It's a been a while since I've done a
world music mp3 ambient mix so with that in mind , here is a nice little collection of ambient ethnic flavored tracks. Every time I make a world music mix it always puts in the mood for checking out some world music festivals in 2010 or 2011. Hopefully I can around to it soon. We kick off with
"A Monkey" by
"Lemon Tree" from the compilation "
Made Of Dawn" on the new
"Blue Hour Sounds" label. The group have had two tracks released on the
"Psymeditation" compilation series on
"Organic Records". I recommend checking both of them out as they are really solid compilations with great artists like "Perpetual Loop","Chris Organic" and
"Noodream".
Next is "Afrodelic" by
"Ohm G" [ Olaf Gutbrod ]. Olaf got his first guitar when he was 9 years old. From that moment on he knew that music was his life.He started travelling from an early age visiting Africa, South America and Africa where he took it upon himself to get involved in the traditional music scene and study production techniques as much as possible. At 21 he met Joe Mubare. Working with Joe had a very strong influence on his music. At the same time he started with his first recordings on a simple four track recorder. In the late 80s and early 90s Gutbrod often played live with German acts like Embryo, Chris Karrer, Amon Duell and his own band Gutbrod Attack.
As he became more and more interested in studio production, he built his first studio "Red Light Studio" in Munich where he also lived. There he started experimenting with sounds and quickly received many offers to produce soundtracks for movies and the theater. In 1996, Kenny Smith [ manager of Eurythmics ] called him to work with several artists in London such as William Henshall [ London Beat ], Tim Bran [ Dread Zone ] and Jon Porter [ Roxy Music ]. In 1997, he came back to Munich and made a project with the Performance Artist FLATZ. At the same time he again started DJing based on his own productions. In the beginning of 2000 Olaf produced a Sample CD called “Spiritual Voices", which he made purely with tribal voices from travels to Africa and the north of India. This sample CD has been a big success until now and many known artists work with his recordings.
In 2001,
Jubilee Recordings released his first record
"Future Ballads" under his name OHM-G. Many tracks off this album are compiled on famous CDs like Café del Mar, Café Abstrait, Chillin Voices, Sounds of the Magic Island, Sofa Beat and many more. With this success he decided to move to Ibiza in April 2002 to work and live on the island. His second album
"Pop-Art" was released in the same year with
"Blue Flame". He then got an offer to remix "Love Theme" from Vangelis [ from the Bladerunner soundtrack ]. You can find this track as a release under his surname, Gutbrod. A third CD
"Moments" was released in 2005 after which Olaf became resident DJ at Ibiza's swanky Atzaro music lounge. Since then output has been sparse to say the least. No further CDs have been produced and only a handfull of remixes. Such a shame as he is a massive talent and sadly missed by many a chill-out fan.
After Olaf is
"Terra Nine" [ Michael Westcot ] with the tune "Raj" released on
"Tempest Recordings" back in 2007. Michael combines electric viola with digital and analogue technologies, producing a distinctly organic and free form sound, with an aural palette ranging from chilled ambience to breaks and beyond.Terra Nine's music has evolved from hard tech-trance to breaks and chilled downbeat and with each release has met with critical acclaim worldwide. As a live experience Michael is joined by Kerensa Stephens [ vocals ] , Al Dragojevic [ didgeridoo/harp ] and Cathy Dragojevic [ bass ]. This summer sees the Terra Nine show touring around the U.K so for those of you around Britain this summer be sure to catch a show. Check out
Michael's myspace page for full tour dates, etc.
Despite the
"Oriental Garden 6" compilation being somewhat of a disappointing release I did enjoy the next track in this mix from "The Bombay Dub Orchestra". Since the release of their self-titled debut, the name Bombay Dub Orchestra [consisting of composer/producers Garry Hughes and Andrew T. Mackay ] has built quite a reputation. From main-stage performances at the UK's Big Chill Festival and Djing across the globe, scoring feature films to remixing such world-renowned artists as Bob Marley, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and Bebel Gilberto, fans and critics eagerly awaited the release of their second CD
"3 Cities" and were not dissapointed.For 3 Cities, both Hughes and Mackay traveled to Mumbai and Chennai to record with the cities' premier musicians and vocalists before returning to London to mix the album. 3 Cities is where their cinematic soundscapes meet Indian Classical and electronica featuring a huge cast of over 75 musicians. If you are a fan of dub I also recommend checking out 2009's
"3 Cities in Dub" CD featuring dubbed out remixes by
"Alpha and Omega" and
"Liquid Stranger".
Following BDO is bass legend
"Bill Lawell" along with
"Azzddine Ouhnine". I could write a book about the history of Bill Laswell so I'll spare you all that and just say Laswell ranks among the most creative of musicians, being involved in hundreds of recordings with many musicians from all over the world. Laswell's music draws upon many different genres, most notably funk, various world music, jazz, dub and ambient styles. He has also played or produced music from the noisier, more aggressive end of the rock spectrum, such as hardcore punk and metal. Personally I think it's dub music where he really shines. Check out his
Discogs page to get a better understanding of this most prolific of producers. Azzdine is a Moroccan oud player and composer based in Rabat. The Switzerland-based Barbarity label, which specializes in cross-cultural collaborations between African and European/American musicians, decided to produce a CD with him on the basis of a lo-fi recording of one of his live shows. On
Massafat, Ouhnine's vocals, oud, and darbukka were combined with contributions by about a dozen other musicians on violins, keyboards, background singing, programming, and drums. The most noted of the additional players was bassist Bill Laswell, who contributed bass to eight of the 14 tracks, although he was initially asked just to play on one or two of the selections. The final product combines traditional Moroccan music with aspects of electronic dance music, rap, and dub reggae.
Next is a short vocal interlude from the always entertaining
"Hashisheen : The End Of Law" CD featuring the likes of Lasswell, Jah Wobble and Anton Fier playing along to the stories of how Hassan-I-Sabbah came by his uncanny powers and how his devotees struck terror into the hearts of men from the Caspian to Egypt. The readings feature an eclectic group of stars including Iggy Pop, Genisis P. Orridge and Patti Smith. Pick it up if you are into vocal concept albums. Well worth it i think.
After that is an interesting little find. A bubbling dubby world remix of Hendrix's Vodoo Child by PsyAmb favorite
"Greg Hunter". Visit Greg's new website
Merohedra where you can
download the tune for free along with a remix of Foxy Lady !!
Okay moving along we have "Ney" by
"Bahramji" which you can find on his CD
"Sufi Safir". Bahram was born in 1952 in the Kurdish city of Kermanshah in Persia. As a child he heard the ancient Sufi melodies, which continue as the inspiration for his music today. At the age of 13 he learned to play the Santoor and started to perform at several places in his hometown. In 1977 he left Persia, studied and travelled in India and later on in Europe. Through playing whirling music for wanderers from different cultures, his style has changed from the traditional approach to his own. He melts old songs into a new form, creating a meditative sphere, to uplift body and soul. Bahram’s instrument is the Persian Santoor, a traditional string instrument, which is said to create the sound of emptiness. Besides the Santoor, he started to play the Persian Settar and the Ney; a Persian bamboo flute.He also started to sing songs using the words of mystical poets like Rumi. His first album “Sama” was released in 1997 in Holland. After living and performing in India for a long period, he discovered the island of Ibiza in Spain in 2003. There he met many other musicians, DJ’s and producers who inspired him to change his style. In 2004 he made the album
“Call of the Mystic” together with different musicians in an ethno/ambient style. Since then he has been playing and recording in Ibiza during summer and spending the winters in India, performing, recording and getting inspired by local musicians. The length of his songs allows a deep, slow driving bass line to hypnotize you as melodic Santoor and other instruments carry you to other places.
Following Ney is one of my all time favorite artists -
Toires [ Florian Sériot ]. Florian's first release of note was
"Oued" in 2000. It still stands as one of the best entho-ambient CDs ever and has seen reprinting through Makyo's "
Dakini Records". Originally from South-West France, Florian has been cultivating adventurous sound expeditions in his original tracks, and performing renowned festivals world-wide both accompanied by his live orchestra as well as solo, since the late eighties. His tracks have appeared on countless compilations on labels such as Blue Room, East-West, P.I.A.S, Chall'O Music, Totally Eclipsed Recordings, Twisted UK, Ultravista, Dakini , Six Degrees records and most recently Hoots records. His current CD
"Yasmina" was released in April of this year. A double album composed in Morocco, with modern and contrasting sounds. A kaleidoscope of remixed works in an astonishing variety of musical styles, accompanied by a 'best of live' recorded between 1999 and 2006. Brilliant.
After Toires is
"Hol Baumann". Perhaps better known as a producer of edgy , atmospheric ambient tunes as you would expect of any Ultimae Records artist. This tune still has a an undercurrent of that style but is layered with a sprinkling of ethnic spices to really bring out the flavor. Taken from part 6 of the excellent Fahrenheit Project Series. I'm really looking forward to Hol's next release. Listening to his previous work , as good as it is, I just got the feeling I was listing to someone with massive potential to produce something amazing and timeless.
Next is
"Elea" [ Sylvie Gorsse & Stephane Espaignet ] who have gained a lot of exposure for their ambient tunes through the Kumharas and Chill Out compilation series of the past 10 years or so. They are also well known for their live psytrance shows and have featured in over 450 live appearances ! As residents of Ibiza they regularly feature as part of the
Kumharas Beach Bar's summer DJ line up.
Then we have
"Amorphous Androgynous" a.k.a
"Future Sounds Of London" with the track "Mountain Goat" from the debut AA album
"Tales of Ephidrina". The CD was created from material the pair had been working on around the same time as their ambient FSOL title
"Lifeforms", while still containing some of the techno feel of the earlier 1991 "Accelerator" album.
Following AA is "Easter People" by Portugese artist
"Smiley Pixie" [ Fernando Abreu ] which appears on the
"Avatar Records" compilation
"The Riddle Of Isla De Pascua". Avatar has made a number of "Riddle" compilation series which are all excellent so check them out if you get a chance. Fernando has been making music electronic music since the age of 13. He took 2 profesional deegres, one in audio engineering and another one in video production. “The Smiley Pixie” project took shape in 2004, Fernando's concept was to create a more relaxed and accurate sound for all kinds of crowds, exploring all kinds of ideas.
He released various tracks on
"Peak Records" and
"Kagdila Records" in 2005. In the same year he also joined and defined a new sound for a new Label,
“Quantic Records” and
“Goagadar magazine” . In 2006 he has wrote and produced the a cd, "FREE MUSIC FOR FREE PEOPLE", that was given away free with each copy of GOAGADAR magazine. This was followed by the "Beautiful Moments EP" in 2009 and a full CD "Chill Out Moods To Urban Grooves" also released in 2009. As the name would suggest the CD is a mix of genres but actually doesn't contain so many chilled out tunes. Expect a fair helping of psytrance, progressive beats and wailing synths. Hmmmm....
After another track from Toires [ from the live CD part of the new Yasmina double CD] we have Russian musician
"Astropilot" [ Dmitry Red'ko ] with another tune from "The Riddle Of Isla De Pascua" CD on "Avatar Records". Dmitry has busy of late with the release of his latest CD
"Solar Walk" on
"Avatar Records" earier this year and a an umptempo project currently in the works. Check with earlier ( episode 27 ) mixes for more info on Dmitry. Oh , as mentioned back in episode 27 , if you want to listen to the "Solar Walk" CD ( highly recommended ) then follow this link to a
free download mix of the entire album !
Finally today we have a short one from world famous musician "Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan" off the compilation
"A Brief History Of Ambient - Volume 1" from back in 1993 . Great compilation series by the way considering it was on Virgin Atlantic. Nusrat holds the world's record (verified by the Guinness Book of World Records) for the biggest recording output by a Qawwali artist (a total of 125 albums of recorded music) !! Sheeeesh !! Qawwali is the devotional music of sufi muslims expressing their love for God sung by a group.
He was born in the city of Faisalabad in Pakistan in 1948. The meaning of “Fateh” in Punjabi language is “to Win or Conquer“ and meaning of “Nusrat” in arabic is also “Victory”. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan won the hearts of millions of people with his Qawwalis and unique style of singing. The major occupation of his family is Qawwali which was started 600 years ago. Nusrat's father did not want him to adopt the family business. He wanted Nusrat to select a more respectable career by becoming a doctor or an engineer, because at that time Qawwals were treated as low social status. However, Nusrat showed so much interest in Qawwali that his father finally changed his mind and started to train him in the art. Then Nusrat started to play tabla, alongside his father and he learnt Raag Vidya and bolbandish. After the death of his father, his uncle Mubarak Ali Khan and Ustad Salamat Ali Khan provided the requisite training to him. He gave his first performance known as “Chehlum” 40 days after his father's death.
Nusrat mostly sang in Punjabi and Urdu and also in Brajbhasha, Hindi and Parsian (farsi). His best hit performance was “Haq Ali Ali” which was performed with a folk style and traditional instruments. He sang for many pakistani movies and also for two bollywood movies “Aur Pyaar Ho Gayaa” and “Kachche Dhaage” He also performed the title song of the film "Dhadkan" as well as providing background music for many hindi movies. He reached out to Western audiences with a couple of fusion records produced by Canadian guitarist Michael Brook. In 1995, he collaborated with Eddie Vedder on the soundtrack to
"Dead Man Walking" . He also contribution to the soundtrack for "The Last Temptation of Christ). His friendship with Peter Gabriel helped to increase his popularity in Europe and the United States. Peter Gabriel’s Real World label released five albums of Nusrat’s traditional Qawwali performances in the West. He also performed traditional Qawwali live to Western audiences at several WOMAD world music festivals. Sadly, Nusrat passed away in 1997 while in London.
That's it for today. Hope you enjoy this ambient world music mix - I quite like this one myself. Some really nice relaxed tunes in this one that compliment each other quite nicely I think. Until next time.
After Suns Of Arqa we have a tune from Nimba's [Ariane MacAvoy] new CD "Motherland". I really loved Ariane's tune "Ornongo" on the compilation "The Riddle Of Isla De Pascua" on Avatar records a few years back. So news of a new album was much appreciated and on first listen did not dissapoint. Her ability to manipulate natural drumming elements with synth programming is quite phenomenal. An incredible trance inducing psychedelic world music masterpeice.
Next up is a curious tune from the equally curiously named group Wombatmusic. Wombatmusic is the work of Denmark's Kris Andersen, a veteran in the international electronic music scene. He has many releases on legendary labels such as R&S Records sub label Labyrinth (1994-1995) and as Elysium on Nova Zembla (1995-1998).
Finally today is a real treat - a 17 minute long classical Indian raga given a bit of a modern technological polish by Saatvik Sequencers. Saatvik Sequencers is a conceptual music project by Nikhel Kumar Mahajan and Hari Singh. Both guys have an extensive background in electronic music. Nikhel has released 2 critically acclaimed albums under his alternate avatars of Sattyananda (Ambient) & Kalyug (Progressive) and has performed at festivals all around the globe while Hari has a sound engineer degree from SAE Chennai & a diploma degree in music production from Manchester Midi School in the UK. I highly recommend this release for something a little a different in your ambient world music collection. 
