-
-
As Afghanistan slowly opened up to the world in the 1960s and 1970s, the country was exposed to Western music, and a fusion of sorts seems to have taken place as traditional Afghan music became influenced by outside musical styles.
-
-
The following song is by a certain Hasan Bismil. I unfortunately don't know anything about him, but "jaan bashai ailagi" is an absolute Afghan club-banger!
-
Hasan Bismil - Jaan Bashai Ailagi
-
-
Another great favourite of mine is Nasir Parwani's "Dard Dandan", which was apparently recorded at a wedding.
-
Nasir Parwani - Dard Dandan
-
-
Thursday, 12 November 2009
21. Bakht Zamina
-
-
I don't know much about Bakht Zamina, but she was clearly a fantastically beautiful and talented Afghan singer, as this video on YouTube illustrates:
-
-
Note that she never smiles, and that she always moves back - away from the microphone - when she isn't singing... Perhaps there were limits to what one could show (i.e. what women could do) even on Afghan Communist television? Also, I think that the way she rolls her eyeballs when saying "vai, vai, vai" is brilliant!
-
However, besides daring to "westernize" (i.e. appear on television without a veil, sing, &c., which no doubt made her many enemies in ultra-conservative Afghanistan), she apparently collaborated with the Afghan Communists, as this other video illustrates:
-
-
Here is the studio version, perhaps more explicitly pro-Communist:
-
-
-
A Chitrali friend in London once told me that she lived in constant fear of being made to pay for her songs, and that - one day - her inevitable destiny caught up with her...
-
-
-
I don't know much about Bakht Zamina, but she was clearly a fantastically beautiful and talented Afghan singer, as this video on YouTube illustrates:
-
-
Note that she never smiles, and that she always moves back - away from the microphone - when she isn't singing... Perhaps there were limits to what one could show (i.e. what women could do) even on Afghan Communist television? Also, I think that the way she rolls her eyeballs when saying "vai, vai, vai" is brilliant!
-
However, besides daring to "westernize" (i.e. appear on television without a veil, sing, &c., which no doubt made her many enemies in ultra-conservative Afghanistan), she apparently collaborated with the Afghan Communists, as this other video illustrates:
-
-
Here is the studio version, perhaps more explicitly pro-Communist:
-
-
-
A Chitrali friend in London once told me that she lived in constant fear of being made to pay for her songs, and that - one day - her inevitable destiny caught up with her...
-
-
Monday, 12 October 2009
20. Bulgarian Bagpipes
-
-
The legendary Valia Balkanska sings "Излел е Дельо Хайдутин" ("Izlel e delio haidutin"), a song from the Rhodopian mountains in Bulgaria. This song was included on the golden record which was launched into space on board the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft in 1977.
-
Valia Balkanska was born in a hamlet near the village of Arda in the province of Smolyan in Bulgaria in 1942, and has been singing Rhodopean folk songs since childhood. She has been working with the Rodopa State Ensemble for Folk Songs and Dances in her native Smolyan since 1960, and in 2002 was awarded the "Stara Planina Orden", the highest Bulgarian award, for her work.
-
-
Here is another tune for bagpipe from the Rhodopean mountains, played by renowned musician Stefan Zahmanov:
-
-
-
-
The legendary Valia Balkanska sings "Излел е Дельо Хайдутин" ("Izlel e delio haidutin"), a song from the Rhodopian mountains in Bulgaria. This song was included on the golden record which was launched into space on board the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft in 1977.
-
Valia Balkanska was born in a hamlet near the village of Arda in the province of Smolyan in Bulgaria in 1942, and has been singing Rhodopean folk songs since childhood. She has been working with the Rodopa State Ensemble for Folk Songs and Dances in her native Smolyan since 1960, and in 2002 was awarded the "Stara Planina Orden", the highest Bulgarian award, for her work.
-
-
Here is another tune for bagpipe from the Rhodopean mountains, played by renowned musician Stefan Zahmanov:
-
-
-
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
18. Pontic Greek Music
-
Until their deportation in 1923 under the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne - treaty which called for a population exchange between Greece and Turkey - hundreds of thousands of Greeks had been living along the Black Sea shores of north-eastern Turkey for millennia.
-
Traditional Pontic Greek music is a mixture of native Greek, Turkish, and Kartvelian (Laz), as were many other aspects of Pontic Greek culture (dance, food, dress, &c.).
-
Here are some videos from YouTube, mostly recordings of documentary programmes which were shown on Greek television in the 1980s:
-
-
Lizeta Nikolaou sings Forty Red Apples
-
-
Famous Greek actor Nikos Xanthopoulos sings Tsambasin. This video, which was part of a film called Odysseia enos xerizomenou (1969), is in two parts: Following Xanthopoulos' song, there is a remarkable Pontic Greek dance.
-
-
A recreation of a "traditional Pontian wedding"
-
-
A dance called "tik", to the strains of a tulum bagpipe
-
-
Until their deportation in 1923 under the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne - treaty which called for a population exchange between Greece and Turkey - hundreds of thousands of Greeks had been living along the Black Sea shores of north-eastern Turkey for millennia.
-
Traditional Pontic Greek music is a mixture of native Greek, Turkish, and Kartvelian (Laz), as were many other aspects of Pontic Greek culture (dance, food, dress, &c.).
-
Here are some videos from YouTube, mostly recordings of documentary programmes which were shown on Greek television in the 1980s:
-
-
Lizeta Nikolaou sings Forty Red Apples
-
-
Famous Greek actor Nikos Xanthopoulos sings Tsambasin. This video, which was part of a film called Odysseia enos xerizomenou (1969), is in two parts: Following Xanthopoulos' song, there is a remarkable Pontic Greek dance.
-
-
A recreation of a "traditional Pontian wedding"
-
-
A dance called "tik", to the strains of a tulum bagpipe
-
-
Saturday, 8 August 2009
17. Mahmoud Ahmed sings for the DERG
-
Not "traditional" Ethiopian music - strictly-speaking - but a good song and a remarkable music video! (Watch out for the soldier "playing air guitar" on his AK-47!)
-
Mahmoud Ahmed is one of Ethiopia's most famous singers, and it is a shame to see him in this video.
(Apologies for not embedding this video, but the ever-more-fickle YouTube tells me that "embedding [was] disabled by request"...)
-
-
UPDATE FEBRUARY 2012
-
Alas, the entire video has now disappeared - apparently due to copyright infringement(?!)...
-
So here is a concert given by the Eritrean singer Wedi Tkabo for frontline troops. Not as funky as the Mahmoud Ahmed original, but more traditional and still a strange sight to behold:
-
Not "traditional" Ethiopian music - strictly-speaking - but a good song and a remarkable music video! (Watch out for the soldier "playing air guitar" on his AK-47!)
-
Mahmoud Ahmed is one of Ethiopia's most famous singers, and it is a shame to see him in this video.
(Apologies for not embedding this video, but the ever-more-fickle YouTube tells me that "embedding [was] disabled by request"...)
-
-
UPDATE FEBRUARY 2012
-
Alas, the entire video has now disappeared - apparently due to copyright infringement(?!)...
-
So here is a concert given by the Eritrean singer Wedi Tkabo for frontline troops. Not as funky as the Mahmoud Ahmed original, but more traditional and still a strange sight to behold:
-
Monday, 3 August 2009
15. Feyzoye Rizo
The opening scene of an Armenian/Kurdish film called "Vodka Lemon" (directed by Hiner Saleem, 2003) features a remarkable performance by a Kurdish singer called Feyzoye Rizo (whose song is accompanied by Egide Cimo on the duduk):
--
Sunday, 2 August 2009
14. A Chechen 'zikr'
A zikr or dikhr is a religious ceremony practiced by certain Sufi Moslems around the world. Its most famous manifestation is probably the ceremony carried out by the so-called "whirling dervishes" in Turkey - a major tourist attraction in Istanbul and in Konya. Like their fellow zikr-practitioners, these Chechens aim to enter a trance-like state through mental and physical exhaustion, a state which will bring them closer to God. The powerful, fast rhythm, combined with the repetitive chanting and strong breathing, and with the spinning, circular movement, are particularly propitious. This is not "music", strictly speaking, but it bears all its hallmarks, and the result is amazing!
-
-
-
Two other interesting examples:
-
-
-
-
Two other interesting examples:
-
-
-
-
-
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
13. Nizipli Deli Mehmet
-
"Mad" Mehmet from Nizip, a town close to Urfa in southern Anatolia, singing "Gitti kish, geldi bahar", "Winter is going, Spring is coming", as recorded in the 1920s or -30s.
-
-
"Mad" Mehmet from Nizip, a town close to Urfa in southern Anatolia, singing "Gitti kish, geldi bahar", "Winter is going, Spring is coming", as recorded in the 1920s or -30s.
-
-
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)

