ARTIST ... Origin
Title  Duration
(Album) [Label]

ESTA .... Israel
Nefesh Yehodi 8'10
(Esta) [MCI]
A "live" studio recording from this young jazz-rock outfit in 1990, an honest session recorded direct to digital audio tape. Shlomo DESHET is one mighty fine drummer.

Jerry GOODMAN .... USA
Tears of Joy 6'53
(Ariel) [Private Music]
Quirky and pleasant rock fusion from the Mahavishnu man 10 years ago.

Hossam RAMZY .... Egypt / UK
Tears of Joy 8'06
(Source of Fire) [ARC Music]
This is an album of original music by Ramzy. Farouq Mohammed HASSAN features here on the quarter-tone accordian. I often see puzzled expressions talking about the quarter-tone. It is a feature of Arabic and related musics. Without a huge music theory lesson, suffice to say that conventional Western music uses scales of eight notes from a range of twelve pitches. The size of the intervals between these notes are defined as tones and semitones. eg. the common C major scale from its' root ascends with these pitch intervals to the octave;

C-tone-D-tone-E-semitone-F-tone-G-tone-A-tone-B-semitone-C

Obviously dividing a semitone interval into 2 notes determines the pitch of the quarter-tone. This means that Arabic-style scales or modes have a very distinctive sound in making use of these additional notes. To make appropriate quarter-tones available on an accordian, it must be re-tuned, and the layout of notes on the keys is radically changed. So the normal octave can cover many more keys than usual, totally baffling to the untrained player. It effectively means re-learning the instrument. I have probably just made Western scales sound limited, but be aware that there are several contemporary composers (eg. Warren BURT) working with computers and microtonal scales of as many as 100 notes in an octave, music beyond the scope of this program.

Hossam RAMZY .... Egypt / UK
Ya Nakhletin 5'52
("Kouhail") [ARC Music]
Saaidi folk music from the Upper Nile Valley.

Mohamed GUBARA .... Sudan
Noora 6'05
(Sounds of Sudan) [World Circuit]
An extraordinary androgynous voice with a lute called a tambur.

Seleshe DAMESSAE .... Ethiopia
Tesfaye 3'50
(Tesfaye: A Future Hope) [Music of the World]

Unknown .... Nepal
Traditional Nepalese Music 3'53
(Music from the Roof of the World) [Playasound]
Recording made by Gérard Kremer.

Charlie MARIANO & the KARNATAKA COLLEGE of PERCUSSION .... USA / India
Mr. Mani 6'32
(Charlie Mariano & the Karnataka College of Percussion) [Verabra]
A live recording featuring the voice of R. A. RAMAMANI.

Maharajapuram V. SANTHANAM .... India
Padasanati Munijana - Raga Kambhoji 13'06
(Maharajapuram V. Santhanam) [Music Today]
This man represents the fifth generation of disciples in the lineage of the great singer Thyagaraja (1767-1847). These "budget" non-Dolby cassettes from this New Delhi label are surprisingly fine quality.

Jai UTTAL .... USA
Footprints 4'04
(Footprints) [Triloka]
I'm sure this new-age guy wishes he had some impressive lineage. Don CHERRY pops up on this 1990 disc, and this is one of the few pieces where the pitch of his pocket trumpet is not unbearably sharp.

MATERIAL .... USA
Mantra 6'10
(Hallucination Engine) [Axiom]

SHAKTI with John McLAUGHLIN .... India / USA
Joy 7'00
(Shakti) [Columbia]
This is the famous 1975 live album.