Musical Silk Road, the

COLL: THE MUSICAL SILK ROAD
Accords Croisés, 2004

Here is yet another compilation using the concept of ancient Asiatic trading routes to tie together a whole bunch of musical forms in one package. But I'm especially fond of this one, for three reasons: 1) The music is OUTSTANDING and the recording quality is first-rate. 2) Although this set uses a very broad definition of the Silk Road, stretching it all the way from Greece to Japan, it does a great job of highlighting the musical continuities along that wide spectrum. 3) The focus is firmly on traditional sounds (no cheesy pop here), and the double-disc format allows multiple examples per country. This comp gets my highest recommendation. PLAY IT ALL!

Try these first… DISC 1: 6, 8, 13 DISC 2: 4, 7, 9, 11

DISC ONE

1. 2:14 - Mongolia: music of the high steppes: mysterious whistling vocal overtones on a bed of fiddle & zither
2. 2:09 - Kyrghyzstan: fast flute/fiddle/lutes, a cute, bouncy mountain tune.
3. 8:45 - Uzbekistan: beautiful, mystical & mysterious with moaning fem vocals, slurring fiddles. Builds power as it goes.
4. 3:13 - Mongolia: sprightly, with a Chinese sound. Much zither & flute, feels like watching butterflies. Fast ending.
5. 7:32 - Iran: a love poem with acrobatic male voice, quietly exciting târ work.
6. 7:11 - India: lovely uptempo Carnatic vocal, very listener-friendly fem singer, 2 good drummers.
7. 3:45 - China: solo zheng, thoughtful and elegant, not too many frills.
8. 5:11 - Pakistan: passionate Abida Parveen vocal, rolling tabla/harmonium backing. Very appealing.
9. 5:09 - Japan: slow, solo fem vocal & koto. Lonely, pensive, delicate.
10. 2:03 - Kyrgyzstan: quick strumming & picking on 3-stringed komuz (lute). Folksy, suggests running or riding.
11. 3:24 - Greece: solo fem vocal & guitar. Slow and sad, but with a strong, fast middle & end.
12. 6:18 - Afghanistan: nice fem vocal, violin, tabla. In praise of pre-Islamist artistic life.
13. 3:32 - Turkmenistan: wow! very cool solo dutâr, bendy/stretchy 1-string plucking vs. fast strumming.

DISC TWO

1. 4:28 - Iraq: virtuoso solo oud, melodic but aggressive, sounds a lot like Spanish guitar playing. Several mood shifts.
2. 12:29 - Pakistan: strong qawwali track - loud, ecstatic male vocal + chorus, harmonium & tablas
3. 1:15 - Turkey: spoken word, with much echo. Listen for the very cool chorus bits
4. 7:29 - Afghanistan: fem vocal with reed flute, tabla; slow and stately, very nice
5. 5:04 - Turkmenistan: quick strummed dutâr (lute) sounds almost like a ukelele, creaky male vocals are fun to listen to
6. 3:51 - China: instrumental solo pipa (lute), reflective mood, impressive picking and strange rolling technique
7. 6:56 - Korea: yow! traditional opera: spoken intro leads to a powerful, twisted, wailing female vocal, single drum accompaniment.
8: 2:53 - Uzbekistan: midtempo dance for dutâr (lute) and fiddle, lonely, sounds almost Appalachian to me.
9. 5:08 - Turkey: awesome fast solo saz (lute), then alternates with low male vocal: the whirling dervish praises Ali.
10. 1:51 - Kyrgyzstan: happy love song for plain-voiced woman and strummed komuz (lute). Great lyrics (see booklet).
11. 4:22 - Mongolia: upbeat male chorus with sawing fiddle. Listen for throat singing and little kids!
12. 2:28 - Tajikistan: a lament: wailing solo female vox, she’s at some distance from the mic.
13. 1:53 - China: Chinese Catholic music, a Renaissance tune, performed by orchestra with many gongs, drums, pipes.

[ Fo ] – September 2004