GLITTERBEAT - Forced Exposure

$23.50 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 4/12/2019

LP version. 180 gram vinyl; Includes download code. Fusing the rhythms and invocations of the ancient Saharan Banga ritual with an electrical storm of contemporary sonics, Ifriqiyya Electrique's second album both grips and awakens. In Tunisian, Banga means "huge volume" and one cannot think of a more apt description of Laylet El Booree than that: Maximalist and relentless; Blood, sweat, and trance. Several years ago, two of the musicians who make up the five-piece Ifriqiyya Electrique -- Gianna Greco and François R. Cambuzat -- ventured to the Djerid desert of Tunisia to investigate and confront the religious ritual of the Banga, a ritual of legendary intensity indigenous to the region. The musical duo's background is in the underground post-punk scene of continental Europe, as members of Putan Club and as collaborators with the venerable Lydia Lunch. But they are also voracious travelers and seekers of global sonics that are at least partially hidden from the western gaze. In 2017, Ifriqiyya Electrique released their debut album Rûwâhîne (GB 046CD/LP), an album which deftly brought together the hypnotic chants and metallic hand percussion of traditional Banga music with brutalist electronics and sheer rock volume. Three members of the Banga community -- Tarek Sultan, Yahia Chouchen, and Youssef Ghazala -- joined forces with Gianna and Francois not only on this acclaimed album, but also onstage throughout the eighteen months of touring that followed the record's release. It quickly became clear that the Banga had not been pointlessly retooled for western consumption, but rather through the deep commitment of the five Ifriqiyya Electrique musicians -- it had been transformed into something contemporary and unexpected. Ifriqiyya Electrique cryptically call this transformation a "post-industrial ritual" and the actual experience of hearing this music certainly echoes this moniker. The title of the second album Laylet El Booree translates as the "Night Of The Madness". It refers to the last part of the annual gathering of the adorcist ritual from the Banga of Tozeur -- it is the night when the spirits actually take possession of the bodies. With the band now joined by new member Fatma Chebbi (on vocals and tchektchekas hand percussion) one senses that the musical and cultural conversation is even deeper this time around. In fact, it doesn't feel like a speculative conversation at all, but rather something fully formed and undeniable. An emergent ritual in itself.

$15.50 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 4/12/2019

Fusing the rhythms and invocations of the ancient Saharan Banga ritual with an electrical storm of contemporary sonics, Ifriqiyya Electrique's second album both grips and awakens. In Tunisian, Banga means "huge volume" and one cannot think of a more apt description of Laylet El Booree than that: Maximalist and relentless; Blood, sweat, and trance. Several years ago, two of the musicians who make up the five-piece Ifriqiyya Electrique -- Gianna Greco and François R. Cambuzat -- ventured to the Djerid desert of Tunisia to investigate and confront the religious ritual of the Banga, a ritual of legendary intensity indigenous to the region. The musical duo's background is in the underground post-punk scene of continental Europe, as members of Putan Club and as collaborators with the venerable Lydia Lunch. But they are also voracious travelers and seekers of global sonics that are at least partially hidden from the western gaze. In 2017, Ifriqiyya Electrique released their debut album Rûwâhîne (GB 046CD/LP), an album which deftly brought together the hypnotic chants and metallic hand percussion of traditional Banga music with brutalist electronics and sheer rock volume. Three members of the Banga community -- Tarek Sultan, Yahia Chouchen, and Youssef Ghazala -- joined forces with Gianna and Francois not only on this acclaimed album, but also onstage throughout the eighteen months of touring that followed the record's release. It quickly became clear that the Banga had not been pointlessly retooled for western consumption, but rather through the deep commitment of the five Ifriqiyya Electrique musicians -- it had been transformed into something contemporary and unexpected. Ifriqiyya Electrique cryptically call this transformation a "post-industrial ritual" and the actual experience of hearing this music certainly echoes this moniker. The title of the second album Laylet El Booree translates as the "Night Of The Madness". It refers to the last part of the annual gathering of the adorcist ritual from the Banga of Tozeur -- it is the night when the spirits actually take possession of the bodies. With the band now joined by new member Fatma Chebbi (on vocals and tchektchekas hand percussion) one senses that the musical and cultural conversation is even deeper this time around. In fact, it doesn't feel like a speculative conversation at all, but rather something fully formed and undeniable. An emergent ritual in itself.

$15.50 IN STOCK

On the heels of their acclaimed album Tikounen (ZEP 032LP, 2016) -- a recording The Guardian called "a leap forward in the modern Tuareg sound... truly radical" -- Kel Assouf return with an even more transformative collection: Black Tenere. Produced by the band's keyboardist Sofyann Ben Youssef, the mastermind behind the highly touted AMMAR 808, the new album strips things back to a power trio lineup and focuses on the crackling, forward-looking energy of Nigerien front man Anana Ag Haroun's next level Kel Tamashek (Tuareg) rock songs. Kel Assouf's musical journey has flowed seamlessly from the well-spring created by Ishumar desert rock pioneers Tinariwen -- that Haroun first encountered as a young musician in Niger -- towards sonic horizons that include the rock classicism and the club beats and astral ambiance of European electronic music. On Black Tenere, the band pushes these different textures and influences towards a persuasive, raw-edged crescendo. The messages found in Ag Haroun's lyrics are potent, tragic, and inspiring in their defiance. The struggle of the stateless Kel Tamashek (a name they prefer to the colonial moniker "Tuareg") to maintain control of their ancestral lands, their dignity and their nomadic way of life, has only recently entered the fringes of Western consciousness. Infused into the sharp, unswerving social analysis, and the calls for resistance, there is also the shimmer of nostalgia and a poetry of deep longing. To record the energized soundscapes of Black Tenere, the trio (Ag Harouna plus drummer Oliver Penu and keyboardist/producer Sofyann Ben Youssef) setup at Stureparken Studio in Stockholm. Ben Youssef, a fast-rising producer responsible for the previous Kel Assouf album and recent records by Algerian rai provocateur Sofiane Sadi and AMMAR 808. The recordings brilliantly reflect the strong collective heart of the band -- each musician supporting the album's propulsive, hypnotic purposes -- yet on many occasions stepping forward in thrilling ways. "Alyochan" is unimaginable without the motorik pulse of Penu's trance-like drumming. Ben Youssef's Hammond organ creates a gorgeous defining space (and an unresolved tension) throughout the long intro of "Ariyal". While Ag Haroun's guitar is often wrapped in distortion, on "Tamatan" he pulls things back, and with the help of Enoesque treatments, his guitar feels star bound and weightless.

$23.50 IN STOCK

LP version. 180 gram vinyl; Includes download code. On the heels of their acclaimed album Tikounen (ZEP 032LP, 2016) -- a recording The Guardian called "a leap forward in the modern Tuareg sound... truly radical" -- Kel Assouf return with an even more transformative collection: Black Tenere. Produced by the band's keyboardist Sofyann Ben Youssef, the mastermind behind the highly touted AMMAR 808, the new album strips things back to a power trio lineup and focuses on the crackling, forward-looking energy of Nigerien front man Anana Ag Haroun's next level Kel Tamashek (Tuareg) rock songs. Kel Assouf's musical journey has flowed seamlessly from the well-spring created by Ishumar desert rock pioneers Tinariwen -- that Haroun first encountered as a young musician in Niger -- towards sonic horizons that include the rock classicism and the club beats and astral ambiance of European electronic music. On Black Tenere, the band pushes these different textures and influences towards a persuasive, raw-edged crescendo. The messages found in Ag Haroun's lyrics are potent, tragic, and inspiring in their defiance. The struggle of the stateless Kel Tamashek (a name they prefer to the colonial moniker "Tuareg") to maintain control of their ancestral lands, their dignity and their nomadic way of life, has only recently entered the fringes of Western consciousness. Infused into the sharp, unswerving social analysis, and the calls for resistance, there is also the shimmer of nostalgia and a poetry of deep longing. To record the energized soundscapes of Black Tenere, the trio (Ag Harouna plus drummer Oliver Penu and keyboardist/producer Sofyann Ben Youssef) setup at Stureparken Studio in Stockholm. Ben Youssef, a fast-rising producer responsible for the previous Kel Assouf album and recent records by Algerian rai provocateur Sofiane Sadi and AMMAR 808. The recordings brilliantly reflect the strong collective heart of the band -- each musician supporting the album's propulsive, hypnotic purposes -- yet on many occasions stepping forward in thrilling ways. "Alyochan" is unimaginable without the motorik pulse of Penu's trance-like drumming. Ben Youssef's Hammond organ creates a gorgeous defining space (and an unresolved tension) throughout the long intro of "Ariyal". While Ag Haroun's guitar is often wrapped in distortion, on "Tamatan" he pulls things back, and with the help of Enoesque treatments, his guitar feels star bound and weightless.

$23.50 IN STOCK

Ustad Saami's God Is Not A Terrorist is hypnotic, unvarnished recordings by one of Pakistan's most revered and iconic classical singers. The roots of Saami's music go back to the 13th century, but its message is contemporary and universal: "to sing is to listen." Produced by Grammy Award winner Ian Brennan, God Is Not A Terrorist is volume five of Glitterbeat's acclaimed Hidden Musics series. "75-year-old Ustad Saami risks his life daily in Pakistan to keep alive his microtonal, pre-Islamic, multilingual (Farsi, Sanskrit, Hindi, the ancient language of Vedic, gibberish, Arabic, and Urdu) music. Handed down by his ancestors for over a thousand years, he is the only practitioner of Surti left in the world; when he passes, this music will die with him. Extremists resent his work as they do anything else pre-dating Muhammad. In the land where Osama Bin last hid, Master Ustad Naseeruddin Saami has spent his entire life mastering the nuances of every given note. It has been said that India always had a region where all of the greatest singers came from; that place is Pakistan. "To sing is to listen." These are the words of the master. The translation of his last name, Saami, even means "to hear." For him, everything centers on one note. From that, all else grows and music is seen as a sixth sense for people to better communicate with each other. With great precision, Saami utilizes 49 notes versus the West's mere seven. The scale was founded by a mix-raced royal whose lifelong endeavor was to make peace with duality through art. This predecessor of qawwali music is called khayál, the Arabic word for "imagination"; in it the melody carries the meaning. The lyrics are almost incidental during these call-and-responses. It is the uneven pitches that the master values as being the most searching; those with even numbers are too stable. The master shapes the notes with his hands as he sings like conducting a Theremin. Most masters now hide their knowledge, possessively passing their skills down through family only. Subsequently, traditions have died and withered. Master Saami's mission is to share his knowledge with the world, so that the music may live on freely." --Ian Brennan. LP version; 180 gram vinyl, includes download.

$15.50 IN STOCK

Ustad Saami's God Is Not A Terrorist is hypnotic, unvarnished recordings by one of Pakistan's most revered and iconic classical singers. The roots of Saami's music go back to the 13th century, but its message is contemporary and universal: "to sing is to listen." Produced by Grammy Award winner Ian Brennan, God Is Not A Terrorist is volume five of Glitterbeat's acclaimed Hidden Musics series. "75-year-old Ustad Saami risks his life daily in Pakistan to keep alive his microtonal, pre-Islamic, multilingual (Farsi, Sanskrit, Hindi, the ancient language of Vedic, gibberish, Arabic, and Urdu) music. Handed down by his ancestors for over a thousand years, he is the only practitioner of Surti left in the world; when he passes, this music will die with him. Extremists resent his work as they do anything else pre-dating Muhammad. In the land where Osama Bin last hid, Master Ustad Naseeruddin Saami has spent his entire life mastering the nuances of every given note. It has been said that India always had a region where all of the greatest singers came from; that place is Pakistan. "To sing is to listen." These are the words of the master. The translation of his last name, Saami, even means "to hear." For him, everything centers on one note. From that, all else grows and music is seen as a sixth sense for people to better communicate with each other. With great precision, Saami utilizes 49 notes versus the West's mere seven. The scale was founded by a mix-raced royal whose lifelong endeavor was to make peace with duality through art. This predecessor of qawwali music is called khayál, the Arabic word for "imagination"; in it the melody carries the meaning. The lyrics are almost incidental during these call-and-responses. It is the uneven pitches that the master values as being the most searching; those with even numbers are too stable. The master shapes the notes with his hands as he sings like conducting a Theremin. Most masters now hide their knowledge, possessively passing their skills down through family only. Subsequently, traditions have died and withered. Master Saami's mission is to share his knowledge with the world, so that the music may live on freely." --Ian Brennan. LP version on 180 gram vinyl, includes download.

$23.50 IN STOCK

LP version. 180 gram vinyl; includes download code. The London-based Afro-dub ensemble Fofoulah have followed-up their debut album Fofoulah (GB 017 CD/LP, 2014) with a more shape-shifting and adventurous recording. Slippery sabar beats, dystopian electronics, and echoing, shamanic chants ratchet up both the dub quotient and the dramatic tension. Creating a sound-world that is both earthy and urban, futurist and rooted - their new album Daega Rek (The Truth) is brought into focus by the rhythms and vocals of Gambian sabar drummer Kaw Secka and the vivid production of keyboardist/saxophonist Tom Challenger. After the release of Fofoulah, the band played extensively in the U.K. and Europe where every concert would see Secka rise to the microphone with his tama (a talking drum) and rap over the last song, cueing rhythmic patterns for the group to play in unison. It was decided to take this exploratory part of the shows forward into the next realm. The concept that emerged for the Daega Rek involved combining recordings of drums and percussion with improvisatory vocalizations and a production aesthetic that pushed the band's collective sound in a much more electronic and dub-based direction. The resultant tracks were shaped by Challenger in his studio, fusing the new rhythm sessions with a variety of manipulated, previous recordings of the band, while also adding an array of synthesizers. Secka then came in to lay down vocals and it was these contributions that went on to define the final songs. Every song has a different meaning, or message, all of them sung in Wolof, a language central to coastal West African countries such as The Gambia and Senegal. Secka's lyrics explore a myriad of topics -- "Njite" for example, focuses on the importance of leadership, and all that it entails; "Seye" (Marriage) explores the nature of human connection; and the title track sets its lens on truth and the riddles of reality. The rhythmic propulsion of the initial recordings made by drummer Dave Smith and Secka at Real World, melds with a backdrop of shifting sonic colors; Johnny Brierley's melodic bass lines underpin the patterns of Phil Stevenson's guitar which intersect with Challenger's keyboards and Secka's incantations. The emphasis on sonic structure and the identity of the material showcases its influences - traditional sabar drumming meeting glitchy electronics and dub textures blending with elements of footwork and drum and bass. Fofoulah remind us that sonic and human experiences combine, resonate and land where they will.

$15.50 IN STOCK

The London-based Afro-dub ensemble Fofoulah have followed-up their debut album Fofoulah (GB 017 CD/LP, 2014) with a more shape-shifting and adventurous recording. Slippery sabar beats, dystopian electronics, and echoing, shamanic chants ratchet up both the dub quotient and the dramatic tension. Creating a sound-world that is both earthy and urban, futurist and rooted - their new album Daega Rek (The Truth) is brought into focus by the rhythms and vocals of Gambian sabar drummer Kaw Secka and the vivid production of keyboardist/saxophonist Tom Challenger. After the release of Fofoulah, the band played extensively in the U.K. and Europe where every concert would see Secka rise to the microphone with his tama (a talking drum) and rap over the last song, cueing rhythmic patterns for the group to play in unison. It was decided to take this exploratory part of the shows forward into the next realm. The concept that emerged for the Daega Rek involved combining recordings of drums and percussion with improvisatory vocalizations and a production aesthetic that pushed the band's collective sound in a much more electronic and dub-based direction. The resultant tracks were shaped by Challenger in his studio, fusing the new rhythm sessions with a variety of manipulated, previous recordings of the band, while also adding an array of synthesizers. Secka then came in to lay down vocals and it was these contributions that went on to define the final songs. Every song has a different meaning, or message, all of them sung in Wolof, a language central to coastal West African countries such as The Gambia and Senegal. Secka's lyrics explore a myriad of topics -- "Njite" for example, focuses on the importance of leadership, and all that it entails; "Seye" (Marriage) explores the nature of human connection; and the title track sets its lens on truth and the riddles of reality. The rhythmic propulsion of the initial recordings made by drummer Dave Smith and Secka at Real World, melds with a backdrop of shifting sonic colors; Johnny Brierley's melodic bass lines underpin the patterns of Phil Stevenson's guitar which intersect with Challenger's keyboards and Secka's incantations. The emphasis on sonic structure and the identity of the material showcases its influences - traditional sabar drumming meeting glitchy electronics and dub textures blending with elements of footwork and drum and bass. Fofoulah remind us that sonic and human experiences combine, resonate and land where they will.

$23.50 IN STOCK

LP version. 180 gram vinyl; Includes download code. With the release of her first international album Hologram Ĭmparatorluğu (GB 040CD/LP, 2016), Gaye Su Akyol established herself as one of Turkey's most compelling young voices and most exhilarating sonic explorers. Her work as a singer-songwriter, producer, and audio/visual conceptualist simultaneously navigates the storied past, the hyperconnected present and the unscripted future. Growing up in cosmopolitan Istanbul listening to Anatolian music icon Selda Bağcan and Kurt Cobain in equal measure, Akyol skipped right over the tired Oriental/Occidental paradigmatic clichés. Following the widespread critical acclaim for Hologram Ĭmparatorluğu, Gaye and her sublime band spent 18 months traveling up and down Turkey, Europe, and the Middle and Far East, sharing with audiences a vibrant mix of raki-laced traditional balladry, futurist surf, and post-punk opposition. Istikrarlı Hayal Hakikattir, produced by her and guitarist Ali Güçlü Şimşek, is arguably more immediate and visceral than the first two, reflecting her and the band's growing reputation as a powerful live act. Istikrarlı Hayal Hakikattir, which translates as "Consistent Fantasy is Reality", is a deeply poetic album; an album of personalized politics, an album that digs into the heart our contentious, inexplicable contemporary experience. Gaye Su Akyol: "'Consistent Fantasy is Reality' is the third album in my discography . . . Like my second album, it is published by Dunganga Records (our own record company) in Turkey and by Glitterbeat worldwide. In terms of its philosophy, lyrics, music and motto, this album is the dream of pure freedom, of showing the courage to be yourself, of looking at the culture I was born into without alienation, a 'dreaming practice' propounded into a country and world that is increasingly turning inward and becoming a conservatized prison. Musically the album combines influences from the Anatolian pop/Anatolian rock genre that emerged in Turkey during the '60s and the '70s with Turkish classical music scales and vocal aesthetics, and various subgenres of rock (psychedelic, post-punk, surf), bringing together strong ballads, Turkish folk tunes, the conventional guitar-bassdrums trio with percussions, joined by violin, oud, cumbush, and -- as new additions that the previous albums did not have -- baglama (Turkish native instrument), electronic beats, and wind instruments like saxophone and trumpet, all together making up a very rich instrumental palette." LP version comes on 180 gram vinyl; Includes download code. Personnel: Gaye Su Akyol - vocals, percussions, electronics; Ali Güçlü Şimşek - electric and acoustic guitar, back vocal; Görkem Karabudak - bass and acoustic guitar, keyboard, electronics, back vocal; Ediz Hafızoğlu - drums; İlhan Erşahin - saxophone; Barlas Tan Özemek - classical guitar (şahmeran); Ahmet Ayzit - violin, oud, electro saz, cumbush; Ismail Darıcı - percussions; Oğuz Can Bilgin - trumpet.

$15.50 IN STOCK

With the release of her first international album Hologram Ĭmparatorluğu (GB 040CD/LP, 2016), Gaye Su Akyol established herself as one of Turkey's most compelling young voices and most exhilarating sonic explorers. Her work as a singer-songwriter, producer, and audio/visual conceptualist simultaneously navigates the storied past, the hyperconnected present and the unscripted future. Growing up in cosmopolitan Istanbul listening to Anatolian music icon Selda Bağcan and Kurt Cobain in equal measure, Akyol skipped right over the tired Oriental/Occidental paradigmatic clichés. Following the widespread critical acclaim for Hologram Ĭmparatorluğu, Gaye and her sublime band spent 18 months traveling up and down Turkey, Europe, and the Middle and Far East, sharing with audiences a vibrant mix of raki-laced traditional balladry, futurist surf, and post-punk opposition. Istikrarlı Hayal Hakikattir, produced by her and guitarist Ali Güçlü Şimşek, is arguably more immediate and visceral than the first two, reflecting her and the band's growing reputation as a powerful live act. Istikrarlı Hayal Hakikattir, which translates as "Consistent Fantasy is Reality", is a deeply poetic album; an album of personalized politics, an album that digs into the heart our contentious, inexplicable contemporary experience. Gaye Su Akyol: "'Consistent Fantasy is Reality' is the third album in my discography . . . Like my second album, it is published by Dunganga Records (our own record company) in Turkey and by Glitterbeat worldwide. In terms of its philosophy, lyrics, music and motto, this album is the dream of pure freedom, of showing the courage to be yourself, of looking at the culture I was born into without alienation, a 'dreaming practice' propounded into a country and world that is increasingly turning inward and becoming a conservatized prison. Musically the album combines influences from the Anatolian pop/Anatolian rock genre that emerged in Turkey during the '60s and the '70s with Turkish classical music scales and vocal aesthetics, and various subgenres of rock (psychedelic, post-punk, surf), bringing together strong ballads, Turkish folk tunes, the conventional guitar-bassdrums trio with percussions, joined by violin, oud, cumbush, and -- as new additions that the previous albums did not have -- baglama (Turkish native instrument), electronic beats, and wind instruments like saxophone and trumpet, all together making up a very rich instrumental palette." LP version comes on 180 gram vinyl; Includes download code. Personnel: Gaye Su Akyol - vocals, percussions, electronics; Ali Güçlü Şimşek - electric and acoustic guitar, back vocal; Görkem Karabudak - bass and acoustic guitar, keyboard, electronics, back vocal; Ediz Hafızoğlu - drums; İlhan Erşahin - saxophone; Barlas Tan Özemek - classical guitar (şahmeran); Ahmet Ayzit - violin, oud, electro saz, cumbush; Ismail Darıcı - percussions; Oğuz Can Bilgin - trumpet.

$34.50 IN STOCK

Double LP version. 180 gram vinyl; Includes download code. São Paulo's acclaimed ten-piece instrumental collective return for their fourth album, Quebra Cabeça. Urban Afro-Brazilian grooves, empowered horn-driven melodicism, and massive dancefloor inspiration. One of South America's most exhilarating musical propositions. Almost four centuries after the first slave ships loaded their cargoes and set sail, the connection between Brazil and West Africa remains firm and deep. Africa is everywhere in Brazil, and it pulses through the music on Quebra Cabeça ("Puzzle"), Bixiga 70's second studio album for Glitterbeat, where two continents dance together across the black Atlantic. Bixiga 70 have created hybrid in their music --with each member pulling from candomblé (the African-Caribbean religion), jazz, reggae, dub -- and each influence takes on a slightly different form. On Quebra Cabeça, that sound becomes more complex. That's apparent in the shifts and turns of a piece like "Pedra De Raio" or "Levante", where the melody shifts and swerves, one section flowing naturally into the next, adding layer upon layer to create something astonishing and utterly satisfying in its power. In large part, this change has come from the band's relentless touring over the last few years. "We've been exposed to so much," flutist Cuca Ferreira notes. "So many of the people we've played with have had an impact on us, like Pat Thomas, the Ghanaian highlife singer or [Nigerian saxophonist] Orlando Julius. And then we toured and recorded with João Donato . . . We've learned from them all, they've made us think about what we can do with our music." One result is the new, shining lyricism of the melodies, with the horns pushed even more to the fore, parading around with a singer's swagger. Quebra Cabeça is a very memorable set of hummable earworms, from the title cut that opens up the album and continuing, sinewy and cool and relentless, all the way to the final note of "Portal". Throughout though, the heartbeat of everything remains utterly African, refracted through the prism of the band's home in the Bixiga neighborhood of São Paulo. Bixiga 70 has always been a reflection of the streets where they live. The band played their first show in October 2010 and released their debut album a year later. Eight years on they are still the same ten-piece collective, honing and shaping the music, evolving towards the changes found on Quebra Cabeça.

$15.50 IN STOCK

São Paulo's acclaimed ten-piece instrumental collective return for their fourth album, Quebra Cabeça. Urban Afro-Brazilian grooves, empowered horn-driven melodicism, and massive dancefloor inspiration. One of South America's most exhilarating musical propositions. Almost four centuries after the first slave ships loaded their cargoes and set sail, the connection between Brazil and West Africa remains firm and deep. Africa is everywhere in Brazil, and it pulses through the music on Quebra Cabeça ("Puzzle"), Bixiga 70's second studio album for Glitterbeat, where two continents dance together across the black Atlantic. Bixiga 70 have created hybrid in their music --with each member pulling from candomblé (the African-Caribbean religion), jazz, reggae, dub -- and each influence takes on a slightly different form. On Quebra Cabeça, that sound becomes more complex. That's apparent in the shifts and turns of a piece like "Pedra De Raio" or "Levante", where the melody shifts and swerves, one section flowing naturally into the next, adding layer upon layer to create something astonishing and utterly satisfying in its power. In large part, this change has come from the band's relentless touring over the last few years. "We've been exposed to so much," flutist Cuca Ferreira notes. "So many of the people we've played with have had an impact on us, like Pat Thomas, the Ghanaian highlife singer or [Nigerian saxophonist] Orlando Julius. And then we toured and recorded with João Donato . . . We've learned from them all, they've made us think about what we can do with our music." One result is the new, shining lyricism of the melodies, with the horns pushed even more to the fore, parading around with a singer's swagger. Quebra Cabeça is a very memorable set of hummable earworms, from the title cut that opens up the album and continuing, sinewy and cool and relentless, all the way to the final note of "Portal". Throughout though, the heartbeat of everything remains utterly African, refracted through the prism of the band's home in the Bixiga neighborhood of São Paulo. Bixiga 70 has always been a reflection of the streets where they live. The band played their first show in October 2010 and released their debut album a year later. Eight years on they are still the same ten-piece collective, honing and shaping the music, evolving towards the changes found on Quebra Cabeça.

$15.50 IN STOCK

A collection of early singles by the renowned Zimbabwean Mbira master and a true African music icon, Stella Chiweshe. The songs were mostly recorded in the 1970s, during the buildup to the Chimurenga revolution, and were only ever released in Stella's home country. Stella's album Kasahwa: Early Singles offers a fascinating introduction to the world of Mbira, with the term not only referring to the instrument, but also to a musical genre -- and on a much wider level, to an entire culture and deeply spiritual lifestyle at the core of the young Zimbabwean nation. Mbira is an ancient mystical music which has been played for over a thousand years by the Shona people. Mbira pervades all aspects of Shona culture, both sacred and secular. Its most important function is as a "telephone to the spirits of people, water, trees, stones and birds," used to contact both deceased ancestors and tribal guardians, at all-night ceremonies. Kasahwa is a collection of impossible-to-find early seven inches, eight cuts spanning the period from 1974 to 1983 and representing Mbira in its purest form. None of these songs has been released outside of Africa so far. In her humble beginnings, little pointed to the fact that young Stella at sixteen would become "The Queen of Mbira" and nothing short of a national icon. Growing up on a musical diet of white American rock n' roll and country, she initially showed little interest in local traditional music. It was not until two years later, that Mbira started to ring inside her head "loud and endlessly". This overwhelming, mystical experience turned Chiweshe into an avid student of the instrument and the philosophy connected to it. But playing Mbira music was by no means a career option for women in the British colony of Rhodesia: none of the (male) musicians were willing to teach her. And, almost worse, none of the instrument makers agreed to build an instrument for a woman. Stella ended up recording her debut single "Kasahwa" (1974) on a borrowed thumb piano. "Kasahwa" made Stella a local sensation. After the country had become independent in 1980, Chiweshe started to tour internationally, first as a featured soloist of the new National Dance Company of Zimbabwe, and later under her own name. New mastering by Nick Robbins.

$23.50 IN STOCK

LP version. 180 gram vinyl. Includes download code. A collection of early singles by the renowned Zimbabwean Mbira master and a true African music icon, Stella Chiweshe. The songs were mostly recorded in the 1970s, during the buildup to the Chimurenga revolution, and were only ever released in Stella's home country. Stella's album Kasahwa: Early Singles offers a fascinating introduction to the world of Mbira, with the term not only referring to the instrument, but also to a musical genre -- and on a much wider level, to an entire culture and deeply spiritual lifestyle at the core of the young Zimbabwean nation. Mbira is an ancient mystical music which has been played for over a thousand years by the Shona people. Mbira pervades all aspects of Shona culture, both sacred and secular. Its most important function is as a "telephone to the spirits of people, water, trees, stones and birds," used to contact both deceased ancestors and tribal guardians, at all-night ceremonies. Kasahwa is a collection of impossible-to-find early seven inches, eight cuts spanning the period from 1974 to 1983 and representing Mbira in its purest form. None of these songs has been released outside of Africa so far. In her humble beginnings, little pointed to the fact that young Stella at sixteen would become "The Queen of Mbira" and nothing short of a national icon. Growing up on a musical diet of white American rock n' roll and country, she initially showed little interest in local traditional music. It was not until two years later, that Mbira started to ring inside her head "loud and endlessly". This overwhelming, mystical experience turned Chiweshe into an avid student of the instrument and the philosophy connected to it. But playing Mbira music was by no means a career option for women in the British colony of Rhodesia: none of the (male) musicians were willing to teach her. And, almost worse, none of the instrument makers agreed to build an instrument for a woman. Stella ended up recording her debut single "Kasahwa" (1974) on a borrowed thumb piano. "Kasahwa" made Stella a local sensation. After the country had become independent in 1980, Chiweshe started to tour internationally, first as a featured soloist of the new National Dance Company of Zimbabwe, and later under her own name. New mastering by Nick Robbins.

$23.50 IN STOCK

LP version. 180 gram vinyl; Includes download code. Deep TR-808 bass meets pan-Maghreb beats, timeless voices, and futurist visions. AMMAR 808 was the sonic mastermind behind the Tunisian sensation: Bargou 08. On his debut release, Maghreb United, featuring the singers Mehdi Nassouli (Morocco), Sofiane Saidi (Algeria), and Cheb Hassen Tej (Tunisia), he connects the two to offer a radical, electronic reinvention of ancient North African music. AMMAR 808 started the project in 2017, after working with the lauded Bargou 08, searching for something to link the sense of what has been with what will be. "I'm trying to weave threads from folklore and mythology into futurism. And I'm not necessarily projecting a positive image; from all we can see, things aren't going in the right direction. What I hope is that it will raise an alarm." Yet there's also plenty of hope here. With singers from Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco, songs from the Targ, Gnawa, and Raï histories, and a TR-808 alongside a distorted gumbri (Nassouli), gasba flute, and zokra bagpipes (Lassaed Bougalmi), this is an album that reaches out to encompass the entire Maghreb area of North Africa. "In the past the Maghreb was one huge region, yet very diverse within its borders. But today, the world keeps every person separated. The album isn't so much about a united Maghrebi region, but how we can connect while observing our differences -- our differences are also our connection -- and using them to unify as humans." The choice of songs was also very deliberate for AMMAR 808, with nine of the ten cuts taken from the deep tradition. The idea for Maghreb United (which is also the name for the album's performing group) has long been burning in AMMAR 808, but it burst into flame after the musician and producer met all the singers on his regular trips in the region, before returning home to start building the tracks. The deep, rumbling growl of the gumbri, the dry, airy tenderness of the gasba, and the softly slithering zokra give a powerful North African root to the music, a thread that spins back through centuries. And the singers burn with fire and grace and passion.

$15.50 IN STOCK

Deep TR-808 bass meets pan-Maghreb beats, timeless voices, and futurist visions. AMMAR 808 was the sonic mastermind behind the Tunisian sensation: Bargou 08. On his debut release, Maghreb United, featuring the singers Mehdi Nassouli (Morocco), Sofiane Saidi (Algeria), and Cheb Hassen Tej (Tunisia), he connects the two to offer a radical, electronic reinvention of ancient North African music. AMMAR 808 started the project in 2017, after working with the lauded Bargou 08, searching for something to link the sense of what has been with what will be. "I'm trying to weave threads from folklore and mythology into futurism. And I'm not necessarily projecting a positive image; from all we can see, things aren't going in the right direction. What I hope is that it will raise an alarm." Yet there's also plenty of hope here. With singers from Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco, songs from the Targ, Gnawa, and Raï histories, and a TR-808 alongside a distorted gumbri (Nassouli), gasba flute, and zokra bagpipes (Lassaed Bougalmi), this is an album that reaches out to encompass the entire Maghreb area of North Africa. "In the past the Maghreb was one huge region, yet very diverse within its borders. But today, the world keeps every person separated. The album isn't so much about a united Maghrebi region, but how we can connect while observing our differences -- our differences are also our connection -- and using them to unify as humans." The choice of songs was also very deliberate for AMMAR 808, with nine of the ten cuts taken from the deep tradition. The idea for Maghreb United (which is also the name for the album's performing group) has long been burning in AMMAR 808, but it burst into flame after the musician and producer met all the singers on his regular trips in the region, before returning home to start building the tracks. The deep, rumbling growl of the gumbri, the dry, airy tenderness of the gasba, and the softly slithering zokra give a powerful North African root to the music, a thread that spins back through centuries. And the singers burn with fire and grace and passion.

$15.50 IN STOCK

When Malian singer and guitarist Samba Touré was planning Wande ("The Beloved"), his third Glitterbeat release, he had strong ideas for the way it should sound. But once the sessions were over, he knew he had something entirely different, something even more satisfying: a collection of songs where warmth filled the grooves of every song. "We had a totally different album in mind," Touré admits, "a return to something more traditional, almost acoustic. I think this album is less dark than the previous ones. It has some sad and serious songs, but it sounds more peaceful. All the first takes have been kept." That spark of spontaneity fires across the whole disc. It was recorded quickly, in "about two weeks, only in the afternoons and with breaks on weekend to play in weddings, so it was very relaxed!" Wande is just as direct and powerful as Touré's previous work, but everything moves with a bright, danceable sensibility. Gone are the intense guitar and ngoni duels, replaced with short, incisive guitar solos and a solid, laid-back groove. Only two songs had been written before going into the studio: the title cut, which is a love song to his wife, and "Tribute To Zoumana Tereta", a memorial to the late sokou fiddle player who often collaborated with Touré. Everything else came together almost on the spot, like the rhythmic "Yo Pouhala", composed one afternoon and recorded the next, or "Yerfara", with an impeccable, chunky rhythm guitar riff to make Keith Richards weep with envy. The emphasis throughout is on rhythm, and the tama talking drum that's always been a feature of Touré's music takes a place near the front of the band. "I've always loved tama, for its sounds . . . It's a symbol of call to reunion." Starting out as a guitarist in a soukous band, everything was altered when he became an accompanist to Mali's greatest legend, the late Ali Farka Touré (with whom his mother had performed). Later, as a solo artist, he's become renowned across the globe for his passionate guitar work and fiery singing, one of the masters of his art. But, Touré says, don't call it desert blues. Don't call it African rock. That's lazy. It doesn't need labels like that. Instead, call Wande the unexpected. Call it joyous. Call it the music Samba Touré is making right now.

$23.50 IN STOCK

LP version. 180 gram vinyl; includes download code. When Malian singer and guitarist Samba Touré was planning Wande ("The Beloved"), his third Glitterbeat release, he had strong ideas for the way it should sound. But once the sessions were over, he knew he had something entirely different, something even more satisfying: a collection of songs where warmth filled the grooves of every song. "We had a totally different album in mind," Touré admits, "a return to something more traditional, almost acoustic. I think this album is less dark than the previous ones. It has some sad and serious songs, but it sounds more peaceful. All the first takes have been kept." That spark of spontaneity fires across the whole disc. It was recorded quickly, in "about two weeks, only in the afternoons and with breaks on weekend to play in weddings, so it was very relaxed!" Wande is just as direct and powerful as Touré's previous work, but everything moves with a bright, danceable sensibility. Gone are the intense guitar and ngoni duels, replaced with short, incisive guitar solos and a solid, laid-back groove. Only two songs had been written before going into the studio: the title cut, which is a love song to his wife, and "Tribute To Zoumana Tereta", a memorial to the late sokou fiddle player who often collaborated with Touré. Everything else came together almost on the spot, like the rhythmic "Yo Pouhala", composed one afternoon and recorded the next, or "Yerfara", with an impeccable, chunky rhythm guitar riff to make Keith Richards weep with envy. The emphasis throughout is on rhythm, and the tama talking drum that's always been a feature of Touré's music takes a place near the front of the band. "I've always loved tama, for its sounds . . . It's a symbol of call to reunion." Starting out as a guitarist in a soukous band, everything was altered when he became an accompanist to Mali's greatest legend, the late Ali Farka Touré (with whom his mother had performed). Later, as a solo artist, he's become renowned across the globe for his passionate guitar work and fiery singing, one of the masters of his art. But, Touré says, don't call it desert blues. Don't call it African rock. That's lazy. It doesn't need labels like that. Instead, call Wande the unexpected. Call it joyous. Call it the music Samba Touré is making right now.

$23.50 NOT IN STOCK

LP version. 180 gram vinyl; Includes download code. Hailing from Mexico City, Sonido Gallo Negro's exhilarating third album, Mambo Cósmico, continues their exploration into the psychedelic richness and rhythmic pulse of Amazonian cumbia while at the same reaching for new sounds and textures -- such as mambo, cha cha, porro and danzon. Filled with frenetic, red-hot identities, and sonorities, Mambo Cósmico galvanizes the international reputation Sonido Gallo Negro has earned through their powerful concerts and their earlier records -- Cumbia Salvaje (2011) and Sendero Místico (GB 015CD/LP, 2014). Mambo Cósmico is a sonic collage that is not only musical, but also cultural and historical. This combo of nine musicians, seek out a new and unexpected musical cosmos that goes beyond their well-honed Mexican and Latin American influences. Their navigational charts point towards an additional synchronicity of sound and imagination with the Middle East, the Hispanic old world, and Africa, as embedded within the Americas. Of the eleven tracks included on Mambo Cósmico, nine are group originals, "Tolú" by Lucho Bermúdez and "¿Quién Será?" by Pablo Beltrán Ruiz being the only cover versions. Also, for the first time some of these pieces include vocals and group choruses. Sonido Gallo Negro is: Edwin Irigoyen - congas; Truc Casasola - timbales, bass drum, snare; Gabriel López - lead guitar and Farfisa organ; Israel Martinez - bass; Lucio de los Santos - flute and bongos; Julian Sampler - sampler and organ; Jorge Alderete - theremin and visuals; Roberto Vargas - güiro and percussion.

$15.50 IN STOCK

Hailing from Mexico City, Sonido Gallo Negro's exhilarating third album, Mambo Cósmico, continues their exploration into the psychedelic richness and rhythmic pulse of Amazonian cumbia while at the same reaching for new sounds and textures -- such as mambo, cha cha, porro and danzon. Filled with frenetic, red-hot identities, and sonorities, Mambo Cósmico galvanizes the international reputation Sonido Gallo Negro has earned through their powerful concerts and their earlier records -- Cumbia Salvaje (2011) and Sendero Místico (GB 015CD/LP, 2014). Mambo Cósmico is a sonic collage that is not only musical, but also cultural and historical. This combo of nine musicians, seek out a new and unexpected musical cosmos that goes beyond their well-honed Mexican and Latin American influences. Their navigational charts point towards an additional synchronicity of sound and imagination with the Middle East, the Hispanic old world, and Africa, as embedded within the Americas. Of the eleven tracks included on Mambo Cósmico, nine are group originals, "Tolú" by Lucho Bermúdez and "¿Quién Será?" by Pablo Beltrán Ruiz being the only cover versions. Also, for the first time some of these pieces include vocals and group choruses. Sonido Gallo Negro is: Edwin Irigoyen - congas; Truc Casasola - timbales, bass drum, snare; Gabriel López - lead guitar and Farfisa organ; Israel Martinez - bass; Lucio de los Santos - flute and bongos; Julian Sampler - sampler and organ; Jorge Alderete - theremin and visuals; Roberto Vargas - güiro and percussion.

$23.50 IN STOCK

LP version. 180 gram vinyl. Includes download code. "We need music like this to stay sane." --Murat Ertel

Dirtmusic return for their fifth album, a full-scale collaboration with Turkish-psych visionary Murat Ertel from Baba Zula. Recorded in Istanbul, the album navigates hypnotic rhythms, cinematic atmospheres and dark political realities. The striking figure of Murat Ertel is standing at the door of his home studio, a converted mechanic's garage in a suburb of Istanbul. The Turkish capital is a tense and conflicted place these days, but Baba Zula's leader and saz man is on fine form. Before him stand those current and former musical nomads, Chris Eckman and Hugo Race, guitars in hand. Dirtmusic are about to take on their latest, and perhaps most thrilling form. Originally a straight-talking, mainly acoustic trio mining blues and country for 21st century gold, the band's first happy accident was to stumble upon Tamikrest at the fabled Festival au Désert in Timbuktu in 2008. In the meantime, however, the Islamist takeover of Northern Mali in 2012 had darkened the sound and the songwriting, giving them a tone that continues to resonate through the new record. The opening track, "Bi De Sen Söyle", is a statement of intent, musically and lyrically: shared vocals that mass in urgent call-and-response, the psychedelic grip of Ertel's saz, which barely leaves the record for a second, and percussion from Ümit Adakale that tells you that this is music for clubs and parties as much as for private spaces. It shares this with "The Border Crossing", the prime slice of Pop Group-inflected postpunk-funk that follows it. It's a questing, restless record for the head, but perhaps more so for the body. It broods throughout, as post-punk, Turkish psych, funk, rock and electronics stalk the grooves with widescreen intent -- listen to 'Safety In Numbers', for example, an instant classic that sees Race in imperious form, or "Love Is A Foreign Country", which features a startling appearance by Gaye Su Akyol, a treat for those who loved her Hologram İmparatorluğu (GB 040CD/LP, 2016). Personnel: Hugo Race - vocals, guitars, bass, loops, programming; Chris Eckman - vocals, guitars, loops, kalimba; Murat Ertel - vocals, electric saz, divan saz, bağlama rhythm machine; Ümit Adakale - darbuka, davul, bendir, percussion. Also features Gaye Su Akyol, Brenna Mac Crimmon, and Görkem Şen.

$15.50 IN STOCK

"We need music like this to stay sane." --Murat Ertel

Dirtmusic return for their fifth album, a full-scale collaboration with Turkish-psych visionary Murat Ertel from Baba Zula. Recorded in Istanbul, the album navigates hypnotic rhythms, cinematic atmospheres and dark political realities. The striking figure of Murat Ertel is standing at the door of his home studio, a converted mechanic's garage in a suburb of Istanbul. The Turkish capital is a tense and conflicted place these days, but Baba Zula's leader and saz man is on fine form. Before him stand those current and former musical nomads, Chris Eckman and Hugo Race, guitars in hand. Dirtmusic are about to take on their latest, and perhaps most thrilling form. Originally a straight-talking, mainly acoustic trio mining blues and country for 21st century gold, the band's first happy accident was to stumble upon Tamikrest at the fabled Festival au Désert in Timbuktu in 2008. In the meantime, however, the Islamist takeover of Northern Mali in 2012 had darkened the sound and the songwriting, giving them a tone that continues to resonate through the new record. The opening track, "Bi De Sen Söyle", is a statement of intent, musically and lyrically: shared vocals that mass in urgent call-and-response, the psychedelic grip of Ertel's saz, which barely leaves the record for a second, and percussion from Ümit Adakale that tells you that this is music for clubs and parties as much as for private spaces. It shares this with "The Border Crossing", the prime slice of Pop Group-inflected postpunk-funk that follows it. It's a questing, restless record for the head, but perhaps more so for the body. It broods throughout, as post-punk, Turkish psych, funk, rock and electronics stalk the grooves with widescreen intent -- listen to 'Safety In Numbers', for example, an instant classic that sees Race in imperious form, or "Love Is A Foreign Country", which features a startling appearance by Gaye Su Akyol, a treat for those who loved her Hologram İmparatorluğu (GB 040CD/LP, 2016). Personnel: Hugo Race - vocals, guitars, bass, loops, programming; Chris Eckman - vocals, guitars, loops, kalimba; Murat Ertel - vocals, electric saz, divan saz, bağlama rhythm machine; Ümit Adakale - darbuka, davul, bendir, percussion. Also features Gaye Su Akyol, Brenna Mac Crimmon, and Görkem Şen.

$23.50 IN STOCK

LP version. 180 gram vinyl; Includes download code. TootArd are a young, trailblazing ensemble from the occupied Golan Heights who deftly fuse Levant-tinted desert blues, melodic psych-rock, morphed reggae, and classical Arabic modalities. Their second album, Laissez Passer, is their debut international release and one of the first such releases from their homeland. Restless, buoyant, and eclectic. A Laissez Passer. Let him pass. That's the document the stateless carry. It's all that those from the occupied Golan Heights possess. Since 1967 the area has been part of Israel, but the inhabitants aren't Israelis. They don't have any citizenship. They don't have passports. Just a Laissez Passer. And for the members of TootArd, who all grew up in the village of Majdal Shams in the Golan, it's a very apt name for their second album. "Laissez passers are special situation papers," explains singer and guitarist Hasan Nakhleh. "It took us a while to realise the effect. We're permanent residents in Israel, but not citizens. We have no travel documents. When we travel we need the laissez passer. With no nationality, we're officially 'undefined.'" But in statelessness, the five-piece has discovered musical freedom. TootArd grew up understanding that borders are something imposed by governments, lines that only exist on a map. On a disc, in concert, they can go wherever their imagination carries them. They carry their citizenship inside. "What we do now is the result of everything we've ever done and heard," Nakhleh says. "We began listening to Tuareg music and we fell in love with it. It resonated with us. North African music is something we've heard since we were children. We all grew up with classical Arab music. In finding our own sound, we've discovered things from all over." With its insistent riff that evokes the space of the desert; the glorious, driving, funky percussion; and an electric guitar that Nakhleh modified with extra frets to sound like an oud, the title-track builds a manifesto that bonds West Africa and the Maghreb to the Levant. It's a thrilling opener; more than that, it's a very catchy one, with the subtle reggae flourishes adding an organic international feel. TootArd are not "undefined"; they've fashioned their own identity in their music, creating a bond of the stateless that reaches from the Levant to the Tuareg -- another people without a real home -- and reaches out far beyond. Let them pass.

$15.50 IN STOCK

TootArd are a young, trailblazing ensemble from the occupied Golan Heights who deftly fuse Levant-tinted desert blues, melodic psych-rock, morphed reggae, and classical Arabic modalities. Their second album, Laissez Passer, is their debut international release and one of the first such releases from their homeland. Restless, buoyant, and eclectic. A Laissez Passer. Let him pass. That's the document the stateless carry. It's all that those from the occupied Golan Heights possess. Since 1967 the area has been part of Israel, but the inhabitants aren't Israelis. They don't have any citizenship. They don't have passports. Just a Laissez Passer. And for the members of TootArd, who all grew up in the village of Majdal Shams in the Golan, it's a very apt name for their second album. "Laissez passers are special situation papers," explains singer and guitarist Hasan Nakhleh. "It took us a while to realise the effect. We're permanent residents in Israel, but not citizens. We have no travel documents. When we travel we need the laissez passer. With no nationality, we're officially 'undefined.'" But in statelessness, the five-piece has discovered musical freedom. TootArd grew up understanding that borders are something imposed by governments, lines that only exist on a map. On a disc, in concert, they can go wherever their imagination carries them. They carry their citizenship inside. "What we do now is the result of everything we've ever done and heard," Nakhleh says. "We began listening to Tuareg music and we fell in love with it. It resonated with us. North African music is something we've heard since we were children. We all grew up with classical Arab music. In finding our own sound, we've discovered things from all over." With its insistent riff that evokes the space of the desert; the glorious, driving, funky percussion; and an electric guitar that Nakhleh modified with extra frets to sound like an oud, the title-track builds a manifesto that bonds West Africa and the Maghreb to the Levant. It's a thrilling opener; more than that, it's a very catchy one, with the subtle reggae flourishes adding an organic international feel. TootArd are not "undefined"; they've fashioned their own identity in their music, creating a bond of the stateless that reaches from the Levant to the Tuareg -- another people without a real home -- and reaches out far beyond. Let them pass.

$15.50 IN STOCK

Repressed. "Why not give yourself a break from the unending cavalcade of modern high-speed insanity, and rest up with this album of deep soul from Southern Albania." --Ry Cooder

Brazilian samba, Bosnian Sevdah, New Orleans jazz, Cuban son -- and Albanian Saze! The turn of the last century saw mass migrations to the world's cities with rural people bringing their music with them, adapting their traditions to new circumstances and modern instruments. Of all these great musical forms, the mesmerizing arabesques, joyful dances, and heart-breaking laments of Saze are among the least recorded, and they remain largely unknown outside Albania. At Least Wave Your Handkerchief At Me: The Joys and Sorrows of Southern Albanian Song is the debut of Saz'iso, a group of virtuoso musicians and legendary singers assembled by veteran producer Joe Boyd (Pink Floyd, Nick Drake, ¡Cubanismo!, Songhai) and his co-producers, Edit Pula and Andrea Goertler. The album was recorded live, with no overdubs, by Grammy-winning engineer Jerry Boys (Buena Vista Social Club, Ali Farka Touré, Orchestra Baobab) over three days of October 2016 at the Akademia e Filmit dhe Multimedias Marubi in Tirana, Albania. The music of Southern Albania is iso-polyphonic, which means that it combines at least two melodic vocal lines, a lead (marrës, the "taker") and a second (prerës, the "cutter"), with a multi-voiced drone or iso. When manufactured "tempered" instruments arrived in the region in the late 19th century, Saze ensembles were born; clarinets and violins took on the roles of the lead and second voices while lutes carried the iso. As Vasil S. Tole, Albania's leading expert on iso-polyphony -- and an inspiring advisor to this project -- puts it: "Saze remains to this day the musical language of the cities of Southern Albania, where East and West embraced when European instruments collided with the magic of a cappella iso-polyphony, and where life and death still coexist in a sound that is truly unique." Donika Pecallari: voice; Adrianna Thanou: voice; Robert Tralo: voice; Aurel Qirjo: violin and voice; Telando Feto: clarinet; Agron Murat: llautë (lute); Agron Nasi: dajre (frame drum); Pëllumb Meta: fyell (flute) and voice.