By Iminza Keboge
Published October 7, 2019
World music label, ARC Music of Britain, is set to release two music albums from West Africa, Armenia, the Balkans and the Middle East on October 25, 2019.
The first album, the latest Mali and UK collaboration from the imagination of producer Dan Harper (Invisible System), is titled Dance to the Full Moon and is by an artist called Invisible System.
The album combines the traditional with the modern, forging new styles in ethnomusicology.
Recorded in the Malian capital, Bamako, alongside the best local musicians and griots – the traditional storytellers of West Africa – Dan Harper’s production continues to take Malian music into new territory.
Dance to the Full Moon is the natural follow up to the Invisible System album, ‘Bamako Sessions’, released on Riverboat Records in 2018. Both albums are taken from the same sessions during Dan Harper’s return to Mali, where he had previously worked from 1999 to 2003. These sessions took place over a month in a rented house, in a room that Dan Harper had placed some mattresses around for acoustic control. The days consisted of Dan Harper waking up, making strong coffee, walking out for a local street breakfast; getting back and jamming a sketch for a track using his guitar/bass/synth and drum programming; the musicians arriving at varying times and also jamming with Dan to produce tracks on the fly.
Dan was introduced to some griot musicians, including re-meeting Astou Niamé Diabaté, who actually sang in 2003 at Dan’s wedding to his Malian wife, Hawa, in Bamako. Hawa also introduced Dan to her childhood friend, guitarist Banjougou, who, in turn, brought along Sambou Koyaté to sing, and a number of other musicians.
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Alongside Harper’s production, the result is a pulsating album fusing the modern and the traditional, exuding the spirit of friendship, love and creative collaboration.
The nine tracks on Dance to the Full Moon that a playing time of 59 minutes (54:38 minutes, to be specific!), include:
1. Bajura (When Your Time is over Another Will Come) 4:50
2. Toungaranke (Strange Land) – 6:10
3. Ebah (Proud Mothers) – 6:03
4. Diarabi (Love Power) – 4:07
5. Juru (Too Much Credit) – 10:02
6. Kélé (War) – 4:54
7. Zani (Hard Work) – 7:58
8. Barana (Here I Am) – 6:19
9. Dance to the Full Moon – 3:56
The second album, by Alan Shavarsh Bardezbanian, is titled Oud Classics from Armenia, The Balkans and Middle East.
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A masterful oud performances that highlight the unrivalled brilliance of Alan Shavarsh Bardezbanian, the 58:01-minute long album includes folk music from Armenia, Greece, Turkey and the Middle East, beautifully accompanied on piano, accordion, violin, guitar, bass and percussion.
The 15 tracks on this Oud Classics compilation include:
1. Uskudar (trad.) – 6:27
2. Dari Mana / Ooska Gookas (trad.) – 3:54
3. Zapion Tsamiko (Alan S. Bardezbanian) – 4:08
4. Rast Taksim (Alan S. Bardezbanian) – 1:03
5. Rast Kashlamar (trad.) – 3:05
6. Longa Farahfaza (Riad Al-Sunbati) – 4:21
7. Bir Demet Yasemin (Zeki Müren) – 6:17
8. Country Girl (trad.) – 4:11
9. Im Anoush Davigh (Khachaturian Avedissian) – 1:58
10. Enzelee (trad.) – 2:37
11. lstemem Babacim (Salih Turhan) – 4:10
12. Samiotisa (trad.) – 2:51
13. Husseini Taksim (Alan S. Bardezbanian) – 2:44
14. Arapena / Rhodes (trad.) – 5:03
15. Nihavent Longa (Kemani Kevser Hanim) – 4:28.Kemani Kevser Hanim) – 4:28.
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