Best Ever Albums

Re: Music from around the world

Carl21 — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 04:37:06 GMT

Author: Carl21

Posted: 11/19/2021 09:37

Link

Re: Music from around the world

Carl21 — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 04:35:07 GMT

Author: Carl21

Posted: 11/19/2021 09:35

A strong candidate for the best performance on Oud I've heard till now is "Hamza El Din - Escalay (The Water Wheel)". The most powerful piece in the album is the title track "The Water Wheel", which is a display of Hamza's virtuosity in playing the oud. The combination between these short, fast and repetitive melodies along with his warm, laid back vocals is majestic, hypnotic and mesmerizing! Def deserves a masterpiece rating.

Re: Music from around the world

Carl21 — Sat, 13 Nov 2021 15:28:51 GMT

Author: Carl21

Posted: 11/13/2021 20:28

Now the signature works fine

Re: Music from around the world

Carl21 — Sat, 13 Nov 2021 03:47:03 GMT

Author: Carl21

Posted: 11/13/2021 08:47

Update:

I found a good website that can introduce you to Indian Classical music in an easy way: https://raag-hindustani.com/

Re: Music from around the world

Carl21 — Tue, 9 Nov 2021 13:18:13 GMT

Author: Carl21

Posted: 11/09/2021 18:18

World music allows a lot of freedom for the performers, almost to the degree of Jazz improvisation. A certain song can be performed in many different ways, but it needs to keep the main melodic line the same. World music is designed to be played live in front of an audience, so we don't regularly find a studio recording of a certain work of music; most of the time it's a live recording.

Also it was only recently that musicians started recording their music in a studio, so most of the studio recordings are of a new generation of musicians, either playing traditional music of their country or mixing it with influences from Rock, Jazz, Classical and even music from other parts of the world, which resulted in many fine recordings, some of them are favorites of mine.

Re: Music from around the world

Carl21 — Thu, 28 Oct 2021 16:21:04 GMT

Author: Carl21

Posted: 10/28/2021 20:21

AfterHours wrote:

Carl21 wrote:

AfterHours wrote:

Nice to see this Carl. Looking forward to your selections, and what you consider great, masterpiece, etc.

Naturally, you can consider my "Greatest Albums" list my recommendations for Rock/Jazz in descending/ascending order, or my "Greatest Classical" for Classical, if/when you get to that.

From your comment just above, is this a typo: "...except for Jazz, Rock and (European and American) Classical"

And if not, what DO you want recommended?

Yeah, I meant except without "for", I was a bit overwhelmed in organizing the thread that I think I left many typos, not just this one, lol. Actually, I don't see a point in further trying to evaluate or recommend music that is already very popular on the internet, like Jazz, Rock and Classical, and many of the great works are already well-known to the fans. My goal is music outside these genres, even though I'm hesitant to review American folk music since it's also very well-known among music fans, but probably European traditional music can be subject to evaluation.

Through my experience with world music, Indian and Middle Eastern Classical music seem to have a number of skilled composers and performers akin to European classical music, but to a lesser degree of seriousness and rare use of harmony except for the western-influenced stuff, so I think when I arrange the final selection of the best works, you might probably agree on some of them. Add to that I dunno much about the language of all the world's cultures, so the evaluation will be sound-based rather than lyrics-based, even though some of the works I heard are said to be recital of fine poetry.

I won't have a good, stable list until I review the albums I have experience with and a couple more important works, and that would be a couple of months from now. If you wanna try something, I highly suggest Ravi Shankar's "Three Ragas" improvised performance, I think this one will start at 7 for you (hopefully). This kind of music can be described as dizzying or even hallucinating; it's pretty much like a spiritual journey, a connection with the metaphysical. I dunno how to describe it, but as soon as the the first raga starts, I get into tears without knowing it.

If I compare my rating system to yours, probably it will be like this: Blue is 5 or less, Green is 5-6, Orange is 6-7, Indigo is 7-8, Red is 8-9. I don't think I have a color for 9 or higher yet.

Thank you, I'll check out that Shankar album. I've heard his work but I don't think an entire album. Probably my favorite albums on my list that may have been partially influenced by him (or his popularization of raga) would be John Fahey's Fare Forward Voyagers and America, Robbie Basho's Song of the Stallion and Venus in Cancer, and Sandy Bull's Fantasias for Guitar and Banjo.

I've heard few of the "east meet west" stuff (collaboration between eastern and western musicians), but it didn't grab my attention. It didn't feel like there was harmony between them, it sounded like each one is floating in a different space.

I think I only casually listened to Sandy Bull's Fantasias when I knew about it from Scaruffi's website; it also has lengthy jams, "Blends" being the most prominent one, similar to Ravi Shankar's performances. I never tried the rest, so will add them to my recs when I shift my focus to eastern-influenced music.

Re: Music from around the world

Carl21 — Thu, 28 Oct 2021 15:50:52 GMT

Author: Carl21

Posted: 10/28/2021 19:50

Update:

Umm Kulthum - Al Atlal (The Ruins) is def a masterpiece after revision and even subject to upgrade to a 2nd grade masterpiece after more in-depth evaluation.

I've seen many people consider it her masterpiece with the composer Riad Al Sunbati and I think I'm convinced with that now. The song is a recital of a poem by the Egyptian poet Ibrahim Nagi, but actually borrows verses from another poem of his. It is praised for its constant change of maqam (something similar to the Indian raga), each part of the song starts with a different maqam and there's a change of maqam inside the part itself, which is something very uncommon in maqamat music, along with the use of complex melodies resulting in constant change of mood that never been achieved in an Arabic song before, creating it a complex emotional structure that keeps unfolding the more you listen to it. I can't actually describe it myself the way you do yet cuz it's very complex and kind of related to the meanings of the poem itself that I don't fully understand, but I can say it's emotionally consistent that almost no minute is wasted. I highly suggest this one along with "Three Ragas" by Ravi Shankar. Those are def works for serious audience

Re: Music from around the world

AfterHours — Thu, 28 Oct 2021 14:43:42 GMT

Author: AfterHours

Posted: 10/28/2021 18:43

Carl21 wrote:

AfterHours wrote:

Re: Music from around the world

Carl21 — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 16:46:47 GMT

Author: Carl21

Posted: 10/27/2021 20:46

AfterHours wrote:

Re: Music from around the world

AfterHours — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 14:41:14 GMT

Author: AfterHours

Posted: 10/27/2021 18:41

Nice to see this Carl. Looking forward to your selections, and what you consider great, masterpiece, etc.

Naturally, you can consider my "Greatest Albums" list my recommendations for Rock/Jazz in descending/ascending order, or my "Greatest Classical" for Classical, if/when you get to that.

From your comment just above, is this a typo: "...except for Jazz, Rock and (European and American) Classical"

And if not, what DO you want recommended?

Re: Music from around the world

Carl21 — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 10:21:56 GMT

Author: Carl21

Posted: 10/27/2021 14:21

You can suggest me music from any part of the world you are, except for Jazz, Rock and (European and American) Classical.

"Edit: except Jazz, Rock and (European and American) Classical." I don't really need recs in these genres, lol.

Re: Music from around the world

Carl21 — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 10:21:35 GMT

Author: Carl21

Posted: 10/27/2021 14:21

Central Asia

Re: Music from around the world

Carl21 — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 10:21:08 GMT

Author: Carl21

Posted: 10/27/2021 14:21

North America

Mexico

Argentine

Re: Music from around the world

Carl21 — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 10:20:46 GMT

Author: Carl21

Posted: 10/27/2021 14:20

Empty

Re: Music from around the world

Carl21 — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 10:09:11 GMT

Author: Carl21

Posted: 10/27/2021 14:09

East Africa

Southern Africa

Re: Music from around the world

Carl21 — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 10:00:03 GMT

Author: Carl21

Posted: 10/27/2021 14:00

West Africa

Central Africa

Re: Music from around the world

Carl21 — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 09:58:32 GMT

Author: Carl21

Posted: 10/27/2021 13:58

North Africa

Morroco

Amina Alaoui

- Alcantara
Available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/LzdM2daz8FY
- Siwan (With Jon Balke)

Sudan

- Rasha - Sudaniyat: S
Available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/vFf2foONZ2Q

Re: Music from around the world

Carl21 — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 09:57:32 GMT

Author: Carl21

Posted: 10/27/2021 13:57

Northeast Asia

China

Japan
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Tuva

Sainkho Namtchylak

- Stepmother City (2002): S (Might be upgraded to a masterpiece III after revision)
Available on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_meSEa8BEzL6dX7gP_Uoxp0ZrqAMFpoxt8

Re: Music from around the world

Carl21 — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 09:55:44 GMT

Author: Carl21

Posted: 10/27/2021 13:55

Middle East

Egypt

Umm Kulthum

- Salo Qalbi (1946): S
Available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/5z8LvG5tfOE

- Al Atlal (1966): MIII
Available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/-hjuoEVCBZI

- Aghadan Alqak (1971): S
Available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ID8rkvkmDBQ
______________________________________________

Mohammed Abdel Wahab
______________________________________________

Hamza El Din

- Escalay (The Water Wheel) (1971): MIII
- A Wish

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Lebanon

Fairuz

- Wahdon (1979): S
- Kifak Inta (1991): S
- Wala Keef (2002): P
Available on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO6tOOjM5jfwrqL5Ob_kBb1SziGJtNYgO
______________________________________________

Others:

- Matar Muhammad - Liban, Hommage À Un Maître Buzuq (1996): S
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Iraq

Munir Bashir:

- Meditations (1996):
Available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/mEGU_8qtIoA
- Mesopotamia (1987):
Available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Q2f2ns3URCw
______________________________________________

Naseer Shamma:

- Naseer Shamma - Viaje De Las Almas. Travelling Souls MIII
______________________________________________

Rahim Al-Haj:

- Letters From Iraq (2017):
Available as a live performance on YouTube: https://youtu.be/U9qmsX4c78Y
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Turkey

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Syria

- Sami Shawa - Master Of Arabic Violin (2003)
- Rizan Said - King of Keyboard (2015): P
Available on Bandcamp: https://discrepant.bandcamp.com/album/king-of-keyboard
- Amer Ammouri - Eastern strings: the art of arabian oud solos (2002): P
Available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/o3PCA50JdLw

Re: Music from around the world

Carl21 — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 09:53:07 GMT

Author: Carl21

Posted: 10/27/2021 13:53

South Asia

India

Ravi Shankar

- Three Ragas (1956): MIII
Available on YouTube (Remastered): https://youtu.be/krT_hGvEvhg

Ali Akbar Khan

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Pakistan

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Mustt Mustt (1990): S
Available on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2wETuqERawd9FFoI_tZeefJNsL9Vpr7f