Archive for May, 2009
Album release by last master of ancient African five-stringed harp
Posted on May 18th, 2009 in World Music.
World Music Network released an album on May 5 by the man they say is the final master of the biram – a large, boat-shaped five-string harp from the nomadic Boudouma tribe in Niger. Introducing Mamane Barka brings the sounds of this rare instrument to world audiences, and the story of Barka’s introduction to it is an extraordinary one.
Barka, a teacher and player of the ngurumi (stringed instrument), received a UNESCO scholarship in 2002 to realise his dream of reviving the tradition of the biram.
He went to live with the Boudouma on the shores of Lake Chad and there received an education in the playing of the biram and the ancient songs which accompany it from Boukar Tar, the last remaining master of the instrument.
Tar has since passed away, and with this release Barka hopes he will be making a major step towards preserving the sound of the biram and of the Boudouma peoples.
Oysterband frontman John Jones tours England on foot in May and June
Posted on May 13th, 2009 in World Music.
Committed rambler and lead singer of English folk-rock stalwarts Oysterband, John Jones has finally decided to combine his two passions in a walking tour of England.
Beginning on May 21 in the Welsh border book town of Hay-on-Wye, he will make his way across the rural borderlands to Wychwood Festival in Oxfordshire, stopping on the way to play village halls and small venues in the towns and villages he passes.
He will then head across central England to Leicester for The Big Session, a festival hosted by the Oysterband at De Montfort Hall. Having spent his career singing about the English countryside both old and new, Jones hopes the experience will reconnect him with the environment his music celebrates.
www.myspace.com/johnjonesoyster
Project to recreate the 16th century music of Goa premieres in May
Posted on May 5th, 2009 in World Music.
On May 7, the National Centre for Early Music in York, UK, sees the premiere of ‘Mantra – Musical Conversations Across the Indian Ocean’, a collaboration between the classical Orlando Consort and tabla player Kuljit Bhamra, sitar player Jonathan Mayer and vocalist Shahid Khan.
The project is inspired by the early musical fusions of Portuguese and Indian styles that occurred in the early 1500s when the Portuguese first colonised Goa in India.
As Orlando Consort’s Angus Smith explains: ‘Our aims with ‘Mantra’ are to get a taste of the sound-world of India some 500 years ago and devise a new musical fusion for our modern times.’
The project will embark on an 11-date national tour running into new year and will also be working with secondary school students in the areas they visit to introduce them to these two rich musical cultures.