Classical Music of Iran

Classical Music of Iran, Volume One
Compiled by Ella Zonis
Folkways Records FW 8831
Made in New York, 1966

This gorgeous Folkways Records album dedicated to the classical music of Iran has been sitting on a shelf next to my record player for over a month now, waiting for the right time to post on these pages. The time is now. It's been more than a year since I last found an album by Folkways at a thrift store. It's regrettably not the most likely place to find records from that label, because the price (at 99 cents) is right. I have now 40 of the 2,168 records released through them. Folkways is my favorite label, and the shelf of my record collection dedicated to it has a most prominent place. All their records come with an informative booklet, consisting of recording data, background information, and photos. This record with music from Iran was in excellent shape but did not come with its booklet. Fortunately the Smithsonian Institute, which acquired Folkways in 1986, after founder Moses Asch's death, posted most of the booklets free for download on their site. So I know now that the dastgah at the beginning of side B was sung by Miss Khatereh Parvaneh of Shour, and that the lyrics of the song are verses from the Masnavi: "Famous mystic poetry written in the thirteenth century by Jala al-Din Rumi, the founder of the Mevlevi order of Dervishes (the 'whirling' Dervishes)". And it's this song I picked to turn into an mp3 and share with you below, all ten minutes of it.

The Big Reggae Haul

The haul

My wife had a huge surprise for me when she came home from work on Friday. She had a stack of 41 records with her. She found them at the Goodwill in Punta Gorda, Florida. The records were mostly reggae records, there were a few soca and calypso records, some disco records completed the haul. I was so excited seeing the records that upon my wife's announcement that there were a lot more we got into our car and drove back north to Punta Gorda. I ammassed another thirty records to complete the haul, and still left behind enough crumbs for someone else to get excited too. I picked out two records from the haul to share here. The one with my favorite sleeve, and the one with favorite (so far) song. First the sleeve: It's not specific to the maxi single inside but it's rather a label advertisement. The label is simply called Joe Gibbs, after its producer. The record inside is a tune written by Joe Gibbs (Gibson) together with Alton Ellis called Girl I've Gatta Date. It is performed by Dennis Brown. The backside, as is the case with most of the maxi singles from the haul, is an instrumental version by Joe Gibbs with his band The Professionals. I almost like the instrumental version better but share the vocal one here because it's has a bit more variation. 

Joe Gibbs 45rpm Disco Single
Dennis Brown – Girl I've Gatta Date
Joe Gibbs Music Inc. 1978, Made in Jamaica

My favorite song so far (I've not nearly played all 71 records) is Woman Come by the singer Marguerita from an LP called More Intensified! Original Ska 1963-67. It is a remarkable track in more than one way. First of all there aren't that many recordings of a female singer in the mid sixties ska era in Jamaica. But what's really history is that Marguerita was later (in 1965) murdered by her long time boyfriend, the famous trombone player of the Skatalites, Don Drummond. They are heard together on this recording. Marguerita is Anita 'Marguerita' Mahfood, an exotic rhumba dancer and singer.

More Intensified! Original Ska 1963-67, Vol. 2

various artists, Mango Records, MLSP 9597
Island Records, made in New York, 1980