Far away

in Japan, New-Zealand, China, Java...

Umeko Ando (1932-2004) was one of the best-known artists of the Ainu, an indigenous, long-suppressed community in northern Japan. The Ainu have suffered from the oppression of their culture and language by Japan, especially since the 18th and 19th centuries. Only recently, in 2008, were the Ainu officially recognized again as an indigenous people culturally independent of Japan. As a result of the marginalization, there are now only a few hundred native speakers of the Ainu language left, making it a particularly worthy object of preservation. This music would not exist if the Ainu had not maintained their culture in remote and secret communities against Japanese hegemony. 

“Upopo Sanke“ was recorded on a farm in Tokachi in the summer of 2003. We hear dogs barking, a distant thunderstorm and voices imitating animals. 

 

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& with the amazing Belgian label OKRAINA Records 

"Don't drown" in New-Zealand with Stefan Neville and Greg Malcolm

(...) "Who would attempt to combine cunning ethnological forgery, Scottish folk songs, claw-hammer guitar, untutored horn-tootling, elastically relaxed drumming and garage electronic fuckery? Only Greg and Stefan, high on sea, sunshine and mis-judged micro-dosing – that’s who. ‘Don’t Drown’ was offered as practical advice during the self-described ‘Yellow Submarine’ phase of making this record. And while they managed to avoid literally doing so (phew), they sound here like they got pretty ‘deep in’ to an Octopus’s sound world all their own. This surprisingly clear analogue recording has just enough Bikini Bottom grit to ensure traction. The tunes are inviting, and the sonic disruptions are too good-natured and goofy to upset even the most delicate digestion.
The sessions have had a couple of years to marinate, courtesy of some pandemic, and are here offered in that most Archducal of vinyl formats, the double ten inch. What are you waiting for, a side of Crabby Patties? Get your water-wings and dive in (unless you’re tripping)!" -- Bruce Russell (2023)

 

but in Ireland? 

 

or in Greece? 

 

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и даже?

en Italie avec Berio et son "Folk song Cycle" par Eloïse Decaze et Delphine Dora  (2015) 

 

  qui ont pris la liberté de jouer, chanter et enregistrer à leur manière le cycle de chansons traditionnelles collectées dans différents pays, rassemblées et arrangées, ou composées, par Luciano Berio pour sa femme, la chanteuse Cathy Berberian. 

 

et la version de Cathy Berberian ICI

 

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and in Indonesia,

with Senyawa (+ Vincent Moon) , "Calling the new gods" (2017)

The film "Calling The New Gods", by Vincent Moon, is the document of musicians Rully Shabara & Wukir Suryadi of the group Senyawa playing & being filmed on location, outside, tracing a path from the outskirts of Yogyakarta, Java (on the border of a rice field, on the edge of a garbage dump, etc.) until the center of the city.

 

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and in Beijing,

 

"UFO space", opened during the interim of two Covid lockdowns, is an experimental music location in Beijing founded by Ryan Lui. The first major event in november 2020 was a meeting with Subjam's Yan Jun, Zhu Wembo and Li Jianhong. 

more about eclectic musical spaces in Beijing and music to listen to in "Global Ear"'s chronicle in the october 2023 issue of The Wire magazine.

 

!_OH_!