The Basement Rug

At some point every record collector finds a particular niche they like to focus on. Some collectors move from niche to niche over the years, while other decide to collect specific types of records, usually a specific genre of music. For a while I got hooked on portable stringed instruments, especially percussive ones, like the hammered dulcimer.

Ruth Welcome is well known for her 1950s Zither recordings, and I have picked up a few of her records over the years. One of them was called “Cafe Continental”, on the rather obscure Cook label (10326) out of Stamford, Connecticut. It turned out the LP featured a series of artists, but I didn’t notice it at the time. I listened to a bit of Welcome’s part of the record and filed it away for some time.

At some point when sorting through my collection, I came upon it again and it was at this time that I noticed the other artists featured. I played the second part of side A, which features Dick Marta playing the Hungarian Cimbalom. I was blown away. The music was intense, and quite hysterical (to me). I decided to put it on a mixed tape for a road trip and I got the same response from my fellow travellers: “What on earth?”

Apparently the recording was considered to be culturally significant, and has been archived by the “Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage” library. You can order a CD copy of the record here. According to the Smithsonian:

During the 18th and 19th centuries, Schrammelmusik rose from the slums of Vienna (a musical product of the meeting of Austrian, Hungarian, Slovenian, Moravian and Bavarian immigrants) to the fashionable haunts of Vienna’s aristocracy and even the Austrian court. Now stylish in the cafés of Vienna and Budapest, the music—largely waltzes and ländlers—is usually played with accordion and double-necked guitar. This collection features instead the zither and cimbalom in an airy and delicate combo.

Dick Marta downloads:
Brahms: Hungarian Dance #8
Roumanian Rhapsody
Album artwork

This self-titled 1959 LP (CALP 1001) is the first of several releases by Santo and Johnny Farina on the long defunct Canadian American Records label. Canadian American (based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and New York City) released only 18 LP’s during its run, making it perhaps one of the most obscure record labels in North America, even while it was pressing records. It’s success was due largely to the giant 1950s hit of “Sleepwalk” which is included here. It is one of the most recognizable instrumental tunes ever recorded and has been covered by countless artists, most recently by Modest Mouse.

Santo began playing steel guitar during World War II, after his father heard one in Europe and wrote home to his wife stating he would like Santo to learn how to play one. When his brother Johnny was old enough, he began playing electric guitar, and the two formed a duo, playing local events. The later formed a trio, with their unlce on drums, at which time they composed “Sleepwalk”, which was later recorded as a single for Canadian-American, and the rest as they say is history. Sleepwalk was the number 1 instrumental hit of the 1950s.

The song “Istanbul”, included in the player below comes from one of their later albums that they recorded with Hugo Montenegro and his orchestra.

Track Listing:

1) Caravan
2) Summertime
3) All Night Diner
4) Blue Moon
5) School Day
6) Sleepwalk
7) Tenderly
8) Slave Girl
9) Dream
10) Canadian Sunset
11) Harbor Lights
12) Raunchy

This rare private press record was recorded June 1984 at Magic Sound Studios, Santa Cruz, California. Engineered and mixed by Peter White. Executive producer - Atilla The Hen. The details below were taken from the back cover.This album is well recorded and features a fusion of Middle Eastern rhythms with music from around the world that is guarranteed to please. You can listen to Fakarouni in the player below:

Track Listing:

1) Alim (Turkish) - 4:40
2) Gole Sangiam (Persian) - 4:00
3) Om’r (Persian 6/8) - 5:35
4) Afgani Song (dedicated to the Freedom Fighters) - 4:00
5) Playa Colorada (Venezuelan) - 2:35
6) Estrella (Spanish) E. Marante - 7:00
7) Fakarouni (Egyptian) M. Abdl Wahab - 6:10
8) Taxim Saz - Suliman - 3:00
9) Baburi “The Little Train” (Arabian) Drum Solo, Finale - 5:50

Musicians:

• Suliman El Coyote - Oud, Vocals, Bass, Saz, Violin, Santur, Clarinet, Keyboard, Zills, Zapateo
• Armando El Mafufo - Drbuka, Def, Maracas, Zills, Timbales, Birimbao, Bell, Vocals, E Drum
• Hanya Anda Luce - Tambourine
• Isabel Tercero - Vocal on Estrella
• A. Ishmael - Kanoon on Alim and Playa Colorada

I got up one morning and decided to pull out an LP at random to rip so that I’d have something to listen to while eating breakfast. The pick that day: Getting to Know Merle Haggard’s Strangers. It is one of a series of mostly instrumental LP’s, sans Merle.

I was trolling around looking for some info on these various albums when I stumbled into a forum offering a special CD re-issue of Merle’s Jimmie Rodgers tribute: Same Train, Different Time.

This is about as rootsy as Haggard gets. He’s no Johnny Cash, but he tries hard. His version of Train Whistle Blues is quite authentic, right down to the yodelling - something I bet Cash could have never pulled off.

Jimmie Rodgers, the Yodelling Brakeman, was the father of country music. He died in 1933. More on Jimmie here.

Track Listing:

1) Jimmie the Kid - 2:04
2) My Rough and Rowdy Ways - 2:24
3) California Blues - 2:51
4) Narration, No. 1 - 0:49
5) Hobo’s Meditation - 2:45
6) Waiting for a Train - 2:52
7) Mother, the Queen of My Heart - 2:42
8) My Carolina Sunshine Girl - 2:53
9) Narration, No. - 2 0:38
10) Train Whistle Blues - 3:16
11) Why Should I Be Lonely? - 3:21
12) Jimmie’s Texas Blues - 3:38
13) Midnight Turning Day Blues - 3:14
14) Narration, No. 3 - 0:54
15) Mule Skinner Blues - 3:25
16) Peach Picking Time in Georgia - 2:59
17) Down the Old Road to Home - 2:04
18) Travelin’ Blues - 3:18
19) Miss the Mississippi and You - 3:16
20) Frankie and Johnny - 3:47
21) No Hard Times - 2:50
22) Narration, No. 4 - 0:55
23) Hobo Bill’s Last Ride - 2:49
24) My Old Pal - 3:03
25) Nobody Knows But Me - 2:47
26) Narration, No. 5 - 1:34
27) Jimmie Rodgers’ Last Blue Yodel - 3:09
28) Mississippi Delta Blues - 3:35
29) Gambling Polka Dot Blues - 2:37

So far we’ve visited India and Japan, next stop: Bali and Gamelan music. This download is an excellent digital transcription by Deutsche Gramaphon of a 1972 Polydor release.

Track Listing:

1) Pelajon - 15:59
2) Surja Kanta - 16:03
3) Manuk Angutji - 10:35
4) Topeng Tua - 5:14
5) Taruna Jaja - 13:31

I love the rhythm and crashing percussion of gamelan music, but I know little about it, so I’ve decided to let wikipedia tell you about it:

A gamelan is a musical ensemble of Indonesia typically featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums, and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings, and vocalists may also be included.

The term refers more to the set of instruments than the players of those instruments. A gamelan as a set of instruments is a distinct entity, built and tuned to stay together — instruments from different gamelan are not interchangeable.

The word “gamelan” comes from the Javanese word “gamel”, meaning to strike or hammer, and the suffix “an”, which makes the root a collective noun.

The gamelan has an old and mysterious origin. Apparently it predates the Hindu-Buddhist culture that dominated Indonesia in its earliest records, and instead represents a native art form. The instruments developed into their current form during the Majapahit Empire. In contrast to the heavy Indian influence in other art forms, the only obvious Indian influence in gamelan music is in the Javanese style of singing.

History

In Javanese mythology, the gamelan was created by Sang Hyang Guru in Saka era 167 (c. AD 230), the god who ruled as king of all Java from a palace on the Maendra mountains in Medangkamulan (now Mount Lawu). He needed a signal to summon the gods, and thus invented the gong. For more complex messages, he invented two other Gongs, thus forming the original gamelan set.

In the palaces of Java are the oldest known ensembles, the Munggang and Kodokngorek gamelans, apparently from the 12th century. These formed the basis of a “loud style.” A different, “soft style” developed out of the kemanak tradition and is related to the traditions of singing Javanese poetry, in a manner which is often believed to be similar to performance of modern bedhaya dance. In the 17th century, these loud and soft styles mixed, and to a large extent the variety of modern gamelan styles of Bali, Java, and Sunda resulted from different ways of mixing these elements. Thus, despite the seeming diversity of styles, many of the same theoretical concepts, instruments, and techniques are shared between the styles.

Varieties of gamelan ensembles

There are a wide variety of gamelan ensembles, distinguished by their collection of instruments and use of voice, tunings, repertoire, style, and cultural context. In general, no two gamelan ensembles are the same, and those that arose in prestigious courts are often considered to have their own style. Certain styles may also be shared by nearby ensembles, leading to a regional style.

The varieties are generally grouped geographically, with the principal division between the styles favored by the Balinese, Javanese, and Sundanese peoples. Sundanese gamelan often associated with Gamelan Degung, a Sundanese musical ensemble that utilises a subset of modified gamelan instruments with a particular mode of pelog scale. Balinese gamelan is often associated with the virtuosity and rapid changes of tempo and dynamics of Gamelan gong kebyar, its best-known style. Other popular Balinese styles include Gamelan angklung and kecak, also known as the “monkey chant.” Javanese gamelan was largely dominated by the courts of the 19th century central Javanese rulers, each with its own style, but overall is known for a slower, more meditative style than that of Bali.

Outside of the main core on Java and Bali, gamelans have spread through migration and cultural interest, new styles sometimes result as well. Malay gamelans are designed in ways that are similar to the Javanese gamelan except that the tune is higher. The gamelans were traditionally played in Riau. Gamelan is also related to the Philippine kulintang ensemble. There is also a wide variety of gamelan in the West, including both traditional and experimental ensembles. See gamelan outside Indonesia for more information on these styles.

Cultural context

In Indonesia, gamelan usually accompanies dance, wayang puppet performances, or rituals or ceremonies. Typically players in the gamelan will be familiar with dance moves and poetry, while dancers are able to play in the ensemble. In wayang, the dalang (puppeteer) must have a thorough knowledge of gamelan, as he gives the cues for the music. Gamelan can be performed by itself - in “klenengan” style, or for radio broadcasts - but concerts in the Western style are not traditional.

Gamelan’s role in rituals is so important that there is a Javanese saying that “It’s not official until the gong is hung.” Some performances are associated with royalty, such as visits by the sultan of Yogyakarta. Certain gamelans are associated with specific rituals, such as the Gamelan Sekaten, which is used in celebration of Mawlid an-Nabi (Muhammad’s birthday). In Bali, almost all religious rituals include gamelan performance. Gamelan is also used in the ceremonies of the Catholic church in Indonesia. Certain pieces are designated for starting and ending performances or ceremonies. When a “leaving” piece (such as “Udan Mas”) is begun, the audience will know that the event is nearly finished and will begin to leave. Certain pieces are also believed to possess magic powers, and can be used to ward off evil spirits.

Gamelan is frequently played on the radio. For example, the Pura Pakualaman gamelan performs live on the radio every Minggu Pon (a day in the 35-day cycle of the Javanese calendar). In major towns, the Radio Republik Indonesia employs professional musicians and actors, and broadcast programs of a wide variety of gamelan music and drama.

In the court tradition of central Java, gamelan is often played in the pendopo, an open pavilion with a cavernous, double-pitched roof, no side walls, and a hard marble or tile floor. The instruments are placed on a platform to one side, which allows the sound to reverberate in the roof space and enhances the acoustics.

In Bali, the Gamelan instruments are all kept together in the balai banjar, a community meeting hall which has a large open space with a roof over top of it with several open sides. The instruments are all kept here together because they believe that all of the instruments belong to the community as a whole and no one person has ownership over an instrument. Not only is this where the instruments are stored, but this is also the practice space for the sekaha (Gamelan orchestra). The open walls allow for the music to flow out into the community where the rest of the people can enjoy it.

The sekaha is led by a single instructor whose job it is in the community to lead this group and to come up with new songs. When they are working on a new song, the instructor will lead the group in practice and help the group form the new piece of music as they are practicing. When the instructor creates a new song, he leaves enough open for interpretation that the group can improvise and as a group they will be writing the music as they are practicing it.

The Balinese Gamelan groups are constantly changing their music by taking older pieces they know and mixing them together as well as trying new variations on their music. Their music is always constantly changing because they believe that music should grow and change; the only exception to this is with their most sacred songs which they will not change. A single new piece of music can take several months before it is completed.

Men and women usually perform in separate groups, with the exception of the pesindhen, the female singer who performs with male groups.

In the West, gamelan is often performed in a concert context, but may also incorporate dance or wayang.

Tuning

The tuning and construction of a gamelan orchestra is a complex process. Javanese gamelans use two tuning systems: sléndro and pélog. There are other tuning systems such as degung (exclusive to Sunda, or West Java), and madenda (also known as diatonis, similar to a European natural minor scale). In central Javanese gamelan, sléndro is a system with five notes to the diapason (octave), fairly evenly spaced, while pélog has seven notes to the octave, with uneven intervals, usually played in five note subsets of the seven-tone collection. This results in sound quite different from music played in a western tuning system. Many gamelan orchestras will include instruments in each tuning, but each individual instrument will only be able to play notes in one. The precise tuning used differs from ensemble to ensemble, and give each ensemble its own particular flavour. The intervals between notes in a scale are very close to identical for different instruments within each gamelan, but the intervals vary from one gamelan to the next.

Colin McPhee remarked, “Deviations in what is considered the same scale are so large that one might with reason state that there are as many scales as there are gamelans.” However, this view is contested by some teachers of gamelan, and there have been efforts to combine multiple ensembles and tuning structures into one gamelan to ease transportation at festival time. One such ensemble is gamelan Manikasanti, which can play the repertoire of many different ensembles.

Balinese gamelan instruments are commonly played in pairs which are tuned slightly apart to produce interference beats, ideally at a consistent speed for all pairs of notes in all registers. It is thought that this contributes to the very “busy” and “shimmering” sound of gamelan ensembles. In the religious ceremonies that contain gamelan, these interference beats are meant to give the listener a feeling of a god’s presence or a stepping stone to a meditative state.

Notation

Traditionally gamelan music is not notated, and began as an oral tradition. However, in the 19th century the kratons of Yogyakarta and Surakarta developed distinct notations for transcribing the reportoire. These were not used to read the music, which was memorized, but to preserve pieces in the court records. The Yogyanese notation is a checkerboard notation, which uses six vertical lines to represent notes of higher pitch in the balungan (core melody), and horizontal lines which represent the series of beats, read downward with time. The fourth vertical line and every fourth horizontal line (completing a gatra) are darkened for legibility. Symbols on the left indicate the colotomic structure of gongs and so forth, while specific drum features are notated in symbols to the right. The Solonese notation reads horizontally, like Western notation, but does not use barlines. Instead, note values and rests are squiggled between the notes.

Today this notation is relatively rare, and has been replaced by kepatihan notation, which is a cipher system. Kepatihan notation developed around 1900 at the kepatihan in Surakarta. The pitches are numbered (see the articles on the scales slendro and pélog for an explanation of how), and are read across with dots and lines indicating the register and time values. Like the palace notations, however, they record only the balungan part, and to a large extent what is heard relies on memorized patterns the performers call upon during performance. However, teachers have also devised certain notations, generally using kepatihan principles, for the cengkok (melodic patterns) of each elaborating instrument. In ethnomusicological studies, transcriptions are often made onto a Western staff, sometimes with unusual clefs.

If you’ve had a really hard day and need to unwind, download this 1993 recording by Fukuda Teruhisa to play after you have: turned down the lights; lit some beeswax candles; got some red wine breathing; and drawn a nice bath. I’ve included some sources on the tradition of the Shakuhachi flute below (click on the links to visit the original websites).

Born in 1949 in Nagano Prefecture, Fukuda Teruhisa studied under Baizan Nakamura, Kohachirii Miyata, and started performing in public in 1986. He plays a mix of traditional Japanese music like Hitoyo-giri Shakuhachi and modern music. He has also performed with numerous famous Japanese orchestras including the NHK Symphony Orchestra. He is a member of the Pro Musica Nipponia and master teacher working to free the shakuhachi from its strict traditional setting.

Track Listing:

1) Sokaku Reibo - 8:42
2) Kumoi Jishi - 6:27
3) Shika no Tone (Kinko Ryu) - 10:04
4) Etude for the Rainy Season - 9:20
5) Johi Haku Un - 10:50
6) Ten no Io - 8:48

Shakuhachi: The Sound of Nature:

The shakuhachi is a testament to the elegance of traditional Japanese culture. Made from the root of the bamboo, its aesthetic is organic and simple. Hidden inside this rustic form, however, is a bore that is carefully crafted with the utmost precision. This instrument produces a sound that is said to replicate the full range of natural life on earth.

The shakuhachi is an end-blown flute tuned to a pentatonic (5-note) scale. By various fingerings - half and quarter holings - and by controlling the angle of mouthpiece against the lip, all twelve tones of the western chromatic scale can be produced. The mouthpiece consists of an oblique blowing edge whose design is unique in that it enables the player to control the pitch produced by changing the angle at which the flute is being blown. This, in turn, produces a delicate change of intonation - a swelling or bending of notes characteristic of the traditional music. Alterations in embouchure, intensity of blowing and cross fingerings allow the player to create a wide variety of subtle and incredible sounds. The timbre of the instrument is mellow in its low tones, although it is equally capable of producing loud, penetrating and breathy tones in its middle and upper registers. Little can be said of the sound of the shakuhachi without first hearing its hauntingly beautiful ring. With this in mind, noted ethnomusicologist Fumio Koizumi concluded: “Because of the religious origin of its music, the sound of the bamboo flute leads the mind directly into spiritual thought. Thus a single tone of the shakuhachi can sometimes bring one to the world of Nirvana.”

Traditional Japanese music played on this instrument reflects the many voices of nature. Gentle and warm, the summer rain. Frayed and gusty, the autumn breeze through the bamboos. Shrill and honking, the cry of a wild duck, winter on its tail. Quiet and sweet, a mountain lake fed by early spring runoff.

Origins & History of the Shakuhachi:

Honkyoku, the “original music” of the shakuhachi, represents one of the major genres of traditional Japanese music. The name of the instrument is derived from an ancient system of measurement, shakuhachi being the corruption of i shaku ha sun which literally means 1.8 feet, the length of the classical flute. Instruments ranging in size from 1.3′ to 2.4′ are used in concert and flutes as long as 3.2′, while less common, are also played.

The origin of the shakuhachi, according to one theory, has been traced back as far as ancient Egypt and is presumed to have migrated through India and China before entering Japan in the Sixth Century. Its popularity, however, was short-lived and it wasn’t until the Thirteenth Century that it was revived by the Fuke sect of Buddhism which sought to replace sutra chanting with sui zen or “blowing zen.” Not until the Edo Period (1603-1867) did this instrument reach its final and most decisive phase of development. During this era, marked by the disintegration of feudal Japan, the shakuhachi was favored by swelling numbers of uprooted samurai warriors (ronin) who joined the ranks of itinerant preachers known as komuso (”Priests of Emptiness and Nothingness”). The komuso wore large baskets (tengai) over their heads to symbolize their detachment from the world. Violent clan struggles which marked the late Sixteenth Century forced some of the komuso to organize themselves into a society for self-protection. Members of the Fukeshu sought to deceive the shogun — Japan’s supreme warlord — with forged documents giving them exclusive rights to play the shakuhachi and to solicit alms with it. In return for this privilege they agreed to spy on the activities of other ronin. Legend has it that these komuso, forbidden to carry their revered swords, redesigned the shakuhachi from the root of the bamboo making it longer and stouter for use as a club as well as an instrument for spiritual attainment.