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The German label Oriente Musik offers a wide variety of music from around the world, all with a common thread of quality. They say, "Being both realistic and optimistic, we are inclined to issue only music that hits our hearts and therefore we strongly believe to hit the hearts of many others."
I am pleased to carry a select group of titles, and expect to add more in the coming year.
1935 - Tangos, Foxtrots & Romances - Pjotr Leschenko
$18.99
(cdRoots# rien-06)
From the pages of fRoots: "Pjotr Leschenko's story is complex and tragically fascinating. Russian by birth, he achieved immense popularity in the 1930s and was known as "The Russian King Of The Tango". He toured the old Ottoman Empire extensively, was a resident in Berlin during the Weimar Republic days, played Paris, Vienna, Riga and London, ran his own club in Bucharest, spent the war performing for the Romanian military, was arrested, on stage, by Stalin's regime and died in a Bucharest prison camp at the age of 56. As a motif of his internationalism, the first track here is a tango sung in Russian, recorded in London, featuring a blistering Hawaiian guitar solo. This programme of tangos, romances and fox trots (with some hot playing from what are probably English dance band musicians), displays Leschenko's talents both as a guitarist and as a singer of great warmth of emotion. Some of the stuff here, especially the romances, could honestly be filed under 'Curate's Egg' and will not be to everyone's taste, but just about half the tracks are tangos, recorded in both London and Riga during 1935, and are lovely. The mastering is excellent, although the Riga recordings suffer from poor original engineering and are a little distant and noisy. The notes, in French, German and English are succinct, factual and include a superb vintage photograph of the artist, while the overall packaging is the most handsome I've seen in some time."
The Broken Tongue - Daniel Kahn and The Painted Bird
$18.99
(cdRoots# rien-73)
Kahn and his band concoct a mixture of Klezmer, radical Yiddish song, political cabaret and punk folk, kept together by Kahn's amazing abilities both as a songwriter and a performer; telling stories of outrageous incidents, poetically dark, tragically humorous and politically incorrect. This 2009 release continues their explorations
Out Of Sight - Kroke
$18.99
(cdRoots# rien-74)
Kroke's new compositions, recorded with the original Trio setup, are charming and playful. Back to the roots? In a way. The loss of the drums means a reinforcement of viola, accordion and bass, coming to the fore (again), equally entitled to and responsible for both melody and rhythm. This 2009 release points out familiar and surprising new facets of Kroke 's musical universe, from Kukurba's oriental-influenced vocal improvisations ("Mecalakuku") to the frisky "Life As It Is" and the frivolous allure of "A Luftmentsch". Kroke's creative power, joining their tradions and their very own view on "Life as it is", is still going strong - and exploring.
Eclipse: Nuevas canciones de Buenos Aires - 6 Australes
$18.99
(cdRoots# rien-68)
The music of 6 Australes has its roots in the Río de la Plata region, but emerged in Berlin; composed and performed by Argentinean and German musicians, brought together by the Tango. Musically they go beyond Tango, opening up to various forms of Latin-American music as for instance Milonga, Zamba, Chacarera, Bossa Nova or Candombe. Out of this joining they create their own distinctive style, that merges melodic passion with rhythmic diversity and - together with the poetic power of Sergio Gobi's lyrics - enriches the tradition of Spanish-American song.
Traktorist: Carpathian Klezmer - Di Naye Kapelye
$18.99
(cdRoots# rien-69)
Di Naye Kapelye goes 50ies-socialism? After a lot of hunting the indefatigable fieldworker Bob Cohen researched a socialist build-up song in yiddish - the scrumptious "Traktorist", praising not only the tractor itself and the five-year plan performance, but also, if not to say mainly, the bigger chances of a tractor driver to hit on the girls. Again, Di Naye Kapelye reaffirms their outstanding role regarding Jewish music from the Carpathian Basin - authentic, rough and tender, danceable and soaked with a deep and true love for the heritage that's treasured by these passioned musicians ever since we can remember.
Seventh Trip - Kroke
$18.99
(cdRoots# rien-63)
Kroke didn't get lost in the dark grounds of a midlife crisis, and this seventh album is more than an itch of desire. Their music has developed from what is regarded as traditional klezmer but their music is definately forward-looking, perhaps even a little avant garde.
Dus Gezang fun mayn harts - Karsten Troyke
$18.99
(cdRoots# rien-59)
Singer and indefatigable promoter of Yiddish language and culture in his home town Berlin, Karsten Troyke does not care so much about where the tango originally comes from. His distinctive style refers to the Jewish theatre and cabaret song of the Twenties and early Thirties just as to the renaissance of the Yiddish 'Schlager' ofn the Fifties, and after all his art has that brightness you will not find while searching it. He is accompanied by Trio SCHO (Gennadi Dessiatnik, violin, backing vocals; Valeri Khoryshman, accordion; Michael Jach, double bass and guest musician Jan Hermerschmidt on clarinet.
Baym Taykh - Polina Shepherd Vocal Experience
$18.99
(cdRoots# rien-64)
Singer, composer and pianist Polina Shepherd, of Russian-Jewish descent, lives and works in Brighton,UK with her husband Merlin Shepherd (clarinet, guitar, saxophone). They are among the most innovative musicians in the Jewish Music scene in Europe today - be it New Yiddish Song or Classic Klezmer. With Quartet Ashkenazim they range from beautiful unison to skilfully executed four part harmony. The traditional ornamentation and modes of the songs are known and yet the new melodies suggest that the tradition has never been broken. The songs cover many themes and are settings of Yiddish poems. Highly recommended.
Schamlos Schön: 13 alte Lieder aus Deutschland - Tine Kindermann
$18.99
(cdRoots# rien-67)
Kindermann sings German folk songs accompanied by American rock musicians and arranged by Frank London. The result is astonishingly natural. There was something in these five centuries old songs that resisted obliteration. Mothers preserved them in secret; grandmothers and kindergarten teachers sang and sing to their children the songs of their own childhoods. Kindermann has blown the dust off these songs and made them alive, fresh, good as new. With her musicians, she has put them in an unusual contemporary intercultural context. She offers them to us, tenderly and unabashedly, songs of love and – in the words of Heine's "Loreley" – bygone ages. The band: Marc Ribot und Greg Cohen (Tom Waits Band) on guitar and double bass, Glenn Patscha (Ollabelle) on keyboards and Frank London (Klezmatics).
Partisans and Parasites - Daniel Kahn and Painted Bird
$18.99
(cdRoots# rien-71)
A Detroit area native, Daniel Kahn has lived, played music, recorded, acted, directed plays and composed theatre music in New Orleans, Detroit, New York and Ann Arbor. In summer 2005 Daniel moved to Berlin, and, within a very short space of time, became an integral part of the city's folk and klezmer scene, playing in different groups and musical projects. As a corollary, he soon formed his own band, featuring a rotating roster of some of Berlin and New Yorks best young Klezmer and Balkan players. "The Painted Bird" concocts a mixture of Klezmer, radical Yiddish song, political cabaret and punk folk, kept together by Kahn's amazing abilities both as a songwriter and a performer; telling stories of outrageous incidents, poetically dark, tragically humorous and politically incorrect.
Spiewam zycie – I sing life - Edyta Geppert and Kroke
$18.99
(cdRoots# rien-61)
The well-known Polish klezmer innovators join with one of Poland's finest singers of folk and chanson for a special release of music that avoids being penned in by categories like world music, folk or chanson. The distinctive instrumental style of Kroke, based on their Jewish and East European roots, joins perfectly the expressive voice of Edyta and the ambitious lyrics of the Polish songs.
ten pieces to save the world - Kroke
$18.99
(cdRoots# rien-45)
The Polish trio of Tomasz Kukurba (viola; violin; voice; wind instruments; whistling; piano; percussion; mouth percussion), Jerzy Bawol (accordion), Tomasz Lato (double bass) present music on this 2003 recording that may not save the world, but will certainly make it a more interesting place to visit!
Old World Tangos Vol. 3: Polskie Tango 1929-39 - various
$18.99
(cdRoots# rien-55)
22 tracks of classic tangos from pre-war Poland.
Echoes from Afar - Old World Tangos Vol.1 - various
$18.99
(cdRoots# rien-20)
A look at how the tango affected the world's music in a series of early performances from Rumania (Jean Moscopol, Titi Botez); Turkey (Seyyan Hanim, Ibrahim Özgür); Russia (Pjotr Leschenko); Greece (Sofia Vembo); Egypt (Farid El Atrache) and Algeria (Lili Boniche).
Magic Bird - The Early Years - Maria Tanase
$18.99
(cdRoots# rien-42)
Recordings made by the Romanian singer between 1936 and 1939, most in Bucharest, accompanied by various ensembles of violins, bass, cimbalom, cobza, accordion, clarinet, etc.
AN-KI - Ross Daly and Djamshid Chemirani
$18.99
(cdRoots# rien-03)
Ross Daly teams up with the Iranian master percussionist Jamshid Chemirani, the leading exponent of the zarb drum. The word 'An-Ki' means both 'Heaven-Earth' and 'deity' in the ancient Sumerian language, and An-Ki the record reconciles apparent musical opposites. These range from the ethereal Marmarygi (the Greek word describes the effect of light on marbles as well as the flash of a dancer's feet), which is characterised by Daly's use of a tiny, four-stringed Kenyan harp, to the earthy Bam and zeïbekiko dances from Asia Minor.' - fRoots
Quartet - Live - Kroke
$18.99
(cdRoots# rien-48)
The two Kroke concerts at Radio Kraków Studio on October 9th and 10th, 2003 were something special. They were concerts of a group that after years of intensive touring all over Europe felt obliged to thank their friends in their home town for their long-time support. And there were so many friends to thank that it turned out to be two concerts.
Mir Basaraber - Klezmer Alliance
$18.99
(cdRoots# rien-65)
This band reflects the diversity of the European klezmer scene. Efim Chorny and his pianist Susan Ghergus, with Bernd Spehl, Thomas Fritze, Andreas Schmitges and Guy Schalom work to create a new dimension for Yiddish music.
Tango clásico y moderno - Anna Saeki
$27.99
(cdRoots# rien-66)
I was dubious, too. A Japanese tango singer.. surely a gimmick. But her 20 years of singing experience, and her wise selection of orchestras and small ensembles make these recordings a nice little addition ot a complete tango collection, an acknowledgement of the international influence that Argentine music has had. To be sure, she sings these classica nd modern songs like no one else, and there is a distinctive sound to it all, and perhaps that is why I was most attracted to it.
Marimba Magia - Papa Roncon and Grupo Katanga
$18.99
(cdRoots# rien-43)
From the town of Borbon, in the Esmeraldas district of northern Ecuador, Papá Roncón is a living legend. He plays the marimba and the guitar; he is a singer and a dancer. He makes musical instruments. He lives the folk music of the region. Joined by Catalina Mina Quintero; bombo, kununu and voice and Rosa Huila Valencia; guasa and voice, Grupo Katanga make music that is essential, rough and irresistible.
Tango alla Romanesque - Old World Tangos Vol.2 - various
$18.99
(cdRoots# rien-40)
The second CD in the Old World Tangos series focuses on the 'Romance' countries of Italy, France, and Romania, with a Greek encore.
En Forme De Poire - Melonious Quartet
$18.99
(cdRoots# rien-51)
The Melonious Quartet, four musicians led by Patrick Vaillant, make an unseemly postulate: the mandolin and Satie. Practising the art of what if, the mandolin quartet has taken on in the painstaking work of transcription of Erik Satie. Completely original and unique. Highly recommended!
Intimate Hopes and Terrors - Tales from the Kishkes - The Merlin Shepherd Kapelye
$17.99
(cdRoots# rien-58)
Musician, teacher and interpreter of traditional East European klezmer clarinet is joined by the former Soviet Union Klezmer All Stars or, in his own words, some of the greatest klezmer players in the world today. Klezmer played with such passion, Jewish music directly from the heart, the soul, music from the gut, the kishkes, the very center of the human spirit. Jewish music that comes closer to one of the many ways that it may or probably may not have sounded so long ago.
A Podolian Affair - Konsonans Retro
$17.99
(cdRoots# rien-62)
In the southeast of Podolia, just a few minutes from the Moldavian border, you'll find the home of the Baranovskys family. In this region Ukrainians played with Moldovans, with Jews, with Gypsies and Russians, sharing their music and making something new. The musicisn of this extended family offer a fresh look at the unique traditions of their home, music that is steeped in the sounds of klezmer but also, so much more.
The Sounds of the Vanishing World - Kroke
$18.99
(cdRoots# rien-24)
In a world of unlimited communication and millennium hysteria, Kroke want us to think about things that are really important in life: Earth, Water, Fire and Love (all titles on this recording). It is also about the important events of the last decades. Basing their work on the Eastern European and Balkans tradition of Klezmer music, they also include jazz, improvisation, pop, avant-garde music and much more. These three musicians, well known in Klezmer circles, are always exciting and full of surprises, breaking new ground with their music at each turn. This 2000 release, like their others, was produced in Krakow, itself a symbol of 'the disappearing world.'
Li Turchi Viaggiano - Media Aetas / Roberto De Simone
$18.99
(cdRoots# rien-44)
The first new work since 1978 by the founder of Compagnia di Canto Popolare, Roberto De Simone. Italian folk, classical and avant garde all converge in this marvelous new work.
Klezmer for the Sultan - Yinon Muallem
$17.99
(cdRoots# rien-53)
Born in Israel of Iraqi parents, this musician became immersed in the music of the Balkans and the middle east at an early age, and went on to work with some great artists, including Ross Daly, Alim Gazimov and Omar Faruk Tekbilek. In 2002 he moved to Turkey to build a new ensemble and write new compositions. Arabic, Indian, Balkan, Persian, Jewish and jazz music all enter the picture, but the end result is something personal and unique.
Solo Para O Sol - Cathrin Pfeifer
$17.99
(cdRoots# rien-21)
One of the best piano accordionist on the German folk and world music scene, a former memeber of the legendary band Jams, this 1998 CD finds her as part of a quartet with Topo Gioia, percussion; Thommy Jordi, fender bass; Horst Nonnenmacher, acoustic bass.
Ziara: Sephardic Women's Songs of the Balkans - Ruth Yaakov Ensemble
$17.99
(cdRoots# rien-52)
Yaakov collects and interpretes the songs of the Sephardim,the Hispano-Jewish refugees that settled mainly in the Ottoman Empire around the Mediterranean Sea and the Balkans. The singer is backed by a wonderful ensemble of clarinet, penny whistle, ud, yayli tanbur, baglama, double bass and percussion.
Jewish-Spanish Songs from Thessaloniki - David Saltiel
$temp out of stock-18.99
(cdRoots# rien-14)
Sephardic songs from Salonica, Greece, sung by one of the more respected vocalists from the folk-music side of the genre, and accompanied by a fine ensemble of ud, quanun, violin, frame drum and lyra.
1931-1937: Gloomy Sunday - Pjotr Leschenko
$temp out of stock-18.99
(cdRoots# rien-54)
The charismatic Russian singer Pjotr Leschenko in recordings from 1931 to 1937, the years Leschenko was well on his way to conquering the whole of Europe from his exile in Bucharest. The accent is on tangos, with the focus being the title track, the legendary peaen to despair by Sam M. Lewis.
1931: Gipsy Songs and Other Passions - Pjotr Leschenko
$temp out of stock-18.99
(cdRoots# rien-12)
Leschenko was known as 'the king of the Russian tango' and his singing was passionate and rich. Born in a Russian town south of Odessa in what was to become Romania after the 1st world war, he became an icon throughout eastern Europe, one of the most sought after popular singers of his time. These 1931 recordings are part of the work from what were considered to be from his peak years from the early to mid 1930s.
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