space Age
When Kronos was in Bali recently, the Boston-based composer Christine Southworth gave me this new recording which her group Gamelan Galak Tika has just released. Her track, Heavy Metal, is very engaging and pulls fractured ears together in an elegant way.
Nu & Apa Neagra / Omag
It’s so great to have a posse of listeners out there keeping their ears open for me! When we were in Cincinnati earlier this year, I did an interview with Billy Sheppard from Billy’s Bunker. He gave me a bunch of CDs. Among them was this wild recording from Romania. Pneumatic Cobza Player is especially fantastic.
Mel Blanc / Man of 1000 Voices
It’s difficult to imagine American sonic culture without the voices of Mel Blanc, the American voice actor best known for his work on Warner Bros. cartoon characters such as Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. I’m having so much fun introducing my granddaughter to this recording. Mel Blanc invites attempts to sound like him, but I doubt anyone really will. At least, not with the sense of pleasure at what the body can be made to sound like.
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
wow, distortion rules OK! woo! (Omar Souleyman / Dabke 2020;)*
El Tanbura reminds me somewhat of all the oum galthoum i used to listen too, good one, pity there’s no players for the rest but yea, good choices! thanx!
luv milli xo
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