Haling Vol. 3 - Song 1 MP3

There are a very limited number of locally produced cassettes available, each released as a “volume” or an artists work. Haeng, Haling, Ester and Ataratu are the most well known throughout Waingapu and the surrounding provinces of East Sumba. In many of the recordings, children and animals can be heard in the background during the performance, and often times, the tape will run out in the middle of a song, so the performermer will continue the song from where he left off on the previous side. These are recorded on home ghetto-blasters, and sold/traded in local street markets in Waingapu, Sumba.

I found this cassette simply labelled “Pa’badong” in a vegetable market in Rantepao, Sulawesi. The origins of the tape is unknown to me. This vocal style has been documented before, but this is interesting because it is a locally produced cassette of their own traditional style. Enjoy.

Pa’Badong Section 4 MP3

Kenyo Gyi has been a favorite of mine for a number of years, and I was able to find this cassette in Mandalay this past year.  I don’t have the song titles translated yet, but in the meantime, enjoy 2 great tracks from the cassette.

KENYO GYI SONG 1 MP3
KENYO GYI SONG 2 MP3

I am putting the finishing touches on my latest album entitled The Dogherder Tapes Vol. 1, and am planning to release it September 1, 2008. I’m very proud of how it’s turning out, and I’m excited to share it with everyone. It’s an entirely different world than Eau or the Burma disc, and influenced much more by French artists such as Luc Ferrari, Denis Dufour and Bernard Parmegiani. Songs are crafted from a combination of these field recordings, found-sounds on old cassettes, short-wave radio interceptions and new studio recordings which accompany and play along-side the performances. It functions similar to collage albums, but feels entirely different, influenced more by the desire to find a personal and emotional context for the ‘field recording’ genre. My attempt has been to examine the process of pseudo-acculturation- a normalization of exotic and challenging stimuli from exposure to other cultures and lifestyles, while remaining at all times an ‘outsider’ with distinct, albeit challenged perceptual predispositions. In an effort to accomplish this, all field recordings and radio broadcasts are placed within shifting sonic contexts, particularly inspired by Luc Ferrari’s “Les Anecdotiques”. Showcasing an epic segment capturing the unforgettable child-healing evangelists of the Guatemalan highlands, I hope it makes for an exciting and unique listening experience.

Featuring field recordings, radio excerpts and found-sounds from Guatemala, Honduras, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia and Thailand, the album spans 68 minutes.

More information, including the track listing, is in the music section.

My favorite radio stations in the world are in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. All day and night, every station seems to play a never-ending assortment of absolutely mind-blowing songs. The AM program “Classic National” broadcasts all sorts of Malay lounge music, seemingly flamenco-influenced ballads, bit-crushed jingles… There are stations that exclusively play music from India; others from China (including a great late-night Chinese modern-electronic music show, which boasts a parralel lineup of Chinese Notwists, Alva Notos and Album Leafs). There is an independent-music station which proudly shares the prolific Malaysian independent music output in hard-rock, hip-hop and shoegazer music. I will make a blog on Malay lounge music soon, but higher up on the FM frequencies late at night I would occasionally catch some static-y surf music, and wanted to share a few songs. There must be a Malay surf genre, and if anyone has any information on the artists, or other similar music, please contact me!

PERSIAN TIDES

MALAY SURF

SURFING THE ISLAMIC FREQUENCIES