Leadbelly, Sunto Soso & Sibelius
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Artist:
An acquaintance once showed me something hanging on her wall. Glued to a board and arranged in a grid was an assortment of little objects that often accumulate in the bottoms of drawers, mostly parts belonging to larger unidentifiable household devices, items that usually become crucial only after being thrown away. Framed on the wall, it was quiete lovely to look at. The three pieces of musical flotsom in this post remind me her grid, in that, arranged in a short strand, they go well together.
First is Leadbelly singing his song "Sweet Mary" from his Last Sessions recordings from 1948, a year before he died. Jazz historian Frederic Ramsey Jr. had noticed that Leadbelly's commercial recordings not only "gave no idea of the vitality of Leadbelly's Gargantuan voice," but also lacked "a characteristic perceptible in his live performances, but dead as a padded anteroom on the records. It was a warm, intimate quality that came over when Leadbelly sat and performed for a small group, talking as he sang, singing as he talked." So Ramsey invited him to his New York apartment and recorded him during numerous evenings, using an early tape recorder. Unlike the countless singers who later covered his many songs, Leadbelly had lived his lyrics. In 1923, he had served five years of a seven-to-35-year sentence in a Texas prison for murdering a relative in a fight over a woman. At the 2:24 mark of "Sweet Mary" he sings, "If I had you, Governor Neff, like you got me, I would wake up in the morning; I would set you free." Writing a song (this song?) begging governor Pat Norris Neff to release him helped him gain freedom and a pardon in 1925.
The second track is "Sori" by Sunto Suso, playing a kora harp and singing about Roderic Turay, an anti-French revolutionary of the 19th century. This was recorded by Roderic Knight in Sierra Leone in 1966, and issued on the LP Africa East and West by the Institute of Ethnomusicology, UCLA (I.E. IER-6751) '69. Good luck finding this mentioned on the internet. It does have "a warm, intimate quality," and is as good a kora-and-song as I've ever come across.
Some other unidentified kora player from Google Images
The third and last track is the The Halle Orchestra with Sir John Barbirolli (1899-1970) conducting "Valse Triste" [Sad Waltz] composed in 1903 by Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) from Finland. It has a very quiet beginning, so try to listen to it in quiet surroundings.
Sibelius statue in Helsinki
Locating MOG account...
Comments (10)
I have a small plastic trash can in the garage that is 3/4 full of stuff from those drawers. a collage is a nifty idea! refreshing and relaxing mini-set there...they do stream quite nicely...
scotfree, always glad to help you figure out what to do with what you've got, and at the same time to refresh and relax you!
More blues and more kora on MOG, for sure. Incidentally, I also happen to own an old vinyl record of this very performance of "Valse Triste", although I might need to provide my dwarves with shovels before I can find it.
love that second track by sunto suzo.Thanks
cpeterson3, you're welcome.
Baudolino, my dwarves keep begging me for shovels, and I'm usually too busy Mogging to listen to them.
as good a kora-and-song as I've ever come across
This is also true for me. It's also as bad as I've ever come across, and as mediocre as I've ever come across. It's the ONLY one I've ever come across.
I'm so sheltered.
Given the disparate nature of these tracks, your next avatar should be a three-faced boy.
dermahrk, it's a honor to unshelter someone as multi-faceted as you.
"So Ramsey invited him to his New York apartment and recorded him during numerous evenings, using an early tape recorder"
How smart was this man?
I love these 1923 recordings.
Dave, I'm seriously glad you love them, but their recording dates are 1948 (Leadbelly), 1966 (Sunto Sosa) and 1966-67 (The Halle Orch.).