Flute & Gamelan of West Java - Recordings by Mike Steyn

Flute & Gamelan of West Java

- Recordings by Mike Steyn

Tangent - TGS 137 - P.1978

Girl Dancers at the Court of Bantem as seen by an eyewitness 1596.

Map of Java

Kenong Gong Chimes

(It does not say so anywhere, but I assume that this is Mike Steyn himself.)

Michael Eugene Steyn, record producer: born Cape Town 23 July 1931, died London 3 January 1999.

Mike Steyn played an unusual part in the musical life of this country, particularly in the folk revival of the Sixties and Seventies.

While other record companies and producers responded to public interest by promoting the forgotten or neglected treasures of Anglo-American folk music, Steyn went beyond the confines of the West, to Africa and Asia. He launched a number of outstanding musicians and singers, some celebrated in their own countries but unknown in Britain, others new and obscure, and launched their international careers. Their music inspired and influenced musicians and singer-songwriters as diverse as Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel, and bands such as Genesis and Fairport Convention.

A fine musician himself, with an unerring ear for tone and colour, Steyn sensed the potential of artists on first hearing them. His high musical standards and his unusual disregard for commercial gain made Tangent Records, the company he started in the late Sixties, a badge of quality. He distributed his productions world-wide through record companies with aims and reputations similar to his own, among them the distinguished Harmonia Mundi in France and Lyrichord in the United States. As a result many of his recordings have endured and become classics of the genre.

Born in South Africa, Steyn showed a precocious aptitude for music. He was virtually self-taught until a bursary brought him to England to study composition and conducting at the Guildhall School of Music, where he was spotted as potentially a star conductor. Among his contemporaries was Jacqueline Dupre, whom he conducted playing Elgar's Cello Concerto with the Guildhall Orchestra. His energy and passionate love of music inspired the members of the orchestra and won him a second grant to continue his studies for a further two years.

Tangent's first three records were of Ethiopian folk music, recorded in Ethiopia by the late Jean Jenkins, then the Curator of Music at the Horniman Museum. Other recordings followed, and in 1976 he released a box of six LPs of music from all over the Islamic world, to coincide with the World of Islam Festival in London - it is now a collectors' item. There followed seven records of Scottish music with Edinburgh University, three LPs with Mustafa Tettiy-Addy, the Ghanaian drummer and one of Africa's best-loved musicians, and many more - some 120 recordings of music from all over the world.

When he sensed that his job was done, he left to return to classical music and composition, handing over Tangent's distribution to Topic Records, one of Britain's oldest and best folk labels. Unfortunately he also discovered he had cancer. He devoted the same single-minded effort he had deployed in his work to combat his illness, and succeeded in winning long periods of remission - he was given six months by his doctors and lived six years.

From the obituary in The Independent by Shusha Guppy

Side A

A1 Mupu Kembang 5'10

A2 Catrik 5'01

A3 Sinyur 4'52

A4 Manintin 4'40

Side B

B1 Srimpi Jakarta 6'15

B2 Bendrong 5'40

B3 Jipang 3'12

B4 Putri 6'10

B5 Renggong Buyut 1'59

Well I was thinking that we need a little change of climate. Here it was snowing and raining and very grey again and I got a bit low...

But when I heard some very nice music from Madagascar recently posted on Luckys blog (you'll find the links in the sidebar) I felt the sun coming back and I was feeling much better so I started thinking about other climate changers and this record definitely is one. It is also very mellow and most refined, and especially the first side, even if I have started to get more and more sensitive to flutes, this Suling is not at all shrill and most soothing to my ears. Hope you enjoy this music as much as I do and that the warmth emanating from it will thaw also you from the frosty winter that refuses to leave. Well just in case if you are in need of that, otherwise I am sure the music also has beneficiary qualities on many other levels.

Kendang drums and Kemanac finger cymbals

Large and medium Gong.

Saron metallophone

Sulaeman the Suling flute master.

Yuyu Kangkang - the river crab.

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Bhimsen Joshi - Memorial posts - Recorded in his home on his 65th birthday!

Indisk Konstmusik - Gammal tradition i en ny värld

(Indian art-music - Old Tradition in a New World)

Caprice - CAP 2022 - P.1987

Prof. Debu Chaudhuri, sitar

Side A

A1 Raga Bagesri 21'30

A2 Raga Maund 7'55

A1, A2 recorded in the home of Debu Chaudhuri, New Delhi, 87.01.28

recorded 23 years ago on the day!

Dr. S. Balachander, veena

Side B

B1 Raga Varali - Ne pogoda kunte - Thyagaraja 28'45

B1 recorded in Bani Center, Madras 87.01.03

Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, vocal

Side C

C1 Raga Todi - Aaj more mana logo langarawa - Khayal 14'59

C2 Raga Bhairavi - Thumri 12'32

C1, C2 recorded in the home of Bhimsen Joshi, Poona 87.02.06

recorded on his 65'th Birthday!

Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, flute

Side D

D1 Hariprasad Chaurasia - Raga Mishra Khamaj - 12'46

Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, santur

D2 Pandit Shivkumar Sharma - Raga Chandrakauns 12'50

D1 recorded in the home of Hariprasad Chaurasia, Bombay 87.02.03

D2 recorded in the home of Shivkumar Sharma, Bombay 87.02.03

This is the final memorial post of Bhimsen Joshi for at least a week or so. Not because I ran out of records to post but we really should not have so much of the best at the same time.

The good friend Arvind reported in at the last moment with these reading fruits from studying obituaries to Bhimsen Joshi the whole day.

He writes:

This one by Deepa Ganesh in The Hindu I found most interesting. Though its short, there is a considerable amount of insight, into the man and his music, and many good anecdotes. I think she tells the story (which will now enter legend) of how the young Bhimsen ran away from home and ultimately found his way to Sawai Gandharva and the Kirana gharana, in a very interesting way:

A wanderer both in life and in music, Bhimsen would often go missing from home, to his parents' great worry. From the age of three, he was wont to wander off — following the muezzin's prayer of Allahu Akbar as he tried to grasp its notes, or listening to the musicians in a nearby temple. As if in a trance, the little child would follow bhajan mandalis and wedding processions, completely tuned to musical notes and switched off to all else. His father would often lodge complaints with the police, only to find that a Good Samaritan had brought the boy back home. However, at 11, the boy left home for good after quarrelling with his mother, because she could not afford to serve him ghee with rice. He stomped out, leaving his food untouched. This turned out to be the turning point in his musical journey too. Listening to the gramophone recording of Raga Jhinjoti sung by the maestro of the Kirana Gharana, Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, in a nearby teashop, he set his heart on learning from him. He stood at the Gadag station and took a train heading north. The penniless lad gave ticket collectors the slip by moving between compartments, singing songs for fellow passengers and begging for food. He stopped at Pune, Bombay and finally, after three months, reached Gwalior. He met and learnt from various maestros, but was not satisfied. He then went from Kharagpur to Calcutta, and on to Delhi, finally reached Jalandhar, where the Gwalior maestro, Vinayak Rao Patwardhan, advised him to learn from Sawai Gandharv in Kundagol, Karnataka. - It continues here

These recordings were made in connection with the India Festival '87, a comprehensive presentation of Indian Culture in Sweden in 1987. Bhimsen Joshi held several concerts in Stockholm and I was fortunateley able to attended all of them. Unfortunately I have not been able to locate any recording from these concerts but maybe if we are lucky, someone sees this post and points me to some location where I can search. Better yet, someone has a recording and shares it with us! There are indeed other very well known artists on this record , and I may come back later with individual post of the these artists but the reason I don't dwell upon them is because my main reason to post this double LP is because of the C-side with Bhimsen Joshi recordings. Again we can thank my good friend his Excellency who kept this record away from the dents of time. The recording with Debu Chaudhuri is made in his home in Bombay 23 years ago on the day! The recording of Bhimsen Joshi is made on the 6th of February in 1987, in his home in Poona, and on his 65th birthday! In little more than a week, that is 23 years ago!

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Hugh Tracey - Musical Instruments - 4 - Flutes and Horns

Hugh Tracey - The Music of Africa Series

Musical Instruments - 4 - Flutes and Horns

Kaleidophone - KMA 4 - P.1972

Side A

A01 Sigowilo duet - Chopi - 0'43

A02 Godumaduma gwa Mosadi - Tswana-Lete - 2'25

A03 Chansi cha nzige - Zaramo - 2'45

A04 Ai-ye! Nzara yakabora (Ai-ye! Famine has come) Sena-Tonga 3'05

A05 Bwomera envu (When your hair turns grey, you are getting old) - Soga - 1'25

A06 Kikwabanga - Ganda - 2'31

A07 Herdsman's tune - Nande - 1'24

A08 Flute tune - Nyakyusa - 1'20

A09 Mishiba - Luba-Songe - 2'35

Side B

B01 Custodo a mabile - Gitonga - 2'35

B02 M'Sodomo - Nyanja-Chewa - 2'39

B03 Mavumbala - Yogo - 3'05

B04 Nkete - Nyoro-Haya - 2'34

B05 Rwakanembe - Nyoro - 1'14

B06 Kyarutema - Rwanda - 2'54

B07 Mulimo omutanda (The owner of the house) Soga 1'17

B08 Chombela - Luba-Bakwanga - 2'45

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Music from Burundi - P. 1971

Original Ethnic Music of the Peoples of the World

documenti originali della musica etnica del mondo

Musica del Burundi - Music from Burundi

Albatros Dischi - VPA 8137 - P. 1971

A cura di Guiseppe Coter e in collaborazione con Editrice Nigrizia

Flute

Side A

A1 Quartetto (per flauto, ikembe, umuduli e tamburo) e Canto 4'05

A2 Orchestra (per tamburi, flauti, ikembe, inyagara, umuduli) e canto 5'05

A3 Inanga e canto 2'25

A4 a) Flauto 1'35

A4 b) Flauto 2'35

A5 Idingiti 2'35

A6 Umuduli e canto 3'30

Side B

B1 Orchestra (per tamburi, flauti, ikembe, inyagara, umuduli) e canto 5'05

B2 Inanga e canto 3'45

B3 Orchestre per 17 tamburi 4'12

B4 Ikembe e tamburo 1'52

B5 Idingiti e canto 2'55

B6 Orchestra per flauti e tamburi 3'05

Umuduli

Ikembe

This record is no doubt, at least in parts, an attempt to try to reproduce something of the magic from the fantastic Burundi recordings by Michel Vuylsteke from 1967 published by Ocora. In the Inanga e canto it is not up to its predecessor "Chant avec inanga" from the Ocora OCR 40. I will post that record a little bit later. The 17 drummers on this recording are good but the drums are more powerful and the atmosphere is more dense in the tight performance of the group of drummers on the Ocora.

Inanga

Idingiti

Drum

Map of Burundi

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The Peuls - Musical Atlas vol.14 - Unesco Collection

The Peuls - Musical Atlas vol. 14 - Unesco Collection

EMI Italiana 3 C 064-18121 - P.1975

Side A

A1 Praise song, Flute Solo

A2 Praise Song, Stringed Lute

A3 Praise Song, Reed Pipe

A4 a) Jew's-Harp without frame *

A4 b) Jew's-Harp without frame *

A4 c) Rhythmic Song, Handclapping *

A4 d) Jew's-Harp without frame *

A5 In the Arabian style

A6 Song accompanied on the Flute and the Calabash

Side B

B1 Flagellation Song, Solo voice

B2 Song accompanied on the Flute and Calabash

B3 Solo Voice and Womens Choir

B4 Solo Voice accompanied by three young Women

B5 Pounding Millet

B6 Instrumental Music for Dancing

B7 Four Flagellation Songs

B8 Song for Dancing

* Note well, that track 4 a,b,c,d are one track on the LP, I split them for clarity as track 4c is not Jew's-Harp, as listed on the LP, but rather could be described as rhythmic song and handclapping.

This is an LP from EMI Odeon Italia in their series World Atlas. It was part of the Unesco Collection supervised by the General Editor Alain Danielou. The recordings and documentation was done by Simha Arom. They published maybe around 30 LP's in this series. I have only knowledge of the titles for most of them and I will post a few more. Maybe someone can help out with more information. I have been thinking of maintaining discographies online edited by several participators but more on that later.

The Peuls

The Peuls, (or Fulani) are spread across Senegal, Niger, North Cameroon, North Nigeria usually defined as a group by the common feature of being nomadic herdsmen and does not form an ethnic group or a race. They are also spread in Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Central African Republic, Mali, Gambia, Liberia, Ghana and Sierra Leone. And the estimated total figure of the population at the time of recording in the early 1970ies was believed to be in excess of six million people. Since they are so spread out it is hard to get a updated figure but it is believed that the population have more or less doubled today. These recordings, judging from the liner notes, seems to have been made in Niger and possibly Burkina Faso then Upper Volta and also belong to that category of records where closeness and intensity is pulling the lister into the group of musicians. I especially like the women pounding millet and the non compromising and relentless suction of air in the frameless Jew's Harp pieces. It seems also that we tend to do all too little rhythmical clapping around where I reside.

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EMI Pathé - Arabesques 3 - Selim Kusur - Nay

Selim Kusur - Nay - Flute classique en Syrie - Arabesques 3

EMI Pathé - 2C 066-95.159 - P.1974

Side 1

01 Kurdi

02 Sikah

03 Hijaz - 5'30

04 Saba - 10'00

Selim Kusur, nay

This is fortunately no longer a place holder but the real thing as the LP has materialized, thanks to a good friend in music who follows this blog. He generously offered a copy and supplied the scans and although there are a few minor skips I think it is more than adequate.

[Unfortunately this is just a place holder in case the record reappears from its murky grave.

This comment is fortunately outdated :-) ]

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