TSCD916 MUSIC OF MAKRAN: TRADITIONAL FUSION FROM COASTAL BALOCHISTAN Topic Records

MUSIC OF MAKRAN: TRADITIONAL FUSION FROM COASTAL BALOCHISTAN
VARIOUS ARTISTS TSCD916
Recordings, text and photographs by Anderson Bakewell

The remote coastal area of Balochistan called Makran is the setting for a fusion of musical cultures from the Middle East, Indo-Pakistan and Africa, which have developed over centuries into a tradition of great intensity and beauty. Containing vocal and instrumental genres which demonstrate a high level of musicianship and improvisational artistry, much of this selection is drawn from the repertoire performed during healing ceremonies, music specifically devised to create suitable conditions for a state of trance. As such it makes demands upon a listener, whose full appreciation of its subtlety depends upon adopting another "way of listening", but whose efforts will be highly rewarded.

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This release in the Topic World Series has been produced in conjunction with the International Music Collection of the British Library National Sound Archive. Started in 1955, The British Library National Sound Archive is one of the largest in the world and now holds over a million discs, 175,000 tapes and many other sound and video recordings.

The International Music Collection of the NSA holds recordings of traditional, folk and world music. Its aim is to collect, preserve and make accessible a comprehensive collection of music from all over the world. It covers thousands of styles and genres, both traditional and modern, from hundreds of countries.

International music has been a core collecting area for the NSA since its establishment and today the section is one of the largest and most wide-ranging in the world. One of the aims of the NSA is the wide dissemination of the music and information in its collections and the series of CDs produced in collaboration with Topic Records is a significant undertaking. For the most part the recordings are drawn from holdings of unpublished, unique field recordings, but they may also include reissues of 78rpm discs and LPs.

From the World & Traditional Music Section of the British Library Sound Archive>>

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