Farmers Market - Musikk fra Hybridene (1997)

«The band Farmers Market was formed in Trondheim during the fall of 1991. All members where students of the Jazz Department at the Conservatory of Trondheim. At first Farmers Market started out as a free-jazz quintet, but soon found itself heading in a completely different direction; towards Bulgarian folk-music. Since then, this Bulgarian music, with its odd meters, oriental scales and improvisational possibilities, has become one of the main musical ingredients of Farmers Market.

The music of Farmers Market is a mixture of Bulgarian folk music, jazz standards, popular music and humor. Farmers Market has become one of Norway's most popular live bands, playing at all kinds of venues and festivals: jazz, folk and rock. Farmers Market released their first CD, "Speed/Balkan/Boogie", in February 1995. This was a live recording from Molde International Jazzfestival 1994. The CD features 4 guests from Bulgaria; two singers from the women's choir "Lés mystére dés Voix Bulgares" (now known as "Angelite"), and two folk musicians.

The first Farmers Market saxophonist, Håvard Lund, left the band during fall of 1995 and the band had to look to Bulgaria to get a replacement. Through friends they got in touch with Trifon Trifonov. After an audition over the telephone (..!) he joined the band December 1995.

In 1997, Farmers Market released its second album with saxophonist Trifon Trifonov from Bulgaria. This was an extreme album with elements of many different styles and ideas from bluegrass in odd meters, to Metallica-like versions of traditional Balkan tunes, and slick commercial music mixed with Stockhausen! The album got very good reviews from many contemporary music magazines as well as rock, folk and jazz magazines in Europe. This album made a certain Mr. Mike Patton loose his breakfast and initiate a spam fest towards the band members the result of which might end up in a cd-shop near you. More on this at a later stage...» (Read more)

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Riddu Riđđu 1991-2001 (2001)

«Every summer in the far north of Norway, in the land of the midnight sun north of the Arctic Circle, a unique music and culture festival is held in the municipality of Gáivuotna (Kåfjord), a few hours drive from the city of Tromsø. This festival, called Riddu Riđđu (which means, roughly, “storm off the water”), celebrates the music and culture of the Sami, the indigenous people of northern Scandinavia, and of other indigenous peoples of the world.» (Read more)

«For 10 years the Riddu Riđđu Festival has featured the culture of the Sami and other Northern Peoples. In 2001 Riddu Riđđu celebrates its 10^th anniversary. To mark this jubilee we have gathered musical highlights from past festivals. All tracks are live recordings from Riddu Riđđu, and are published by kind permission of the artists.» (From the liner notes)

Featured artists: Hedningarna, Wimme, Chirgilchin, Sara Marielle Gaup, Mari Boine, Sirmania, Sabjilar, Tiina Sanila, Elvel, Per Ivars Orkester, Namgar Lkhasaranova & others.

Thanx to Giuliano for this post.

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Dhafer Youssef - Digital Prophecy (2003)

«Tunisia-born singer and oudist Dhafer Youssef should be recording for ECM. His albums have a similar spiritual, centered quality to the work appearing on that label, and his work on this album with some of Norway's top jazz players points completely in that direction. He lives very much on the cutting edge, taking things even further than he did on 2001's Electric Sufi. Where that album used electronica as the periphery of the music, here he brings it to the heart of the sound, integrating it seamlessly into his compositions, as on "Aya," where a seemingly found sound becomes the heartbeat of the track. His collaborators, including trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær, offer him plenty of space, and that's what the music needs — it's as wide open as the Tunisian desert. He's a good player of the oud, but his real weapon — apart from his sense of composition — is his voice, with a range that's truly stunning, and never put to better use than on "Dawn Prayer," where his high notes, seemingly impossible, stand as a revelation, with an aching melody that just stays in the brain. At the same time as Youssef pushes at the edges in his work, there's a sense of the music still being very centered in North Africa. On the basis of this, Youssef is extending his cutting edge even further.» (AMG)

«Interprete inizialmente di sonorità molto vicine alla tradizione più pura del mondo musicale nordafricano, con il disco Electric Sufi Youssef cominciò ad andare cautamente incontro a suoni più moderni, verificandone la compatibilità con le sue pulsioni più naturali. In questo bel disco molti elementi concorrono a mettere in contatto, ma nello stesso tempo tengono a debita distanza, i suoni più moderni dell’elettronica e dei campionamenti del nord Europa e le sue radici tunisine. Dal titolo del disco che oppone due termini lontani anni luce all’immagine di Youssef in copertina, icona delle tradizioni del suo paese, all’affermazione finale nel bel libretto di accompagnamento: “il mio ultimo respiro sarà in arabo”. Con lui, bravissimo e a tratti impressionante (la sua voce non sembra tale in Dawn Prayer, e l’oud del primo brano è scarno e immaginifico), musicisti già conosciuti e affermati per operazioni musicali innovative, a cominciare da Bugge Wesseltoft, per continuare con Eivind Aarset e Rune Arnesen, fino agli altri che completano un mosaico quasi perfetto.Un mosaico che ci racconta come i generi musicali possano incontrarsi senza sforzi, grazie alle sensibilità straordinarie degli attori in scena, e come la musica araba sia forse la più adatta a scoprire gli incastri preziosi con l’elettronica; e come il termine world music possa vivere una rappresentazione reale e affascinante in lavori come questo, tutto da godere.» (EGEA)

German review here

More on Dhafer Youssef at L’Arbre de les 1000 Musiques

Line-up:

Dhafer Youssef oud, vocal
Eivind Aarset guitars, electronics
Ronu Majumdar bansuri
Dieter Ilg acoustic bass
Rune Arnesen drums, programming
Bugge Wesseltoft piano, keyboards
Jan Bang beat programming
Nils Petter Molvaer trumpet

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Ketil Bjornstad & David Darling - The River (1997)

«There are few collaborations in the fields of improvised and neo-classical music that have created works so richly evocative as that of the Norwegian pianist Ketil Bjornstad and the American cellist David Darling. The River, the first of these collaborations, is arguably the finest, drawing upon influences as diverse as the music of the Renaissance and twentieth-century minimalism. The results are sublime; Bjornstad's introspective piano themes are delicately counterposed by Darling's meditative cello passages which haunt the listener with their searing poignancy. This is achieved both structurally and atmospherically through the use of chord progressions and performance techniques which explore the full range of both instruments in a way which emphasizes harmonic texture over virtuosity.

More abstractly, the transcendent beauty of The River is derived from the sensitivity with which the overwhelming mood of sorrow is depicted. The musical ideas are introduced through a contemplative reserve which never once lapses into sentimentality. Bjornstad and Darling are clearly two deeply thoughtful men; in this work, they epitomize the rare talent of being able to express the profundity of grief through music. A contemporary masterpiece.» (10goldstars)

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Haden, Garbarek, Gismonti - Folk Songs (1979)

One of the better ECM recordings, this collaboration by bassist Charlie Haden, Jan Garbarek on tenor and soprano, and Egberto Gismonti (switching between guitar and piano) is filled with moody originals, improvisations that blend together jazz and world music, and atmospheric ensembles. This date works well both as superior background music and for close listening. (AMG)
A world-jazz masterpiece, period.

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