Most aficionados of 78 rpm world music are already familiar with klezmer, the Jewish music that originated in Eastern Europe and was then developed further by immigrants in the United States. One of the great early orchestras was led by clarinetist Harry Kandel. Kandel was born in 1885, in what is now Ukraine. He was a conservatory trained musician when he immigrated to New York in 1905. He began playing on the vaudeville circuit, he then played in Sousa’s band before starting his own orchestra in 1916. He recorded his first session for Victor a year later. He retired in the mid-1920s to run a music store in Philadelphia.
His recordings are always fun, intense dance pieces. While Kandel was part of the new musical melting pot of America, his recordings still have an old world sound reminiscent of bands from other Balkan areas.

To start things off, here are two songs from May 6, 1921.

Side A: Der Broiges Tanz (The Angry Dance)
Side B: Die Lustige Chsideem (The Joyful Chassidim)
Victor 73058 (1921)

Here’s another interesting melody with a tonal center that shifts between F major and it’s relative minor, D. This song was a wedding processional used to accompany the bride and groom home from the temple. Jacob Hoffman is featured on xylophone.

Der Gassen Nigen (The Street Melody)
Victor 77018b (1923)

Another from the same session as Der Gassen Nigen held on January 24, 1923.
Die Goldene Chassina (Golden Wedding)
Victor 73729a (1923)

In the Jewish music of Eastern Europe, the body of modes or scales are called shteyger. This song is in ahava-raba, which is similar to a mode known as hijaz in the Greek and Turkish modal systems (Greek = dromoi, Turkish = maqam).

Simachas Toirah in der Alter Haim (Rejoicing of the Torah in the Old Country)
Victor 77163b (1923)

I’ve been slacking on posting to the blog lately, Kassidat and Longing for the Past took a lot of my record-related energy this year. But I did want to get something out there to wrap up the year, so I now present the lengthily-titled SEVEN INCHES OF LOVE: Twenty Obscure 45 rpm Records from Around the World (ShellacHead Annual 2013)! I had a lot of problems with hosting last year’s Annual on various free services, so this time around I’ll be making the compilation available via Bandcamp. It’ll be free for the first couple of months, but you can throw me a few bucks if you feel like contributing to the cause.

It’s with a sense of irony that ShellacHead is presenting an all vinyl compilation. It’s hard to argue with the antiquarian allure of old 78s, but there are plenty of 45s with intense, hardcore traditional music. Here are twenty heavy tracks from my 45 rpm collection, centered around Africa, the Middle East, and nearby locales, plus a few side trips. None have been re-issued, as far as I know. I’ve included a printable CD cover/tracklist and a booklet with some brief comments and full color sleeve images if you want. This collection should make a good spin for your New Year’s Eve party party, although things might get a bit weird. The 2012 Annual is available through Bandcamp as well, for a nominal fee.

(Re-posted from Haji Maji)
Haji Maji has been dormant for some time now, and here’s the reason why – the last two years have been occupied with completing a project of epic proportions, which I’m happy to announce is finished and is officially released today (October 1st)!
Longing for the Past: The 78 rpm Era in Southeast Asia is a 4 CD set with 90 tracks that span six decades of 78 rpm recordings from Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. This project is being published by the wonderful folks at Dust-to-Digital, and because of their usual commitment to quality design, I was able to push the limits of what a 78 rpm reissue set can be. The CDs are accompanied by a 9″x 6″, 272-page hardcover book that has over 250 images of record labels and sleeves, and vintage photographs of Southeast Asian musicians. The CDs and book come housed in a handsome slipcase.

ORDER HERE!

Longing for the Past is the first reissue set to survey the traditional music of Southeast Asia. It includes essays on the record industry in Southeast Asia, as well as chapters on the music of each country, plus annotations for each of the 90 tracks. One of my goals with this project was to provide a deeper analysis of the music itself, something that I feel is often neglected in reissues of world music from the 78 rpm era. I think that is often due to space constraints or the fact that the producers are often collectors, rather than musicologists. Although I’m a musician myself, I knew I wasn’t qualified to write about the musical intricacies of Lao village music or Cambodian Buddhist chanting. Therefore, I enlisted the help of specialists to tackle the different regions; Terry Miller (Cambodia-Laos-Thailand), Jason Gibbs (Vietnam), Kit Young (Burma), Sooi Beng Tan (Malaysia-Singapore), and David Harnish (Indonesia). The notes on each track cover general material, but often dig deeper into the modes and scales employed,and other details of the music. Likely deeper than the casual listener requires, but it’s there for those that care!

This project would not have been possible without the help of my many collaborators. Terry Miller was the man that really made this possible. We started working on the material from Laos in 2008. Not only is his knowledge of Thai and Lao music vast, he was helpful beyond the call of duty when it came to finding folks with that secret bit of knowledge we were searching for or someone who could provide an elusive translation. Jason Gibbs, Kit Young, Sooi Beng Tan, and David Harnish also contributed a huge amount of time and effort in putting the written material together. Thanks to all their colleagues who assisted them as well. Jonathan Ward (Excavated Shellac) was a great help and huge inspiration. He transferred almost all the tracks, and lent me nearly a dozen tracks to include. Thanks to Michael Robertson and Will Summits for lending a few sides from their own awesome collections. As always, Michael Graves did a fantastic job on the sound restoration and mastering. The tireless research of Pekka Gronow, Michael Kinnear, Philip Yampolsky, Ross Laird, Hugo Strotbaum, Paul Vernon, Pat Conte, Chris Zwarg, and many others, either through published work or private communication, allowed me to paint a picture of the record industry in the region. Thanks to my wife, master book designer Debbie Berne, for design consulting and Amy Armstrong at Asia Pacific Offset. Lastly, thanks to Lance and April Ledbetter of Dust-to-Digital for making the project happen.