The World of Traditional Music

Alongside Nonesuch's Explorer series, Ocora is perhaps the most important mother lode of authentic 20th-century field recordings of world music. Part of Radio France and the brainchild of the late composer-musicologist Charles Duvelle and Pierre Schaeffer, Ocora began recording African traditional music in the 50s. Disc one of this six-CD set celebrates that heritage with 15 tracks recorded in as many different countries; what is astonishing is that although they are unmediated and unamplified, if you imagine adding electric guitars and bass and a little rock’n’roll showmanship, you can hear the roots of almost everything achieved in later decades by the continent's best-known superstars from Youssou N’Dour to Thomas Mapfumo. From a rock fan's point of view, most extraordinary of all is an ancient chant from Burundi that sounds like the template for Dr John's 1968 landmark New Orleans voodoo album Gris Gris.

The second disc does a similar job for the Arabic world and the Far East. Disc three travels to the Indian sub-continent; and the fourth to the Pacific Rim. The fifth one returns to Europe's folk traditions and the final disc crosses the Atlantic to cover north and South America. Most of these ‘world in a box’ compilations irritate the hell out of this reviewer with their global presumption and lack of focus. This one is a notable exception and is enhanced by a 94-page booklet, which is a model of its kind, devoted entirely to erudite descriptions of the music. Indeed, if there is a criticism it is that the text is almost too austere: a little more trumpet-blowing about Ocora's splendid and pioneering role in making these recordings would have been welcome.