Youssouf Karembe - TOGUNA

I recently discovered Youssouf Karembe's album TOGUNA. The music is delicious, I just love it. The second track, Ambadji, is my favourite, it's so peaceful and relaxing I could listen to it over and over again for hours :) It is also free-culture, which gets it some extra points from me (though it hardly needs any!).

Enjoy this beauty.

Two fantastic duets!

I've been very busy lately, studying for my final composition exam (hence the posts on serialism). Since I might not have time to record until November I decided to share these two recent musical discoveries.



I previously knew Norwegian accordionist Øivind Farmen as a classical accordionist. I had an amazing record called Baroque which I lent and lost :( His accordion is a Zero Sette, I don't know how they make the reeds, but there's something about their sound that makes them perfect for baroque music. Like a little positive organ with the clarity of a harpsichord.
When I discovered he also plays Norwegian folk music it made my day! (I have a soft spot for Scandinavian folk.)
Lars Karlsson, from Sweden, plays the diatonic accordion and Øivind plays chromatic. Both play with great feeling!
The tune was composed by Mr. Farmen himself.



This other duet is totally different. Ballaké Sissoko, a Kora player from Mali and Vincent Segal, a cellist from France. The two instruments complement each other beautifully. I love how the cello makes the melodies clearer simply by playing in unison. Toward the end there's this really great high-energy, powerful and athletic playing.

Both these discoveries made me very happy. I hope you enjoy them as much.

You can support these musicians by buying their records.

Arnold Schoenberg's Suite for Piano op. 25 Gavotte-Musette and Intermezzo. Glenn Gould.

I've been studying this Suite in the last few days. It's a beautiful, beautiful work. I really admire Arnold Schoenberg and I love his music.
This video contains the second and third movements of the suite. The second movement (0:00 - 4:44) is a Gavotte with a Musette as a kind of Trio, and the third (4:45 - 8:08) is an Intermezzo.
The Musette (1:28 - 3:06) is my favorite part of the whole suite and my reason for posting this. I can just listen to it over and over and never get tired :) It sounds to me like a tiny music box, with lots of little metallic and crystalline sounds. Icy chords and delicate rhythms. Being a Musette it has a G always present, as a drone.
I haven't been able to do this yet, but I decided this Musette will be my comeback whenever someone says serial music is all brains and no heart. As Schoenberg would say, heart and brain are one and the same thing.

I believe this is from this cd.

Erkan Oğur - Bugün ben bir güzel gördüm

This is the first song in which I understood for the first time the beautiful sound of the music with quarter-tones. At first, that Arabic and Turkish scales have scales with neutral seconds and thirds (halfway between major and minor) was more of an amusing fact to me. But when I listened, they felt out of tune :(
This is the piece that changed everything :D
Maybe it's because the melody is sung in perfectly tuned octaves or because of the noble and pure sound of everything, but the neutral second sounds not only right, it is necessary.
This piece opened a world to me of enjoyment and inspiration to compose.

Here's Erkan Oğur's MySpace.

Kaung-Ae Lee plays William Byrd's "The Bells"

I really, really love this piece and this performance. From the beginning to the end there's a "bell toll" hidden in the middle voices. I love the "cyclicness" in this music, it's rare in Western music and is one of the reasons I'm in love with African music. Anyway, no words will do as much justice to the music as just listening to it. Beautiful.

I couldn't find any records by Kaung-Ae Lee or a homepage. She's featured a lot in this YouTube channel.

Mbira DzeNharira plays Tozvireva Tingaputike Neshungu

Beautiful music from Zimbabwe!

You can support Mbira DzeNharira by buying their record.