Baba Yaga — Secret Combination
Artist: Baba Yaga
Album: Secret Combination
Genre: Ethnic
Format: mp3
Quality: 192 Kbps
Year: 1999
File Size: 74.39 MB
Track list:
1. Secret Combination 04:08
2. Day To Die 04:10
3. Edge 03:36
4. You Can’t Always Get What You Want 03:53
5. Boy And a Girl 05:34
6. Rusalco 03:47
7. Wonderland 06:24
8. Anyway 03:41
9. Playing With My Mind 07:00
10. Back In The USSR 03:14
11. Lonely Man`s Song 04:12
12. So Ends Another Day 07:18
Joan La Barbara — Shamansong
This is a beautiful CD of three elegant, subtle and evocative compositions by well-known experimental vocalist and composer La Barbara. The first selection, ShamanSong (1991, 1998), is a mysterious 25-minute concert suite from a soundtrack for Anima, a film concerning a woman who journeys to the desert seeking to enter «the world where magic happens» by performing certain rituals and labors. La Barbara recorded voice (sighs, whispers, lamentations, ululations, calls, cries echoed by the surroundings, lullabies and «vocal winds») and percussion sounds (ancient Balinese gamelan instruments, tar and dumbek hand drums, shakuhachi, music box tines, rainstick, and African rattles) on location, high in the rocky cliffs of Diablo Canyon, NM, with its «ravens and echoes, birds and thunder.» Several of these sounds are also modified by computer. ROTHKO (1986) was especially designed for the Rothko Chapel. La Barbara wished to emulate painter Mark Rothko’s layering techniques in sound «by recording many washes of voices all around a tonal center.» Tapes of multiphonic and microtonal voice choirs and bowed pianos move through the space, each listener experiencing the piece in a different way. The mood is sombre, meditative and intense, with a pervasive constantly moving drone filling and reconfiguring itself in the space as a living presence. Calligraphy II/Shadows (1995) is for voice and Chinese wind, string and percussion instruments. The score attempts «to reflect the gestural qualities and physicality of calligraphy,» with the «shadows» of the title refering «to the musical score as a shadow or reflection of the movements and gestures of both calligraphy and dance.» La Barbara succeeds beautifully with an engaging piece built of gentle evocative gestures and mysterious vocalisms that seem to tell a private story.
Artist: Joan La Barbara
Album: Shamansong
Genre: Shaman
Format: mp3
Quality: vbr
Year: 1998
File Size: 101 MB
Track list:
1. Shamansong 25:26
2. Rothko 24:35
3. Calligraphy II-Shadows 19:58
Ravi Shankar — The Spirit Of India
With the passing of Ustad Alla Rakha (born: Allarakha Kahn) on February 3, 2000, from a heart attack, India lost one of its most influential musicians. Called the «Einstein of rhythm» by Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart, Rakha helped introduce Indian classical music to the western world with his tabla playing. A longtime accompanist of sitarist Ravi Shankar, Rakha is remembered for the highly melodic rhythms that he coaxed from his instrument. Shortly after his death, Indian president K.R. Narayanan announced that «an uncommon pulsation has been stilled. His wrists, palms, and fingers produced from the tabla percussion of magical quality which maintained the tenor and tempo of India’s uniquely assimilative musical culture.»
The son of a farmer, Rakha was born in the Phagwal village of Jammu, 80 km from Lahore. Leaving home, at the age of 12, he moved into an uncle’s home in Gurdaspur. Inspired by the playing of local musicians, he convinced tabla player Mian Qader Baksh of the Punjab Gharana (school) to take him on as a disciple. He also studied with Ustad Ashiq Ali Khan, who taught him the melodic vocal style Raag Vidya.
Rakha mastered his lessons quickly. By his 15th birthday, he had begun working with a theater company. After working as an accompanist in Lahore, Rakha accepted a position with All India Radio in Delhi in 1936. He remained with the station until 1940 when he became involved with the Hindi film industry as a session musician. He eventually rose to the position of music director for Rangmahal Studios.
Moving to classical music in 1948, Rakha resumed his career as an accompanist. In addition to working with Ravi Shankar throughout the 1960s and ‘70s, he collaborated with sitarist Vilayat Khan and American drummer Buddy Rich, with whom he recorded the East-meets-West album Rich A La Rakha.
Rakha’s legacy is continued by his sons Zakir Hussein and Fazal Quereshi. His beloved daughter, Razia, died of a sudden heart attack the night before his own death.
Artist: Ravi Shankar
Album: The Spirit Of India
Genre: Instrumental, Indian
Format: mp3
Quality: 320 Kbps
File Size: 127.76 MB
Track list:
Raga Jogeshwari (50:07)
1. Alap
2. Jor
3. Gat I (Tala: Jhap-tal)
4. Gat II (Tala: Ek-tal)
Raga Hameer (24:22)
5. Alap — Gat I (Tala: Tin-tal) — Gat II (Tala: Tin-tal)