Browse by Label: WORLD ARBITER

Artist:	VA
Title:	The Roots of Gamelan
Label:	WORLD ARBITER
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	WA 2001CD

1999 release, the first on this exceptional classical world music label. Recordings from Bali, 1928, reissued for the first time. "These historic recordings were made in 1928, as part of a collection of the first and only commercially-released recordings of Balinese music prior to World War II. This incredibly diverse sampling of Balinese new and older styles was released on 78 rpm discs that same year, with subsequent releases for international distribution in the following years. The discs were sold world-wide (or not sold, as it happened) and quickly went out of print. It was a crucial time in the island's musical history, as Bali was in the midst of an artistic revolution, with a new style of music, kebyar, sweeping the island. Gamelan groups were having their older ceremonial orchestras melted down and reforged in the new style. Intense competition between villages and regions was driving young composers to develop compositional ideas, innovations and impressive techniques. Gamelan is the general term for Bali's dozen or so instrumental music ensembles. The word is derived from gamel, to handle, and Balinese make a clear distinction between gamelan krawang, bronze instruments, and other kinds of ensembles utilizing bamboo. The distinctive features of Bali's major styles highlight shimmering resonances of gongs, knobbed gong-chimes, and metallophones (with bronze keys suspended over bamboo resonators), ranging four or five octaves, and differing from neighboring Java in their explosive sonorities and phrasings. Gamelan styles are associated with specific contexts of ceremonial, entertainment, or recreational activity. The unique collection of tuned gongs, gong-chimes and flat metallophones which we associate with the gamelan styles of Bali and Java, appears to have developed between the construction of the 9th century Buddhist temple Borobudur and the arrival of the first Dutch expedition in 1595."

Artist:	VA
Title:	Dances and Trances: Sufi Rites and Berber Music from Morocco
Label:	WORLD ARBITER
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	WA 2002CD

Recordings from Taroudannt, Morocco, 1994-1995; a series of Moroccan Sufis practicing trance rites which outsiders are rarely able to witness. "The city of Taroudannt, Morocco, is surrounded by perfectly-preserved red-ochre mud walls dating back, in part, to the sixteenth century Saadien dynasty, which chose Taroudannt as its capital before moving to the larger and more accessible Marrakesh. While the walls and their ramparts are impressive, the real attraction of Taroudannt lies in its purely Moroccan character, which has remained essentially unchanged for centuries. Situated in the Souss River valley and cut off by the snow-capped peaks of the Haut-Atlas mountains to the North, and the semi-desert Anti-Atlas range to the South, the French occupiers never created a modern ville-nouvelle here, with the typical unimaginative grid of streets one finds in many cities, large and small, throughout Morocco. The feeling of Taroudannt is timeless and traditional. A note about the recordings: The Guerreras and the Hadra were recorded with a hand-held stereo microphone, allowing free movement through the musicians and capturing the performances from a variety of vantage points. Sometimes particular instruments or voices were targeted, allowing the listener to hear the role they played. As a result, the sound is not static, the balance of elements shifting with the motion of the microphone. The performances were not the result of prearranged sessions. All were 'encounters,' recorded at public events held during the course of daily life in Morocco. Particularly in the large Guerrera, we find ourselves joining the throng of participants, surrounded by their expressions of enthusiasm and excitement, along with their casual socializing."

Artist:	PATHAK, PANDIT ASHOK
Title:	Ancient Court Raga Traditions
Label:	WORLD ARBITER
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	WA 2003CD

Performed by Pandit Ashok Pathak (surbahar). Two long tracks: "Raga Malkauns", "Raga Bageshri", recorded 2000. "Only part of India's noblest classical instrumental traditions have been adequately documented on recordings, beginning with sitarist Imdad Khan in 1905. With the compact disc, raga performances could expand from pioneering 4-minute excerpts on 78 rpm discs to span well beyond an hour on CD, allowing full development and style to unfold. One vital court style remains in a fragmentary way: the ancient art of dhrupad, characterized by slowly singing and playing which favored the arrhythmic alap section and based on the ancient Vedic chant. Too few of these family-based traditions survived the ending of royal patronage. Amongst them are the Pathaks, representing a musical lineage through 5 generations of dhrupad singers, veena players and sitarists, with the current generation including a composer and tabla player. Balaram Pathak introduced the use of harmonics on sitar with meend, heard on his one CD. This unique practice has further explored by (his son) Ashok, who uses it extensively, along with thematic playing on the sympathetic strings. Before beginning a raga, he dwells on these strings, at times playing two simultaneously, creating harmonies which he adopted after having heard it in pre-Renaissance Western music (in polyphonic works by Perotin, Josquin des Prez, etc...)."

Artist:	KA PING, LO
Title:	Lost Sounds of the Tao: Chinese Masters of the Guqin
Label:	WORLD ARBITER
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	WA 2004CD

"Lo Ka Ping, guqin. recorded 1970, 1971. The guqin was Confucius' instrument, used by scholars and nobles for self-purification. Lo was a Taoist priest (1896-1980) who lived in the remote lands of the New Territories behind Hong Kong, recorded by a pupil in 1970. These rare archival tapes were assembled after an extensive hunt in Hong Kong, New York, California and Taiwan." From the liner notes: "A tape ready of four traditional pieces (Side I) and four original pieces (Side II) for ch'in, played by an old master who lives in a country home in the New Territories. There emerged a vibrant expressive art, its first impression the forthright spirituality of a Blind Willie Johnson (yes, some scales have the blue note intonation!) who made his Ming Dynasty qin state and moan out visions, as panoramas of ancient brush paintings danced before my eyes, attaining life in sound, all their varied densities in depicting nature now breathing amidst sonic rainbows unleashed through the qin's harmonics. The scratching of the silk strings as one changes the finger positions is referred to as the instrument's respiration. Lo's non-thematic use of the fundamental tones in the beginning of the first piece were akin to a veena beginning a raga, causing one to wonder if this manner had become embedded in his music from the early visits by Indian Buddhists, who had brought their own instruments to China. What so casually endows Lo's playing with profundity and depth is the philosophy behind the music, entering the sound through the Tao rather than displaying the fruits of a learned craft, for he was completely self-taught and thus freed from any burden of tradition. His performances, compared to most other players, brim with vitality and spirit, like found objects emerging forth into independent existences, unlike the imposed rhythmic regularity and extremely slow tempi the works are often given by scholars. Lo was alive until 1980 (age 84)."

Artist:	DAVIS, REVEREND GARY
Title:	The Sun of Our Life (Solos, Songs, a Sermon 1955-1957)
Label:	WORLD ARBITER
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	WA 2005CD

"This disc is ALL NEW material, contains many otherwise unrecorded solos and a walloping sermon to boot. Reverend Gary Davis profoundly influenced Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead (Bob Weir was his pupil), Jorma Kaukonene, Taj Mahal, and the entire folk scene of the 1960s. World Arbiter discovered professional tapes of Davis made of works otherwise unrecorded, including a Sunday service during which he offered a fiery sermon. This is the most comprehensive cross-section of his artistry ever presented: blues, ragtime, gospel and more." Recorded 1955-57; 78 minutes; extensive liner notes by World Arbiter's Allan Evans.

Artist:	DANCERS OF BALI
Title:	Gamelan of Peliatan, 1952
Label:	WORLD ARBITER
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	WA 2007CD

"Under the direction of Anak Agung Gede Mandera; Recorded in New York & London, 1952. The gamelan and dancers of Peliatan were the first to give an extensive foreign tour, demonstrating their revolutionary kebyar style. These performances are the first modern recordings made of a gamelan. Extensive liner notes by Edward Herbst, along with rare photos, document one of Bali's most significant ensembles. Remastered from the master tapes."

Artist:	VA
Title:	Lifting the Veil: The Earliest Blues Guitarists
Label:	WORLD ARBITER
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	WA 2008CD

Another exceptional archival release from Allan Evans' World Arbiter label. "After years of preparation, World Arbiter offers new vivid restorations of discs from Harry Smith's Archive. Pioneering legendary artists are heard in a variety of genres which created the blues. Our text contains selections from an astonishing discovery: an unknown 1951 oral history of Rev. Gary Davis, providing a candid, unparalleled insight into his life." Featured artists: Leadbelly, Rev. Gary Davis, Big Bill Broonzy, Gus Cannon & Blind Blake, Leola B. Wilson & Blind Blake, Buddy Boy Hawkins, Ramblin' Thomas, Edward Thompsom, William Moore, Charley Patton, Rube Lacy. Includes two previously unpublished recordings (Rev. Gary Davis from 1956/7 and Leadbelly from 1941), plus various obscure 78 tracks from Harry Smiths' collection (all recorded 1926-1929).

Artist:	VA
Title:	Japanese Traditional Music: Gagaku, Buddhist Chant...
Label:	WORLD ARBITER
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	WA 2009CD

...Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai 1941. First in a series of 78 restorations, this one focuses on gagaku & Buddhist chant. Beautiful, lost-in-time recordings -- produced to perfection from one of the world's greats . In the words of World Arbiter's Allen Evans: "Current gagaku sounds brittle, easily cracked, very delicate. And in 1941 they used fewer performers but have a solidity, a weight. They were carrying on a tradition that was part of an immortal empire, a vision of permanence. Four years later it was over." "In 1942, a set of sixty 78 rpm discs documenting the most authentic traditions in Japanese music was privately issued. Due to the war and neglect, few copies survive. This disc marks the beginning of its restoration."

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Artist:	JEFFERSON, BLIND LEMON
Title:	Long Lonesome Blues: Lemon's Texts Revealed
Label:	WORLD ARBITER
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	WA 2006CD