MUSIC OF BULGARIA

Bulgaria is piled up with choirs upon choirs of women.

Stoyan Comes Back to Constantinople
A wedding night song in which the embarrassment of the couple is underscored. The dialogue is lively and malicious, but it ends on a happy note as Maria drinks to Stoyans health and he to hers. (Chorus)

The Drums Roll
With its cries and drawn-out notes, this song from the Pirine region is typical of the songs of harvest when two groups sing to each other across the fields. (Trio)

They Are Going Across the Forest
The forest re-echoes with the joy of two young herdsmen, very proud, sure of themselves, their sabres hanging at the ready, as they go to rejoin the ranks of the Haidouks, mountain fighters who oppose the hated turks. (Chorus)

Theodara, Have You Had Supper?
A Thracian song which asks the question as old as folk music itself: "Are you free to go out dancing with me, and to make love?" (Ianka Taneva, alto)

Iana Has Been Surprised in the Night
A noble and dramatic account of a young girl in love with a Haidouk who sacrifices her love to the cause of the struggle against Turkish domination. (Chorus)

HOLIDAY IN JUGOSLAWIEN

The second one really gets me, the way they swivel those harmonies!

Valjevska Podvala
Lino Mome Lino, Sevdalino
Valija e Sabahit
More Cica Rece

If it aint baroque, don't fix it

It isn't music, but hopefully it might be sonorous; and if you read it aloud, while watching the Wizard of Oz, with the lights off, and your pants down...you know the drill.

Help me come up with a title for my new short story!

The Blind Troubador of Oaxaca

This is an old Smithsonian recording of a blind, elderly fellow who would walk around Oaxaca singing and playing songs. The last track, "La Llorona," is a famous Mexican folk song about a woman who drowns her children and then stalks the landscape weeping for them.

Doce Cascabeles (12 Bells)
Quien Sera' que me ama? (Who will it be who loves me?)
Ll Llorona

Straight from Mexico's ice cream capital

This is the Mexican jumbo-harp music (the mariachi's "country cousin") we listened to a few months ago. The group is from Michoacan, the ice cream capital of our great neighbor to the south.

Paseando por Michoacan
La Renca
Son del Ranchero


If you could speak Spanish, you'd know that the second track is all about a man who marries a woman with a club foot. I think at one point she beats him with her crutches. The chorus from the third makes a guest appearance at the end of my farm story.

Romanian Flutes

This record was made in Romania in 1975. It features several traditional wooden flute instruments: the fluier, pan pipes (nai), caval, taragot, and bagpipes (cimpoi). Gheorghe Zamfir, a gypsy with a knack for nai, received his instrument directly from Pan! It speaks and breathes a crushing lament in "Bocet". The selections are a mix of traditional Romanian folk dances and gypsy music.

Romanian Flutes Side 1
1. Craitele (fluier) 2. Rustemul ca la Listeava (nai) 3. Doina Oltului si Hora (nai) 4. Cintecul Janluvui (nai) 5. Briul (fluier) 6. Bocet (nai) 7. Hora Iautareasca (nai) 8. Geamparalele de la Costesti si Sirba Munteneasca (cimpoi)

Dalmation Songs

"Music of Yugoslavia" i.e. the Adriatic coast and islands of Croatia. All sweetly intoned duets concerning gals and birthdays and the sea and so forth. Brother, I can really get in to these happy tunes.

Dalmation Songs Side 1
1. Mestre Ivonko Zonkovic 2. Mornaru, Vrati Se (Sailor, Return) 3. Pjesma O Hvaru (Song of Hvar) 4. O Zlatno Sunce Milo (Oh, You Golden Sunshine) 5. Cvit Za Rodjendan (A Flower for a Birthday) 6. Sedela Je Ancica (Little Anne was Sitting)

Dalmation Songs Side 2
1. Tri Sulara (Da mi je s Tobom Mare Proci) (If I could Only Come with you Maria) 2. Mestar Ivo 3. To Je Bio Divan Dan (It Was a Lovley Day) 4. Lipi Pivac (The Handsome Singer) 5. Sad Zbogom More Moje (Mornarev rastanak) (Goodbye Dear Sea) 6. Nostromo Se Tuzi (The Helmsman is Sad)