Gangzi - 我是蒙古人

Artist:                Gangzi

Album:              我是蒙古人

Year:                 2012

Line-up:            Tulegur - guitar & vocals

So folks, the year 2013 is just around the corner as we are spending our last day of 2012 today. We thought with my colleague that for new year’s eve it might be fun to write about an album published during the year that is about to end: meet the aural obscurity of the year 2012.

In the summer of 2012, I travelled from Finland to Southeast Asia by land from Helsinki with a friend of mine. During our travels, we passed through some rather interesting cultures, including western (European) Russia, Siberia, southern China, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, but the place that really stayed in my heart was Mongolia and northern China. The vast landscapes of Gobi with all the camels and sheep were an astonishing beauty. North of Beijing and just south of Mongolia, there is an autonomic region called Inner Mongolia. That is the place from where the artist Gangzi, also known as Tulegur, comes from.

from Gobi, Mongolia

A few months ago, I saw an advertisement of a cultural event in Kaisaniemi, Helsinki. It was a one man show combining traditional Mongolian throat singing and vocals with western rock-music. I immediately became interested and we went to see Gangzi perform with some friends of mine. The show was intriguing; in the stage there was a seat, which Gangzi took as the show started. He played rather simple rock’n’roll riffs and fingerpicking and used overtone singing as a device. Some of us feared at the beginning of the show that the setup would not be enough to seize the listener, but at least for me, it was pretty engaging and mesmerizing. Tulegur was charming and sympathetic character and the combination of the vocals and the energetic guitar playing worked nicely.

I bought the album after the gig, along with a traditional Mongolian scarf. The album and the additional information are in Mongolian and Chinese. It is actually pretty interesting that the traditional Mongolian script is an official writing system only in Inner Mongolia, China, as Mongolia is using almost entirely Mongolian Cyrillic alphabets, which I think is pretty sad, because the unique and truly beautiful script that looks kind of like vertical Arabic is vanishing as the capable readers and writers are shrinking.

Yes, this is another concept, where the West meets the East. If you are into throat singing, exotic cultures or even in guitar music, Gangzi will have a place in your heart as well. I have no idea how and where to purchase this album, so it is truly an aural obscurity.

Happy new year from the prog cellar!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYR8VlfmxZE

Written by: Oz

Valentin Silvestrov - Requiem for Larissa

 

Artist:         Valentin Silvestrov

Album:       Requiem for Larissa

Year:          2004

Line-up:     National Choir of Ukraine ”Dumka”

                  Yevhen Savchuk – choirmaster

                  National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine

                  Volodymyr Sirenko - director

Label:        ECM

”Farewell, O world! Farewell, O earth

Thou dismal, dreary land!

I'll hide my torments, fierce and keen,

Within a cloud-bank bland.

Then to thyself, my own Ukraine,

A widow sad and weak,

I shall come flying from the clouds

And with thee I shall speak.

From our communion, soft and low

My heart shall gain some cheer;

At midnight shall my soul come down

In dewdrops cool and clear”

Valentin Silvestrov is a Ukrainian pianist and composer of modern and contemporary classical music. Between 1997 and 1999, he composed a requiem – a mass celebrating the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons. What makes this particular requiem bleakly stand out from more famous requiems composed by the likes of Mozart, Verdi and Fauré, is the fact that Silvestrov composed his own one after his wife Larissa Bondarenko died suddenly in 1996.

The following year Silvestrov began composing this Requiem to her memory, feeling that it would remain his finale composition. Thus, Requiem for Larissa is retrospective on the career of Silvestrov as a composer, reflecting on everything he and his wife had achieved going back to his First Symphony from 1963 and following his compositional body of work from the period when his wife was still beside her to The Messenger for synthesizer, piano and string orchestra composed between 1996 and 1997. Luckily in 2003 Silvestrov returned to large-scale compositions with his Seventh Symphony after composing only a few minor chamber pieces after he had finished his Requiem for Larissa.

Listening to this Requiem is like watching a harsh and snowy winter landscape: on the surface it might seem bleak, cold, inhospitable and charmless but it has far more sides to it than one can at first perceive. The music seems to be still and frozen capturing and petrifying the memories of the past. Yet as the snow in the winter landscape little motives and fragments of melodies drift cross are eyes slowly. Those short fragments of melodies and motives seem to float almost lifeless in the air but as we try to capture them they move away and disappear in the air, almost like an echo fading away into silence as it has almost been nothing but a resonance of a memory already long gone, the flakes of snow running through our fingers which we try to grasp in our hands.

The music of this Requiem is almost as fragile as snow or the human body which has carried the soul of a person to whom it is composed. The choir represents the angels of both light and darkness as Silvestrov succeeds in capturing the wide palette of wide range of feelings one must go through on the occasion of a death of a loved one: the sorrow, the sadness, the horror, the despair, the anger, the emptiness – and finally the acceptance, the calmness, the comfort of a memory and maybe even hope. Let us have a moment of silence in this darkest time of the year to remember the beloved souls of those who are no longer with us here in their physical form.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfhsnDvjj8A

Written by Παναγιωτιης

Amaseffer - Slaves for Life

 

Artist:              Amaseffer

Album:            Slaves for Life

Year:               2008

Line-Up:          Erez Yohanan - Drums, percussion
Yuval Kramer – Guitar
Hanan Avramovich – Guitar

Mats Leven - Vocals
Kobi Farhi - Oriental vocals
Angela Gossow - Growl vocals
Yotam Avni - Growl vocals
Maya Avraham - Vocals
Amir Gvirtzman - Flutes
Yatziv Caspi - Tablas
Yair Yona - Bass guitar

Label:             InsideOut Music

“In a land of two horizons,

One million suns ago,

Where pharaoh rules,

Black magic thrives,

Effigies with marble eyes”

Eventough Amaseffer’s Slaves for Life is a release from InsideOut- a pretty well-known progressive rock/metal label- I still consider it to be in hiding from the big audience. InsideOut Music is an independent German label founded in 1996 and it has released music from pretty big acts, such as Pain of Salvation, Symphony X, Devin Townsend and Ayreon. Amaseffer is categorized to be progressive metal in many contexts, but I would actually state that the metal in this piece is merely a spice, something that emerges at the right moment to emphasize the huge orchestral soundscape that Slaves for Life has to offer.

Amaseffer is a band from Tel Aviv, Israel, and it was founded on a rather ambitious vision: To tell the story of Exodus from the Old Testament, in a musical trilogy. This is the debut album, and so far the only one as the next part, “When the Lions Leave Their Den” is scheduled to be released in the near future, during the next few years I believe. Slaves for Life begins as the title suggest, slavery of the Hebrews and the birth of Moses. After the beautiful intro with enchanting flute melodies, the self-titled track dives right into the point; orchestral and ethnic heavy sound with epic melodies and the raspy rock’n’roll singing of Mats Leven, who actually fits pretty well in the whole concept. The album ends in the ten plagues of Egypt.

The vision is huge and epic, but the music follows not far behind. The variety of emotions in this piece is enormous. Amaseffer is constantly compared with Orphaned Land, widely known Israeli band also singing historical and religious themes, and not without a reason. Orphaned Land’s Kobi Fahr is actually singing the oriental vocals in this album, appearing almost in every song. Slaves for Life is a definite addition a prog collection of anyone interested in progressive and symphonic metal and rock. Stay tuned for the next part!

“A vision I had,

Someone will arise, a new messiah,

Liberation is thy name”

Written by: Oz

Tzadik

Tzadik Records is an independent, not-for-profit, co-operative record label based in New York founded by the eclectic composer and saxophone player John Zorn and Kazunori Sugiyama. The record label declares on its webpage that it ”is dedicated to releasing the best in avant garde and experimental music, presenting a worldwide community of contemporary musician-composers who find it difficult or impossible to release their music through more conventional channels. Tzadik believes most all in the integrity of its artists. What you hear on Tzadik is the artists' vision undiluted.” Hence, the focus the record label is to bring us new and exciting music disregarding the profit-centered thinking which dominates the industry today but never compromising the artistic and production qualities of their releases.

Tzadik has released over 400 records of various different artists covering a vast variety of different musical genres including jazz, free improvisation, rock, klezmer, various world music traditions, noise and contemporary classical music. The label itself has ten different categories for its releases:

Composer series exploring new concert works of the classical music tradition normally by composers who are not part of the established high culture/classical music society.

Archival series which offers the music of the label's founder, John Zorn, from 1973 to his newest compositions.

The new series called Spotlight which focuses on new and young musicians, bands and projects by the most adventurous musicians around the world today.

The Birthday Celebretation which documents the numerous live performances in 2003 celebrating the 50^th birthday of John Zorn.

Radical Jewish Culture which is dedicated to exploring the Jewish culture and identity through music in the 21^st century.

Key Series which brings the special projects and important works of the most crucial figures of avant garde music.

New Japan offers the hidden gems of the Japanese underground to the western audiences.

Oracels which celebrates the diversity and creativity of women in the experimental music making.

Film Music which is quite obvious.

And finally Lunatic Fringe which brings us the creative works and acts of the most peculiar and individual artists.

Tzadik is truly a treasure island full of extravagant and exciting, hidden musical jewels for the adventurous and open-minded musical explorers who constantly seek something new and surprising. Definetely worth a more in-depth expedition. Enjoy a musical sample of all the categories mentioned above.

Composer series: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik-Fp2defYk

Archival: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i56QO9O8qso

Spotlight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHvJJcBRCmc

Birthday Celebration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xQoWXLMjW8

Radical Jewish Culture: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqw3CA_GPTw

Key Series: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MyqzG3Y86E

New Japan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsY44I6bPWc

Oracles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0XkNNQ9QMw

Film Music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZMBtWHnZME

Lunatic Fringe:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBpJ5-BohAw

Written by Παναγιωτης

Marc Ribot - Yo! I Killed Your God

Artist:           Marc Ribot / Shrek

Album:         Yo! I Killed Your God

Year:            1999

Line-up:       Christine Bard – drums

                    Dougie Bowne – drums

                    J. D. Foster – guitars

                    Roger Kleiner – guitars

                    Francois Lardeau – drum programming

                    Jim Pugliese – drums

                    Marc Ribot – guitars, vocals

                    Sebastian Steinberg – bass

                    Mark Anthony Thompson – bass, sequencer

                    Chris Wood - bass

Label:          Tzadik

”Yo! I killed your god

That's what this machine gun is for

Throw away your image

Throw away your books

Keep away me with your metaphor”

Marc Ribot is one the most outstanding guitar players of our times as well as one the most underrated ones unfortunately. What Ribot lacks in virtuosity and technicality he makes up more than enough in originality. His vast body of work has touched on various styles ranging from free jazz to classical music, from Cuban music to klezmer and from film soundtracks to punk rock. In addition to being a prolific band leader Marc Ribot has worked extensively as session musician performing and recording with such artists as Tom Waits, John Zorn, Jack McDuff, Wilson Pickett, Elvis Costello, Elton John and Robert Plant & Alison Krauss to name a few.

”I've just fried my fourth amplifier of the month

and this song is called Softly as in a Morning Sunrise”

Shrek was Ribot's own short-lived group which was active only for eighteen months between 1992 and 1994. In 1999 the legendary saxophone player, composer, record producer and personal friend of Ribot, John Zorn put a record together consisting of various live performances of Shrek in various different venues in the States and in Japan. Released under the controversial title of one of the featured songs, Yo! I Killed Your God captures Ribot at his wildest, rawest, most powerful and versatile. The band and its music is associated the No Wave moment but the wide range of influences on this record include punk (the title song which is a powerhouse avant-punk tune), experimental rock (a cover of The Wind Cries Mary of Jimi Hendrix is almost unrecognisable from the original), noise (the burst of mayhem in Expressionless), jazz (an interesting take on the jazz standard Softly as in a Morning Sunrise from 1928 which showcases Ribot's innovative side as jazz improviser), Cuban music (a fairly conventional take on the cuban classic Jamon con Yucca), spoken word (cynical rants on I Fall to Pieces, Clever White Youths with Attidude provided by Ribot himself with an indifferent voice) and modern classical music (various composed pieces on the album).

”Clever white youths with attidude

that's what the world needs today

singing songs about the alien nation

hey hey”

That said, in the case of Yo! I Killed Your God it is almost impossible to sum up the whole album in short. This album is just all over the place, but it never loses its focus. You could say that the core of the album lies on the No Wave movement which took various musical genres and filtered them through punk aesthetics. Everything is played through frantic bass, maniacal drums and, most notably, searing, raw and harsh electric guitars. The guitar playing of Marc Ribot has always come across as truly artistic: the eternal battle between the artist and his instrument, struggling to force the instrument to give a voice to the artist, a life to his art and a manifestation of his creative vision. This album captures the birth pains of playing an instrument, being punk, being high culture, being innovative, being primitive, being traditional, being original – being nothing. Definetely a difficult listening, but extremely rewarding.

I would give this album the rating of double motherfucker. Yo! Check this shit out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F03EH3yDJlA

Written by Παναγιωτιης