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CD Review
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Signal to Noise, CD Review >>
More durable are the twenty-five entries in the Nonesuch Explorer series that have been re-released since last summer. The 92-volume series, which will be issued a dozen or so at a time over the next few years, established a new standard for ethnic music releases when Elektra released its first volumes in 1967; not satisfied with putting out records that were edifying, the series' producers wanted them to be entertaining. The CD reissues, which so far represent Africa, Indonesia, and the South Pacific, are generally quite engaging and maintain high visual and auditory standards. Their slipcases confine the original sleeve illustrations to postage stamp-size images on the back, but the photographs selected for these issues are generally superior to the originals. I wish they'd made more effort to upgrade the liner notes; in all cases the orignal ones, which tend to lapse into gape jawed exoticism, are reproduced, but only a few have new ones that would put the recordings (and the earlier notes) in some sort of historical perspective. If you're not sure where to start, the African and Indonesian compilations, each bearing the functional title Music From the Nonesuch Explorer Series will serve you well. If you're ready to dig further, my votes go to, Bali:Music From The Morning If The World because it was one of the first Explorer volumes and becasue it's still a swell, digestable introduction to traditional Balinese music; Java: Court Gamelan, Volume II because it provides a more in depth acquaintance with a particularly lush and dreamy variety of gamelan, and because its first track must be one of the sources of Sun City Girl Alan Bishop's singing style; Burundi Music From The Heart Of Africa for it's dark, vibrant grooves and massed drum choirs; and East includes an amazingly crazed sounding selection for 60 horn players and drummers.
04/01/03 >> go there
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