Ethnic “orchestral” potpourri

I’m calling this week’s selections an “orchestral” potpourri from here and there. And maybe that’s not as precise as should be. You won’t always find the big orchestral sound on these recordings that the label suggests, but when you don’t, what you will hear are studio sessions where music is overdubbed, mixed, or merely enhanced in some electronic way. Roots music this ain’t. Starting with the appropriately named opening “Genesis Theme” by Ravi Shankar, the program ends with his daughter, Anoushka, also a sitar master. In between find many gems ... [continued below]

Al compás del mundo - programa #150, 10-17-24, ethnic “orchestral” potpourri run list

01 Ravi Shankar - Genesis Theme (India)

02 Agnes Obel - Red Virgin Soil (Denmark)

03 Angelo Badalamenti - Dance of the Dream Man (USA)

04 DakhaBrakha - Karpatskyi Rep (Ukraine)

05 Lambarena - Pepa Nzac Gnon Ma + Prelude from Partita for Violin No. 3, J.S. Bach (Gabon - France)

06 Kronos Quartet - Wawshishijay (Our Beginning) (USA)

07 Cheb I Sabbah - Alkher Illa Doffer (Peace Is Found Behind Wounds) & Ad Izayanugass (What Will Happen Will Happen) (Algeria-USA)

08 Le Trio Joubran - Min Zamân (Palestine)

09 Al-Andaluz Project - Morena (Spain-Germany)

10 Lou Harrison - Music for Violin & Various Instruments (USA)

11 Toumani Diabate and the London Symphony Orchestra - Moon Kaira (Mali and England)

12 Anoushka Shankar - Naked (India - England)

[continued here] ... such as Badalmenti’s finger-snapping jazz reverie (“Dance of the Dream Man” from the movie Twin Peaks); a successful melding of Western classical and Gabonese folk music from the Lambarena project (an album dedicated to Dr. Albert Schweitzer and his service in Gabon); famed Kronos string quartet performing Ghanaian Obo Addy’s “Wawshishijay”; and another sample of Europe meets Africa found in Toumani Diabate’s collaboration with the London Symphony Orchestra.

That music from both Ukraine and Palestine is included here is no coincidence. Their voices need be heard and their cultures placed in the foreground while desperate forces attempt to delete them. A painful present to behold, but like DJ Cheb I Sabbah says, “peace is found behind wounds.”

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