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.

Sado

Folk Music of Japan
Ethnic Folkways Library FE 4429
© 1952 Folkways Records, New York

My luckiest  thrift store day in 2011 was the day my wife and I took a road trip to Kiwanis in Cape Coral for the sole purpose of finding records. Among the loot that day were two Folkways records dedicated to Japan. Folk Music of Japan was recorded by Edward Norbeckin 1952 and Traditional Folk Dances of Japan from 1959 by Mary L. Evans. For the sake of comparison (and collecting) I downloaded the liner notes and a few songs from the Folkways record Traditional Folk Songs of Japan recorded by Ryutaro Hattori in 1961. Each downloaded song cost me 99 cents, exactly the price Kiwanis charges for their records. The two vinyl records from Cape Coral were in excellent condition and both contained the original customary booklet with liner notes, commentaries and photos.

Sado Okesa is a love song that originates from the island of Sado. Unlike the word lesbian and the island Lesbos, Sado bears no relationship to the Marquis de Sade or the word sadism. A version on Traditional Folk Songs of Japan was actually recorded on that island but the version that you can listen to below (and download here) comes from Yokohama. It's from Folk Music of Japan. It was sung by a Geisha and is an urbanized version quite different from the original (de Sado version on Traditional Folk Songs could be considered the original version but was recorded nine years later—the true original is of course hundreds of years older).

The Soul of Mbira

01 Nyamoropa Yevana Vava Mushonga.m4a

The Soul of Mbira
cover by Donald Leake and Robert L. Heimall
Nonesuch Explorer Series, H-72054
Nonesuch Records, New York, 1973

Scholarly level musical recordings are not the type of records you would expect to show up at thrift stores. Half the records however, I own from labels such as the Nonesuch Explorer Series and the Ethnic Folkways Library, I have found for less than a dollar at thrift stores. The recordings on these records are not hard to come by, the Nonesuch records are mostly reissued on CD format while the Folkways recordings can be ordered as a download or as a CD from the Smithsonian Institute. The original vinyl copies is a different story though as you would pay a minimum of $25 on line for a used copy, if available at all. I'm excited when I find a record such as this The Soul of Mbira for 99 cents but I get a little sad too thinking who it could have belonged to. I imagine that records such as The Soul of Mbira belonged to people who were serious about the music they bought, I imagine that they were once part of a serious collection. The Soul of Mbira was published almost forty years ago and I wonder about the fate of the original owner. Did he (or she) pass away? Did their children come in the house after this happened and just picked up these "worthless, obsolete" vinyl records to drop them off at the nearest thrift store? If that's the case I think the previous owner will be pleased that his/her precious item found a home that truly appreciates all the aspects surrounding the album. Nyamoropa Yevana Vava Muchonga by Muchatera Mujuru was my favorite track when I first listened to the album back in 1991 when I borrowed it from the library, and now 20 years later it still is. With the purchase of the album I learn that Nyamoropa, according to Paul Berliner, is played on "one of the few remaining varieties of an older style 25-key Mbira Dza Vadaimu, having the lowest and most traditional tunings".

The Soul of Mbira: Traditions of the Shona People of Rhodesia was first released in 1973, when it was issued on CD in 2002, the title changed to reflect a new political name for Rhodesia: Zimbabwe: The Soul of Mbira, Traditions of the Shona People.