SONGS FROM THE STEPPES: Kazakh Music Today
VARIOUS ARTISTS TSCD929

Recordings by Michael Church

• "This stuff is dynamite" BBC Music Magazine

• "Older and newer styles are interwoven creating a lively, fast moving mix whose unifying elements include vitality, passion and poignancy" BBC Music Magazine

• "Its strengths unquestionably lie in the small focussed performances from the heart of the nomadic culture" Songlines

• "..the real thing: musical, erudite and entertaining. There are many fascinating and unfamiliar sounds and styles in the 27 tracks of this utterly beguiling album." The Guardian

• "This project starts strong, with some exemplary programming that introduces the ears the Kazakhi vocal and instrumental textures, and progressively builds, acclimatising listeners to the musical atmosphere, attuning them to Kazakhi sonorities. A significant addition to our Kazakhi musical literature." fRoots magazine

• "This Music is sublime." Lucy Duran, BBC Radio 3

Invited to judge a classical piano competition in the Kazakh capital, Astana, music critic Michael Church stumbled on a parallel competition for players on the flute and horse-hair fiddle, and for ballad singers self-accompanied on the lute. Realising that the cultural heritage of this vast – and politically crucial – land was unknown in the West, Church went back to record Kazakh nomad music in both Astana and in the old capital, Almaty, near the border with Kyrgystan. The result is this remarkable and riveting CD.

Until Stalin penned them up in their collective farms and factories, the Kazakhs were a nomadic people. Village shamans cast their spells with music, and travelling bards would deliver ballads and epics, which would function like newspapers. Church’s recordings reflect the vigour of Kazakhstan’s present-day bardic tradition, and the virtuosity of the horse-hair fiddlers. It also reveals a new magic which young musicians are creating with ancient instruments; like the jew’s harp and zither which combine with the richness of Kazakhstan’s vocal music. Each singer has his or her own distinct style and sound, and they all project as though they are calling out to us from across this remote and hitherto under explored region.

Songs of the Steppes, recorded in the winter snows, offers a fascinating and unique musical journey.

Please click here for the lyrics for this CD (PDF file - Adobe Reader needed)

<<Please click here for a full size back cover picture and track listing.