Various Artists - Black Mirror: Reflections in Glo

Album: Black Mirror: Reflections in Global Musics (1918-1955)
Year: 2007
Label: Dust-to-Digital
Style: traditional, folk, vintage
Country: various
Format: MP3
Quality: CBR, 192 kbps
Size: 110 MB (5% recovery information & artwork included)

Released by the ambitious Dust-to-Digital label, and pulled from his personal collection of old 78rpm shellacs by equally ambitious Baltimore record shop owner Ian Nagoski, this album compiles rare old recordings from Syria, Thailand, Bali, England, India, Cameroun, Poland, China, Ireland, Ukraine, Turkey, Vietnam, Germany, Greece, Serbia, Java, Spain, Portugal, Laos, Sweden, Bali, Japan, and Myanmar.

Black Mirror: Reflections in Global Musics (1918-1955)
Dust-to-Digital, DTD-10, 2007

01. Naim Karakand: "Kamanagah" (Syria)
02. Thewaprasit Ensemble: "Phleeng Khuk Phat, Part 2" (Thailand)
03. Gong Belaloewana: "Kebyar Ding, I" (Bali)
04. Pipe Major Forsyth: "Mallorca" (Northumbria-England)
05. Thiruvazhimilalai Subramanian Bros. & Needamangalam Meenakshisundaram Pillair: "Manasa Sri Ramachandra" (India)
06. Paul Pendja Ensemble: "Ngo Mebou Melane" (Cameroun)
07. Cyganska Orchestra Stefana: "Cyganske Vesilia, Part 4" (Lemko-Poland)
08. Zhehongyi with Nendi Zhaoguan: "Mother's Uproar" (Fouzhou-China)
09. Patrick J. Touhey: "Drowsy Maggie" (Ireland)
10. Hutzl Ukrainian Ensemble: "Welsisni Melodyi" (Hutsul-Ukraine)
11. Neriman Altindag: "Soyledi Yok Yok" (Turkey)
12. Lata Mangeshkar: "Aayega Aanewaala" (India)
13. M. Nguyen Van Minh-Con: "Nam Nhi-tu" (Vietnam)
14. Edwin Fischer: "Handel's Chaconne, Teil 1" (Switzerland / Germany)
15. Marika Papagika: "Smyrneiko Minore" (Greece)
16. Petar Perunovic-Perun: "Narodne Saljive Pjesme" (Serbia)
17. Nji R. Hadji Djoeaehn: "Tjimploengan" (Sunda-Java)
18. Niño de Priego: "Envidia Yo No Tengo a Nadie" (Spain)
19. Prof. Lucas Junot: "Fado de Passarinhos" (Portugal)
20. Sathoukhru Lukkamkeow: "Nakhone Prayer" (Laos)
21. Christer Falkenstrom: "Baklandets Vackra Maja" (Sweden)
22. Representatives of the Democratic Youth of Indonesia: "Djanger" (Bali)
23. Sinkou Son & Kouran Kin: "Songs in Grief" (Japan)
24. Burmanese Musicians: "Yein Pwe" (Myanmar)

Total time: 73:41 min

The unwaveringly exceptional Dust-To-Digital label provides its own take on world music, recruiting Baltimore record shop owner Ian Nagoski to compile and annotate the album, which draws on a variety of different global music genres, originating from Europe, Asia and Africa. By the label's usual standards, Black Mirror is relatively stripped of concept and thematics, instead focussing on a single archivist's vision, bringing together world music obscurities dating from 1918-1955. The sequencing of the compilation darts from Syria to Bali to good old Northumbria within the blink of an eye, with a few real characters cropping up across the disc. Take for example piper Patrick J. Touhey, an Irish soloist who (as the pictures in the liner notes attest) is every bit the stovepipe-wearing dandy you'd hope him to be. His piece, 'Drowsy Maggie' is quite the romp, and one of the artist's few recordings not to be confined to self-released wax cylinders. Blimey, the things people did before MySpace. Touhey is just one of several intriguing figures to populate Black Mirror. Also unearthed here are treasures by the incredible Greek vocalist Marika Papagika (whose mournful ballad from 1919 has to be heard to be believed), and the remarkable Christer Falkenstrom, a 10 year-old Swedish boy who sings incredibly sweetly whilst accompanying himself on the zither. As you'll have come to expect from Dust To Digital, Black Mirror is a superior compilation of curios and oddities, which digs up some real gems along the way. Highly recommended.

boomkat.com

There are so many records that require minimal financial resources to obtain. I paid approximately $125 for all of the recordings represented on this disc. I never drove more than 30 minutes from home to find them, and none were bought through the mail. They came my way, or you could say, we collided, since the objects themselves are made of sturdier stuff than I am and will, if all goes accordingly, outlast me.

Several were gifts from other collectors who didn't appreciate the music or who simply saw a chance to offer me something valuable in kindness. The two I bought from a collector account for half of the total cost. What is required instead of money is a need to be touched by the sound.

It takes an enourmous amount of time alone at the record player, for to find the special, nourishing ones. And then it takes listening to them over and over, hundreds of times, gazing into their sounds and pondering their mysteries to know for sure if you really found something. In that process, something happens, an act of intuition, of trust in one's own sense of joy and an experience of one's own desires, which is very much like love.

So, these are some records I fell in love with. It is a great, great joy to share them.

Ian Nagoski

(taken from the liner notes)