Koen sez: for this piece I wanted to emphasize World Music as this hasn’t been tackled before ON this great blog.
Back in a distant
past, when boomers roamed everywhere I was back in the Low Countries,
visiting family and friends, but also satisfying my craving for music…
During
one of my numerous visits to the Free Record Shop, I found a world
music compilation: Instruments - A Collection of Instrumentalists on
Hannibal Records.
Despite being unfamiliar at the time with any of
the artists (Outback, Danny Thompson, BJ Cole, Muzsikas, a.o.), the cool
cover art and a decent bargain price (10 guilders) resulted in a quick
sale of course.
Once back home I started playing it and was (very)
pleasantly surprised as the variety of musical styles was huge, to say
the least; from East European to folk to Jazz and beyond, from now on I
would keep my eyes peeled for other Hannibal releases!
The connection with Ryko Disc became pretty obvious after another trip to Penang (Malaysia) which I did every 3 months or so, the easiest way of continuing to stay in Thailand during those days. Compared to Bangkok Penang offered a lot more, especially when it came to music, I scored quite a few Ryko CDs there, including a very neat double disc: The Most Beautiful Sound In The World - a Ryko-Hannibal world music sampler for SE Asia only!
The connection with Ryko Disc became pretty obvious after another trip to Penang (Malaysia) which I did every 3 months or so, the easiest way of continuing to stay in Thailand during those days. Compared to Bangkok Penang offered a lot more, especially when it came to music, I scored quite a few Ryko CDs there, including a very neat double disc: The Most Beautiful Sound In The World - a Ryko-Hannibal world music sampler for SE Asia only!
That changed completely though once Tower Records opened in Bangkok in the 1990s and I scored the excellent Big Noise - A Mambo Inn Compilations.
Despite the absurdity of World Music labeling (as it stands really for any non-western kind of music), Hannibal started early when there was not much else and kept the quality level (music & packaging!) high as Joe Boyd (producer of Nick Drake, a.m.o.!) was involved up till the 1990s. Teaming up with Ryko was a good move, but once Ryko was bought by Warner in 2006, it was the end of Hannibal…
But whenever I find a 2nd hand Hannibal CD, I still automatically buy it!
In order to obtain a fresh rip of this cool out-of-print "Instruments - A Collection of Instrumentalists on Hannibal Records", just let us know your opinion about ‘World Music’.
Of course, this eclectic label was for a while also the home of Richard Thompson, Nick Drake, Robert Wyatt, John Cale, a.o.
ReplyDeleteI've enjoyed the "Rough Guide to ______" CDs - some interesting stuff, very varied!!
ReplyDeleteYes, those Rough Guides are usually excellent, I have some as well. Do you have any particular favourite 'World' artists or group?
DeleteHi!! Sorry for late reply - only just noticed your question!! Umm .. can't think of a particular favourite!! but enjoyed a lot of the North (Saharan) African & Middle Eastern music!!
DeleteWorld music - as you say, Koen, an absurd label.- suffers from two things, as far as I can see.
ReplyDelete1) There's a language barrier as far as the English-speaking world is concerned and an unspoken resistance to what can't be instantly understood.
2) Like jazz, it's not one homogenous mass of music and there's almost certainly something there for everybody.
There's some truly amazing "world" music out there and it's a great pity that it doesn't get more acknowledgement.
Trivia time.
ReplyDeleteA sub label of Hannibal was the Carthage label. Carthage itself had a division called the Salt of the Earth label. After the Carthaginian general Hannibal was defeated, the Romans salted the land around the city of Carthage so crops wouldn't grow.
Someone at the label sure knew their ancient history!
Salting of the earth is almost certainly an apocryphal story. No record of it actually being done exists.
DeleteThat's a bit odd... This morning I posted a new episode on my blog, title: Salt of the Earth!
DeleteI didn't see it.
DeleteSpooky, eh?
https://www.art58koen.net/single-post/salt-of-the-earth
DeleteLong as it's world music, and not exclusive to one continent. I prefer my music from a variety of places: ?incontinent?
ReplyDeleteI have cravings for stuff from various parts (and eras) of the world that the Net is very helpful in satisfying even as it works to induce said cravings. We're talking musical forms where Western idioms that may inform the performance are subordinate to the local features, as well as unfettered local folk or 'classical' tradition?
ReplyDeleteIn the last few years I have been a bit fixated on Lithuania, Finland, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary, Russia. I come to a dead stop for anything non-Reggae from around the Caribbean too, especially Calypso.
Bulgarian music - Ivo Papasov is my only experience of it. First heard him on the Hannibal label, strangely enough! I even have a CD somewhere.
DeleteIn that case you should really like Muzsikás and Márta Sebestyén!
DeleteTheo Spassov (virtuoso player of the Kaval [shepherd's flute] was my gateway drug into a Bulgarian/Balkan affair. I must share one of his folk/jazz dates I find especially compelling. And yes, I do like Muzsikas esp their Bartok Album.
DeleteThe Fairy Tale Trio (TS, Anatoly Vapirov, Stoyan Yankulov) recorded at a German radio studio in 1998 -
Deletehttps://workupload.com/file/umkeZqKNzya
Check out "Hai Sai Oji-san" at 14:30. Ry Cooder, Shoukichi Kina with Champloose and the Chieftains.
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/AkdRRcMqQcs?t=872
Maybe "world music" comes from all the countries that don't participate in baseball's "World Series"?
ReplyDeleteThat's probably truer than you think!
DeleteIt took some time but comments are coming in, great!
ReplyDeleteSo here's the first reward:
Instruments - Hannibal Records.zip
https://mega.nz/file/rRkDxYyK#khqEh2tNB5_7xE6PluIRWFcm_t3Qb_GGpRjfMFpJKRM
+ its companion which I found the year after: Voices - Hannibal Records.zip
https://mega.nz/file/HBMF3KaJ#SfJsxF0ZkBdmt5icsIPKATpF9qXKSbt8mqq1YikqLZc
For further rewards:
ReplyDeletePlease let us know your favourite 'World' artist/group.
Hedningarna and Hoven Droven from Sweden, Shoukichi Kina from Japan, La Bottine Souriante from Canada and Ba Cissoko from Guinea.
DeleteI dont know the names of the artists, but frentic balkan wedding music and Chinese circus musics delight me. Plus salsa - ideally with a Fender Rhodes and Hammond in the mix somewhere.
ReplyDeleteSounds good to me!
DeleteMr G, do you have any of the Nu Yorica compilations? Salsa/LA stuff with brass and keyboards.
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nu_Yorica!
I think I have the first one on my chaotic shelves if no one else beats me to the (likely slow) punch.
DeleteMy first encounter with "World Music" was an African music cassette from NME.
ReplyDeletehttps://pressplayandrecord.wordpress.com/2011/10/21/all-africa-radio-nme019-1985/#comments
Those NME cassettes were terrific. Mind you, they weren't free, you had to send them money (Postal Order?).
There was also a later one called The World At One which was more wide ranging.
https://pressplayandrecord.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/the-world-at-one-nme035-1987/#comments
I do have both the above (and most of the other NME tapes) in mp3 format, mostly from that site. Any hole dwellers who would like them could let me know. No idea about bit rates and stuff, but ,come on, they were cassettes!
I had that Africa NME cassette as well, great introduction!
DeleteMy favourite is The Bhundu Boys - Shabini lp as favoured by Andy Kershaw and John Peel in the mid 80's and especially Hupenu Huwangu
ReplyDeleteHere's an absolutely joyous live version of it:
https://youtu.be/vhtNe4DfEyo
Cool! Here are the 2 SE Asia CDs, the combination of Ryko & Hannibal works really well, with tracks of the late great Ali Farka Toure & Ry Cooder, Hal Wilner's first tribute (Nino Rota), Muzsikas, Mickey Hart, Songhai, and more!
ReplyDeleteThe Most Beautiful Sound In The World [Disc 1]
https://mega.nz/file/SR8wjC6a#mJ0CdZ7wO9OtGg9YFJC_rOGd01-hhx8WubRSDQsD_F0
The Most Beautiful Sound In The World [Disc 2]
https://mega.nz/file/2R8T1Kba#RIQ09uldRjGlPK83Q6BVNWMX6ovblMUrTcDFI2GCyxI
Enjoy!
World Music: On one hand, it was obviously ridiculous to lump all of the world's music beyond US & UK (and a bit of Australia) into one massive category. On the other hand, as an american trying to get my hands on music from around the world, it was very useful. I went from having to write away to various overseas labels and importers, to being able to go to the World Music section and the buyer for that section at US records stores and work through them to get the records I wanted and to hear new sounds (vs buying blindly, as I had been doing).
ReplyDeleteArt: Any chance of posting Big Noise 2?
I loved Big Noise 1!!! But never knew a sequel came out.
How was World Music served by US radio?
DeleteWe had a BBC DJ called Andy Kershaw who played quite a bit of it and there were also a few slots on various of the smaller stations. That was where I first heard African stuff - Amadou & Mariam and the Bhundu Boys.
Nowadays I listen to FIP radio here in France. I always have the radio on in the car and make a mental note of anything I like and the time played. I can then investigate via the archived running play list that they have.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteHere are 2 volumes with lots of cool noise!
DeleteBig Noise_ A Mambo Inn Compilation.zip
https://mega.nz/file/WctUST7I#MjQB2Zku7pCzCyhhGRIB34jZ8PP54l_0IU3QNklLjH4
Big Noise 2_ Another Mambo Inn Compilation.zip
https://mega.nz/file/TZNnEQ7Y#meSnuPkhHxnbpxrIsnXR-DlKJ-oShwwFr0qQGhRlO0o
Art: Thanks so much for the Big Noise! I appreciate it.
DeleteSteve: World music was non-existent on US commercial radio. If it was played, it was on low power college or non-commercial stations (usually by overseas students who brought music with them from home). I had a nightly show on a 100,000 watt FM station for many years with a lot of leeway and played many genres, non-charting and even unsigned artists. But I would never think of playing world music...even though I loved it. I did play world music on a 10 watt community station once a week. Even when Paul Simon's Graceland hit huge, I promoted the heck out of a Ladysmith Black Mambazo show (did an hour long on air interview with Joseph Shabalala, played music clips, etc) but I had to cover it more as a news event. I later lived in England and loved listening to Andy Kershaw & John Peel on the big high-powered BBC radio, which was kind of like listening to US college & community radio but on a major platform. Really awesome.
p.s. I'll give Radio FIP a try. I love how you now can listen to pretty much any station in the world over the internet....the playing field is equalized...everyone has a trillion watt station :)
DeleteI immersed myself a little in Australian Aboriginal music a while back. It takes some getting used to, obviously, especially the classic version of a sticks man and a didjeridoo player/vocalist. Interesting stuff, though, language barrier or not.
ReplyDelete