RE: anyone know this cd?

[Sandra Layman <sandl...>]

Dear Rachel,

Your CD is part of a 3-CD series called "Village Music from Romania:
Oltenia - Moldavia - Transylvania" which consists of recordings made by
Romanian ethnomusicologist Constantin Brailoiu and his assistants from 1933
to 1943.

In the late 1980s, I was fortunate to receive the series as an album,
including all 3 CDs and a large booklet, from Speranta Radulescu, who wrote
the very extensive notes that came with the album. It's too bad that, when
people buy the disks separately, they don't get any of the notes.

Are you referring to, for example, tracks no.1,  2, 11, etc.? On track no.
1, there's a man playing a flute (fluier) doina and vocalizing in a kind of
low gutteral drone at the same time. Track two has another doina with vocal
drone at the same time as the musician is playing a pear-tree leaf. It's a
traditional "pastoral" technique. 

On track 12 you hear a low roaring sound made by a "buhai" - a friction
drum which is supposed to imitate the sound of a bull. The buhai is used in
a ritual context -- in this case, New Year's.

The horn that is heard, for example, on track 13 is called a "bucium" and
is similar to a Swiss alphorn.

I'm not sure about the instrument that you describe a between a taragot and
a bagpipe, but that might be the "cimpoi" or Romanian bagpipe.

And yes, there are tracks with cobza (a lute) on them.


If you give me track numbers, maybe I can help you further.

BTW, the disks were put out by:

International Archives of Folk Music
Ethnographic Museum
65-67, bd Carl-Vogt
CH-1205, Geneva
Switzerland.

recordings issued as: VDE CD-537/539

I just did a Google search for "International Archives of Folk Music" and
followed some links to find a web site:

http://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/ethg/megmus.htm

If you read French, it might be interesting.


The following page briefly mentions the C. Brailoiu Collection:

http://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/ethg/megmus.htm


And here's the web site for VDE-GALLO Records:

http://www.vdegallo.ch/

Yikes! At the bottom of the page there I see the following notice:

<<"After 20 years of distribution in the United States, the E. & J. GALLO 
WINERY company in California have given us the ultimatum to stop using 
our GALLO trademark for our discs sold on the American market, to avoid 
all confusion with their wine and liquor production. As from today, you 
will be able to find our products in America under the name GALL." >>

How appropriate (and how unsweet the wine)! Only in America...?


Best,
Sandra

Sandra Layman
Violinist
sandL (at) compuserve(dot)com

--------- Original message -------------

Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2001 17:09:58 -0500
Message-ID: <3A5A78AE (at) webmail(dot)hartford(dot)edu>
From: "FISCHER, RACHEL" <RFISCHER (at) mail(dot)hartford(dot)edu>
To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Subject: anyone know this cd?


hi!
i was just as my library and found a cd called "Roumanie: Musique De
Villages
B/Moldavie" VDE CD-538. unfortunately there's no booklet. does anyone know 
this cd? there are some very interesting sounding instruments that i can't 
identify. on many of the doinas someone plays and instrument and it sounds 
like sings at the same time. there's also an instrument that sounds like a 
mixture of a bagpipe and tarragato or maybe it's two different intruments. 
it's a very interesting recording. 
thanks,
rachel

---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+