Sublime Frequencies Folk 10 Items

Instrumental Modal Pop Of 1970's Egypt

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Rock & Indie

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In The Handover, Aly Eissa, Ayman Asfour and Jonas Cambien explore the common and uncommon senses of Egypt's ritual music. It is clear that Aly Eissa's original composition is deeply rooted in Egyptian and Arabic traditions. At the same time, this band is one of the most progressive coming out of Egypt today. This is in big part thanks to Eissa, who has proven time and again to be not only an extremely skillful composer, but also a real visionary, combining tradition with modern experimentation.

A performance by The Handover is typically one stretch without break: a long build-up that lasts for the duration of the concert. Towards the end of the performance, all the tension is released in an exuberant, joyful climax, when wild improvisations are driven forward on top of exciting dance-rhythms from rural Egypt. The Handover elegantly combines the delicacy of classical Arabic music, the raw expressiveness of Egypt's countryside music, and the spontaneity of free improvisation, carefully obliterating the artificial separation between acoustic and electronic instruments. Despite the remarkable absence of any percussion or drums, The Handover is an extremely groovy band, with an ability to slow down and accelerate the tempo in almost telepathic synchronization at exactly the right moments.

Alongside the tight ensemble playing there is plenty of room for individual expression as the oud, synthesizer and violin take turns playing solos on top of repetitive riffs. Throughout the album, native Alexandrian Ayman Asfour plays the violin with breathtaking beauty, while not being afraid to make the violin buzz, squeak and rattle at times. Belgian/Norwegian keyboardist Jonas Cambien makes the synthesizer a melodic instrument in its own right, at times evoking almost classical Maqam, while in other moments it seems like he comes straight out of an Egyptian wedding. The oud forms the backbone in the composition's structure, as Aly Eissa's solos guide the listener from minimalist, meditative drones, to a compelling climax, and back to earth.

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Baligh Hamdi

CD | 2021 | EU | Original (Sublime Frequencies)

18,99 €*

LP | 2021 | EU | Original (Sublime Frequencies)

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Rock & Indie

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Sublime Frequencies finally unleashes it’s Essential compilation from 1970’s Egypt. Modal instrumental tracks from Baligh Hamdi - one of the most important Arabic composers of the 20th Century (writing for legends Umm Kalthum, Abdel Halim Hafez, Sabah, Warda, and many others). Features his legendary group the “Diamond Orchestra” with Omar Khorshid on guitar, Magdi al-Husseini on organ, Samir Sourour on saxophone, and Faruq Salama on accordion. All of these musicians were discovered and recruited by Hamdi to interpret his vision of a modernized, hybrid Arabic music. Under Hamdi’s direction, this orchestra charted a new melodic direction and created a new musical language. This compilation is culled from a specific era of Hamdi’s long career, a decade where he fully realized an international music which incorporated beat driven Eastern tinged jazz, theremin draped orchestral noir, tracks that feature searing guitar solos from none other than Omar Khorshid, and a selection of buzzing, sitar driven, Indo-Arabic tracks establishing a meeting of mid-east and eastern psychedelic exotica, and a vision that created some of the hippest music coming out of the Middle East from the late 1960’s and throughout the 1970’s.

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Natik Awayez

Manbarani

22,79 €* 23,99 € -5%

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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Where The Mountains Meet The Sky: Folk Music Of Ladakh

LP | 2017 | EU | Original (Sublime Frequencies)

21,99 €*

Release: 2017 / EU – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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Music Of The Bahnar People From The Central Highlands Of Vietnam

LP | 2016 | EU | Original (Sublime Frequencies)

21,99 €*

Release: 2016 / EU – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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Cannon Singing In China, Vietnam, Laos

Mien (Yao)

LP | 2021 | EU | Original (Sublime Frequencies)

23,99 €*

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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Other-worldly Canon singing from Mien (yao) hill tribes in China, Vietnam, and Laos. Raw, ethereal, and cosmic – for fans of Bulgarian choir and Javanese Court Gamelan & Sundanese styles of vocal ascension. Although their name comes from a pejorative Chinese expression that means “dog” or “savage" – stemming from a legend that they were founded by a dog who saved the life of the daughter of a Chinese emperor and thus was rewarded with her hand in marriage – the largest branch of the YAO minority call themselves Mien, which means simply “people". They number 4 million and are spread over the southern Chinese provinces of Guizhou, Guangxi, Yunnan and also migrated to Vietnam, Laos and Thailand over the last centuries. Part of the Miao-Yao (Hmong Mien) group of the Sino-Tibetan ethnolinguistic family, they have many subgroups, usually defined according to colors of their traditional clothes. Recorded and produced in the field by Laurent Jeanneau (Kink Gong), this limited edition LP comes with a two sided insert of photos and liner notes with extended track descriptions by Laurent Jeanneau.

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To Catch A Ghost: Field Recordings From Madagascar

LP | 2018 | US | Original (Sublime Frequencies)

21,99 €*

Release: 2018 / US – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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Kwangkay: Funerary Music Of The Dayak Benuaq Of Borneo

LP | 2016 | US | Original (Sublime Frequencies)

24,99 €*

Release: 2016 / US – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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Numbering less than 1.000 people, the Dayak Benuaq from the Eastern Kalimantan region of Indonesian Borneo still practice many of their traditional ceremonial customs. This album of field recordings presents the music associated with the kwangkay, the secondary mortuary ritual celebrated by the Dayak Benuaq, recorded live on location by Vincenzo Della Ratta. According to the Benuaq belief system, upon death the soul of the human being is transformed into the liau, associated with the physical body, and the kelelungan, associated with the intellect or the head. Both the liau and the kelelungan temporarily reside in a sort of cosmic location, connected respectively with the bones and the skull of the deceased, who has entered a state of deep unconsciousness, as yet neither pertaining completely to the realm of the living, nor to that of the dead. Music plays a key role within the kwangkay, as it is crucial for guiding the liau and kelelungan spirits to their final destinations. It is also intended to please the spirits of the dead by providing them with entertainment. This ritual includes a night dance performed for the spirits and accompanied by a musical piece known as the ngerangkau. These rites and ceremonies are often dedicated to several deceased persons and are held within a house belonging to one of their family members. Featured here are two different versions of the ngerangkau, with their long, trance-inducing rhythmic gong patterns. There are two more tracks on the album which are not specifically related to the kwangkay. "Titi Mati" is a gong piece commonly played to proclaim the recent death of a villager. And finally, a nocturnal soundscape of a village by the river Mahakam, a channel of transport and communication which is essential for the local people of the Benuaq territories. Limited edition LP; includes insert of text and images by Vincenzo Della Ratta.

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Hani Polyphonic Singing In Yunnan China

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Sublime Frequencies)

25,49 €* 29,99 € -15%

Mechul: Singles And Rarities

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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Mystic choral beauty drifting far into the outer cosmos, this other worldly ensemble creates a contemporary avant-garde vocal fusion combined with strange instrumental accompaniment. The Hani are linguistically derived from the YI branch of the Tibeto-Burmese and number a million and a half in the southern part of Yunnan province in China above Laos (Phongsaly) and Vietnam (Dien Bien) where smaller Hani communities also live. As with many other ethnic groups of the area, an original traditional singing pattern is used with each singer adapting the words to the context. Many of these songs express intimate strong emotions that bring tears to the performers while they are singing. The choir that gathers all singers at the same time is considered to be a very unique style of vocal polyphony or heterophony. The cascading mournful feel of this music is beautifully transcendent. You’ve never heard anything like it. Instruments used by the ensemble include the Babi (single tree leaf ) and Mepa (rolled up tree leaf in a shape of a horn or mirliton), a Chiwo (3-stringed bowed instrument), a Labi (6-holed bamboo flute), a Lahe (3-stringed small lute) and a Meba (vertical reed instrument). Recorded by Laurent Jeanneau in 2011, this Limited Edition vinyl LP includes a two sided insert with photos, liner notes, and names of all the vocalists and accompanying musicians.

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Erkin Koray

LP | 2011 | EU | Reissue (Sublime Frequencies)

29,99 €*