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

RUSTAVI CHOIR .... Georgia
Batonebo 3'36
(Heroic Songs & Hymns from Georgia) [Shanachie]

TULIPAN .... Australia
Glass Sunset 8'23
(Manic Celeste) [Festival]

Igne KITANOVSKY .... Macedonia / Australia
Cigancia Oro 3'12
(Oro - Macedonian Accordian Dance Music) [Mabuhay]

Ivo PAPASOV ....Bulgaria
Mamo Marie Mamo 4'23
(Orpheus Ascending) [Hannibal]
Featuring the unbelievable vocal acrobatics of Maria KARAFIZIEVA.

Valya BALKANSKA .... Bulgaria
Izlel je Delyo hajdutin 2'15
(Village Music of Bulgaria) [Nonesuch]
or (The Music of "Cosmos", 1981 Soundtrack) [RCA]
The Bulgarian Shepherdess song sent into space on Voyager.

Gevorg DABAGIAN .... Armenia
The trees are in bloom 4'20
(Music of Armenia Vol.3 - Duduk) [Celestial Harmonies]

TSINANDALI CHOIR .... Georgia
Makruli 2'45
(Table Songs of Georgia) [Real World]

Marta SEBESTYÉN and MUZSIKÁS .... Hungary
Ha én rozsá volnék 6'00
(Morning Star) [Hannibal]

Yulduz USMANOVA .... Uzbekistan
Turkmen Kizge 5'10
(Alma Alma) [Mirimar / BMG]
This is basically pop music, but I know many of you like it. In fact if this album were sung in English, I doubt I would have gone far past Track 1

Irina MIKHAILOVA .... Kasakhstan / USA
Molihta 9'54
(Russian Twilight) [Well-Tempered]

XYLOURIS ENSEMBLE .... Crete / Australia
(a) Stafidianos 6'04
Guest on oud - Christos Baltsidis
(b) Trip Up 2'15
(Arakos) [Hi-Gloss / mds]

The Saharauis
(Refer to the feature article by Lucy Duran in FolkRoots #181, July 1998)
The Saharauis are the nomadic displaced people of the Western Sahara. For 22 years, a quarter of a million people have been adapting to life in refugee camps in the harshest part of the southern Algerian desert.

After 1976, Spain reneged on previous agreements and "sold" Western Sahara to the Moroccans, who forced these people to flee. They organised themeselves into a movement called Polisario* which is still fighting to return to their country.

* Polisario - Frente popular de liberación de Saguia el Hamra y Rio de Oro ie. the popular front for liberating the country defined in the north by the desert steppe called Saguia el Hamra, and in the south by the River of Gold.

The Saharauis speak an Arabic dialect called Hassaniya (some also speak Spanish) and their music draws mostly on neighbouring influences from Mauritania, as well as from Mali, Algeria and Morocco. One distinctive feature is the use of amplifiers for electric guitar, rather than local instruments like the ardin (harp) and the tidinit (lute). They pride themselves on working towards being a free and equitable society (even for women), and insist that they play music because they choose to, rather than being compelled to by birth (like the griots of Mali or iggawin of Mauritania).

This 4 CD set released by NubeNegra is the first major release of music by these isolated people and includes a CD-ROM that sadly only works in the world of Bill Gates. My Macintosh and I are very unhappy about this. Thanks to Roger Holdsworth for lending me these CDs. This was my selection for today's program.

(a) Um-Edleila LEHZA & Mahafud ALIYEN
Lucha de Masas 4'04
(b) Aziza BRAHIM
Dios Mio 2'10
(c) Nayim ALAL
Sahara, Tierra MÍa 3'47
(d) Sergura ABDI
Adán Y Nuestra Madre Eva 3'30
(e) Nayim ALAL
Aucar 1'11
(Saharauis 4 CD set - 3 AUDIO, 1 CD-ROM for Windows 95 or NT) [NubeNegra]

Hassan HAKMOUN .... Morocco / USA
Nagcha 5'01
(Life Around The World) [Alula]

SOWETO STRING QUARTET .... South Africa
(a) Zulu Lullaby 1'30
with the voice of June Kraus
(b) Mbayi Mbayi 2'38
(Zebra Crossing) [BMG]

AZUMAH .... South Africa
Emigodini Yasegoli - The Mines of Johannesburg 4'53
(Long Time Ago) [Kaz]
Bowharp, mbira, marimba and shakers are the instrumental colour you hear on this album of traditional Zulu music.

RISHILE GUMBOOT DANCERS of SOWETO .... South Africa
Malala 3'54
(Rishile Gumboot Dancers Of Soweto) [Festival]

SUPER 10's .... South Africa
Khathazile 3'31
(Soeto Street Music) [Avan-Guard]
I should repeat my comments above on the credits ...

Johnson MKHALALI .... South Africa
Asambemi 3'25
(Freedom Fire: The Indestructible Beat of Soweto Vol.3) [Virgin]

RISHILE GUMBOOT DANCERS of SOWETO .... South Africa
Boots 2 1'30
(Rishile Gumboot Dancers Of Soweto) [Festival]