El Peru con Flor

El Peru con Flor Sinqueña
Conjunto Armonias, Orq: Matices del Peru
Iempsa, 72.15.1821, Lima, Peru, 1989

I still can't get enough of playing those Peruvian records I got a few weeks ago and this one by "La voz filamonica del Peru" is my latest favorite from that modest collection. The record situates itself right in the center between the other two I posted on a few weeks back; it's to the left of the western orchestrated, beautiful and smooth music of the singer Maria Jesus Vazquez, but well right of the raw huaylas by that Huanca orchestra I wrote about. The orchestra here has the characteristics of the traditional huayno orchestras of Central Peru and other Andean regions. Flor's voice is pretty straight forward without any frills, no emotive extroversion, but solid and sober. The language is Spanish (as opposed to Quechua). Most of the tracks on El Peru con... are  in the huaynos style (a dance), but a few tunantadas are also included. Below you can listen to an example of both. First the uptempo huayno Vas a Llorar, and then the slower tunantada Mi Ultimo Aviso. I'm in the process of learning Spanish but I'm not nearly far enough to understand Spanish language web sites (I can barely count till twenty) so haven't been able to find too much information on the singer Flor Sinqueña. Translated sites don't go much beyond calling her "Flower Sinqueña. I once saw a film about rocker Neil Young on German TV; they translated the name Johnny Rotten in the song lyrics of Hey Hey My My as Johnny Verdorben.

Appalachia

Instrumental Music of the 
Southern Appalachians
Tradition Records, TLP 1007
Recorded in 1956

I do not like the sleeve, and it's not quite of the same caliber as some other field recording collections from the region (say Mountain Music of Kentucky, recorded by John Cohen), but it is still a great find, especially on a red tag 50% day at the Goodwill with a red price tag of 99 cents on it. You can't even buy a candy bar for 50 cents anymore, and the vinyl is in great condition. Finding field recording records in itself makes for a good day at thrift store. The field work on this record wasn't too extensive, everything was recorded in a few days and only two or three families were involved. It was all recorded in the summer of 1956 in Virginia and North Carolina by Diane Hamilton, Liam Clancy, and Paul Clayton. They're all instrumental versions of well known traditional ballads. In the liner notes the story for each song is outlined. The recordings are of good quality and the musicianship is of good quality as well. Below you can find a small sampling of the tunes on the record. Cripple Creek is performed on a fiddle by Hobart Smith, Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad on guitar by Etta Baker, and Sally Goodin on dulcimer by Mrs. Edd Presnell. Two of the three tunes are typically played on a different instrument than you can hear here. Sally Goodin is really a fiddle tune while the fidle tune Cripple Creek is mostly played on a banjo.

Maria Callas

Maria Callas as Lucia di Lammermoor
Opera in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti
Recorded in Florence, Italy, 1953
Seraphim, IB-6032, New York, 1968

One of the few truly great and historically significant performers whose records can be found real cheap at any thrift store is Maria Callas. I've gathered so many opera recordings over the years that I stopped collecting the genre, only for Maria Callas I make an exception. A whole shelve is dedicated to her records. One of the outstanding performances the soprano Maria Callas is remembered for is her role as Lucia in Donizetti's opera Lucia di Lammermoor. Her dazzling 1953 recording, directed by Tulio Serafin, made her the biggest star of classical music in the world. She was born in America in 1923 but didn't make her American debut until 1954, the same year as Elvis Presley's. I had heard Maria Callas as Lucia before but when I found this 2LP set by Seraphim, I had to play the whole opera right away. The aria I selected to share is called Il dolce suono...Spargi d'amaro pianto, it takes place at the end of scene one in act 3, when Lucia goes mad after after murdering her husband on the wedding night. The scene is known as the "mad scene" and is, according to the liner notes "the most famous, most challenging, most brilliant music ever written for the coloratura soprano". I'm not sure if it's my favorite scene from the opera but surely the most recognizable and iconic. I don't think it sounds all that "mad", maybe a little cuckoo, but not insane. The record I bought at a Goodwill store is in mint condition except for precisely the mad scene that has skips and scratches. The previous owner must have played that many times while leaving the rest as new. Lucia di Lammermoor was written in 1835 and premiered that year in Naples. You can listen to the full 11+ minutes of sheer cuckooness below.

Huaynos, Huancas, and Huaylas

Orquesta Seleccion Huanca – Lo Mejor del Huaylas
Fabricado por "El Virrey" Industrias Musicales S.A.
VIR–0001194, 1983, Peru

Lo Mejor del Huaylas is the traditional Peruvian record I promised to write about last week. It's an LP recorded by the Orquesta Seleccion Huanca directed by Freddy Centty. The terms "Huaylas" and "Huanca" are a little confusing because they both could refer to a geographical area or village in Peru, or to a dance. Huanca furthermore is the name of the Quechua Indians of Central Peru. I believe that the "Huaylas" in the title refers to the musical form (dance) and the "Huanca" in the name of the orchestra to the Native Central Peruvian Quechuas. In the form of the CD series Traditional Folk Music of Peru produced by Smithsonian Folkways I already had quite a selection of Huaylas and Huancas but until a few weeks ago I did have any commercially produced local examples of either style. To make it even more confusing I found a record by the singer Flor Sinqueña singing "Huaynos" at the same store I found the Huanca record. Of the three terms "Huaynos" is the most popular and generally known style of music from Peru. Be it Huaynos, Huancas, or Huaylas, if I find a record tagged with any of these terms in the thrift stores I'll take it. They're worth collecting and so far none has disappointed me. You can download Rompe Catre the first track from Lo Mejor del Huaylas here, and/or listen to it below.