Music in the Karakorams of Central Asia
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Comments
3 responses to “Music in the Karakorams of Central Asia”
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This is amazing! The sound quality is wonderful for an lp. I especially love the two Gilgit tracks A6 and B1 – they’re so atmospheric, it sounds like they’re having a great party! The only recording I’ve heard like it before is “Pakistan. Musiques Kalash. Sounds Of The Hindu Kush”. I’d love to find more like them. Many thanks! This is a terrific site.
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many thanks! i love this record too. david lewiston recorded an epic amount of beautiful music in central asia in during the 70s, his recordings are some of my favorite. field recordings from this period tend to be best from the labels philips, ocora, arion, lyrichord and nonesuch. the nonesuch explorer series is fairly ubiquitous in record shops so sometimes i feel a little self conscious posting so many of their recordings, but for an american label, they’re the best (even beyond folkways).
david lewiston’s story is really interesting too. he was working for a trade paper in nyc during the late 60s and hated it (as he had to report on business opportunities in places like vietnam where the war was in full swing), so he took a leave of absence, bought a cheap recorder and began documenting in bali (in 67, i have a copy on cd of his first unreleased recordings that i should share with the community, though they’re not quite as high fidelity as his later recordings).
community music like this is a dying breed with all of our technology and learned isolation. music was once a convergence/confluence!
and many thanks for the positive comments, they will push me to upload more! i’m quite thankful that people are finally coming to this site and engaging with this timeless music.
lewiston also recorded a record set called ‘festivals of the himalayas’ and i have 2 of those that are almost postable. i can get to those next if you’re into it. first, for you, i’ll reupload something i found on the illustrious holy warbles that i can’t seem to find a link to anywhere else. look for that in the next few minutes. it’s not a vinyl rip but it’s still amazing music!
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I’m struck by what you say about music previously being a convergence/confluence. When you look at human history the rapid change to music as a preserve of individuals is, I guess, completely remarkable.
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