The Weekend Planet

Azerbaijan may not be the ideal base for an international career in music. It is, however, home to one of the world’s greatest vocalists. Alim Qasimov says ‘there has to be a fire burning in you..It’s either there or it isn’t’. To hear him is to be amazed. To pay close attention is to be rewarded, more richly. He is a subtle as well as powerful, immediately-arresting singer. So is his daughter, Fargana Qasimov. Their Spiritual Music of Azerbaijan offers superb players as well as the leaders’ solo and duo vocal flights.

Discover more, here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alim_Qasimov

and here:
www.carnegiehall.org/article/box_office/events/evt_9895_ma.html?selecteddate=10272007

Playlist

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Details of each track are presented in the following order:
BROADCAST TIME
TRACK NUMBER AND TITLE
COMPOSER
PUBLISHING AND COPYRIGHT DETAILS
RECORDING COMPANY AND CD NUMBER
( distributor/ source details, in brackets like this, in lower-case)
ARTIST AND CD TITLE
Duration of track
Description of track, in lower-case.
Where relevant, further info links to information, gigs/events/related programs

’THE WEEKEND PLANET’ SUN 20.7.08 {repeaat, 1st aired on April 6 this year}

2205
THEME:
(details below, as per the original CD.. This cut is also on these compilations Ketama - ’Nuevos Medios Coleccion’ - Nuevos Medios NM 15 820
{ in Australia via MGM www.thegroovemerchants.com
worldwide, via: www.flamenco-world.com/noticias/nuevos.htm }
and ’Jarabi - the best of Toumani Diabate’ (Hannibal 334352 )

CD CUT 1, ’JARABI’
TRAD, ARR TOUMANI DIABATE
HAMILCAR MUSIC LTD
HANNIBAL HNCD 1323
( in Australia, some releases through Stomp Enquiries to: ben@stomp.com.au
worldwide: www.rykodisc.com )
KETAMA, TOUMANI DIABATE, DANNY THOMPSON - ’SONGHAI’
THIRTY SECONDS (EXCERPT)
(retains a stately-Manding air, whilst also embracing flamenco elements. Toumani Diabate’s kora, Danny Thompson’s beautiful double bass and Ketama’s flamenco guitars )

2208
CD CUT 1, ’BAGISHLAMANI’ ( I KNOW YOU WILL NEVER RETURN )
SABES RUSTAMCHANLI/ SHAFIGA ANONDOVA, ARR ALIM QASIMOV
EDITION NETWORK
NETWORK 34.411
( in Australia through Select Audio-Visual Distribution:
www.savd.com.au
worldwide: www.networkmedien.de )
ALIM QASIMOV - ’LOVE’S DEEP OCEAN’
6: 22
(Azerbaijani mugham: passionately-imploring song by one of the greatest male singers on earth - Qasimov is mind-boggling in every respect, and the recording does him justice. A 1998 performance dedicated to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Alim does not imitate Nusrat, but the Azerbaijani mugham master’s singing is as stupendous as was the late-great Pakistani master of qawali .

NOTE: this is also included on the various-artists, double-CD ’Hommage à Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’ on the same label. That is Network 29.921)

2217
CD CUT 8, ’YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF MY EYES
MUSIC BY SHAFIGA AKHUNDOVA WITH WORDS BY BEHKTIYAR VAHABZADE. HERE, THE QASIMOVS ALSO DRAW ON A 16TH CENTURY POETIC TEXT BY MUHAMMAD FÜZÜLI,. SET TO THEIR OWN MUSIC. THAT IN TURN DRAWS ON ’LEYLI AND MEJNUN’ - A ’MUGHAM OPERA’ PENNED IN THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY BY UZEYIR HAJIBEYOV
PUBS NOT SPEC ( THE PRIMARY COMPOSERS ARE ALL LIVING AZERBAIJANIS )
SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS SFW CD 40525
( in Australia through Fuse Music
www.fusemusic.com.au
worldwide: http://www.folkways.si.edu )
ALIM AND FARGANA QASIMOV - ’SPIRITUAL MUSIC OF AZERBAIJAN’
13: 10
( Romantic-yearning Azerbaijani song for male and female voices with a small, refined, virtuoso ensemble.. Its core is a popular song by Akhundova - Azerbaijan’s best-loved female singer-songwriter. Her song opens with lyrics by Vahabzade - a poet who became ’a leading dissident during the late Soviet period.’ The Qasimovs - father and daughter Alim and Fergana - then add their own new music which refers to an early 20th century ’mugham opera’ by Uzeyir Hajibeyov, which employed a text of the same name ’Leyli and Mejnun’. Its words were written by 16th century poet Muhammad Füzüli )

SEGUE

2230
CD CUTS 11-13, ’VARTARUN’
LARRY SITSKY
PUB NOT SPEC (PROBABLY APRA/ CONTROL)
TALL POPPIES TP086
( www.tallpoppies.net
CDs available direct, and also {securely} via www.buywell.com )
PETER JENKIN - ’A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A CLARINET’
5: 12 ( 1:28 + 2:24 + 1: 20 )
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: absolutely solo clarinet. Virtuosic, in three very different sections. Sitsky’s composition is a response to Armenian folk and sacred music and to time spent in Armenia. Relations between Armenia and neighbouring Azerbaijan remain troubled. Relations between the two countries’ most celebrated musicians - Djivan Gasparyan and Alim Qasimov - remain warm, friendly, mutually-admiring)

2237
CD CUT 7, ’SUNGO TANGO’
ADAM STARR
(PRESUMABLY) APRA
FROCK 9492282892
( self-issued. Available worldwide via www.sorelli.com.au/cds.htm
Frock’ s site: www.frockmusic.com.au )
FROCK - ’DECADENCE: LIVE AT THE LANE’
9: 31
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: Tango-based, mostly-brooding, with a jazz tinge. Their guest - Anton Delecca - is initially to the fore, on tenor sax. Frock-proper is the composer as discreetly-present-sometimes guitarist, Anthony Schulz on piano, with Craig Beard’s vibraphone and percussion, Dave Beck’s drums, and Simon Starr on arco and plucked ac bass )

SEGUE

2247
CD CUT 8, ’TO THE RIVER’
TRAD ARMENIAN, IMPROVISED UPON BY IMOGEN MANINS AND DAVID JONES AND TONY GOULD
(PRESUMABLY, RESP) PUBLIC DOMAIN/ APRA
ABC CLASSICS 476 6452
( in Australia through Universal. Available at ABC shops
& online: www.abcshop.com.au )
IMOGEN MANINS, TONY GOULD, DAVID JONES - ’UNDER THE TALL TREES’
4: 33
(AUSTRAL PERF AND ARR: Imogen’s multiple cellos and David’s multiple percussion parts, plus (I think} Tony playing the piano interior in guitar-cum-zither fashion. Mysterioso-processional. It’s a version of a trad Armenian tune, learned off a record by Djivan Gasparyan {’Black Rock’- his collaboration with Michael Brook} )

2253
CD CUT 9, ’SOMETHING GROOVY LIKE I LOVE YOU’
ADAM STARR
(PRESUMABLY) APRA
FROCK 9492282892
( self-issued. Available worldwide via www.sorelli.com.au/cds.htm
Frock’ s site: www.frockmusic.com.au )
FROCK - ’DECADENCE: LIVE AT THE LANE’
6: 00 ( not quite complete )
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: Playful, calypso-based, ’live’. Features its composer’s sometimes wah-ing elec. guitar, the band’s guest - Anton Delecca - on tenor sax and Dave Beck’s drums Frock-proper’s other members are Anthony Schulz {on acciordion, here} vibraphonist-percussionist Craig Beard and Simon Starr on ac bass )

----
11 PM NEWS
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2305
CD CUT 11, ’COMPANY OF FRIENDS’
DANNY SCHMIDT
PUB NOT SPEC
WATERBUG WBG79
( no Australian distributor, at least yet
Worldwide: www.waterbug.com )
DANNY SCHMIDT - ’ LITTLE GREY SHEEP’
3: 38
( tender, warm list-song which reflects on what matters - and what does not. ItsTexan singer was prompted to write it by the death of his friend R.B. Smith who had lived a generous life in Charlottesville, Virginia {where Danny lived for some years}, and who was mourned widely, deeply.

YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE LYRIC?

Click the ’lyrics’ prompt here:
www.dannyschmidt.com/index2.html )

2310
CD CUT 3 - ’BAPA’
GEOFFREY GURRUMUL YUNUPINGU
SFM PUBLISHING ADMINISTERED BY SONY/ATV PUBLISHING AUSTRALIA
SKINNYFISH MUSIC SFGU08021
( www.skinnyfishmusic.com.au,
distributed in Australia by MGM Distribution )
GEOFFREY GURRUMUL YUNUPINGU - ’GURRUMUL’
2: 35
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: Geoffrey’s beautiful, high, indigenous Australian voice - in one of his several first languages. His acoustic guitar, with Michael Hohnen’s bowed double bass, on a mourning song.

YOU WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHEN/WHERE GEOFFREY PERFORMS?

His gigs are listed on his myspace site:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=321964985 )

2313
CD CUTS 1-7, ’MUGHAM CHARGAH’ ( BARDASHT/ MAYE/ BESTE-NIGAR/ HISAR/ MUALIF/ MÜKHALIF-TARKIB/ MANSURIYYA )
WORDS BY SEYYID AZIM SHIVANI. THE MUSIC IS TRAD, ARR BY AND IMPROVISED UPON BY ALIM QASIMOV
ARR PUB NOT SPEC. PRESUMABLY, THE WORDS AND ORIGINAL MUSIC ARE PUBLIC DOMAIN
SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS SFW CD 40525
( in Australia through Fuse Music
www.fusemusic.com.au
worldwide: www.folkways.si.edu )
ALIM AND FARGANA QASIMOV - ’SPIRITUAL MUSIC OF AZERBAIJAN’
42: 21 ( 3: 55 + 6:17 + 8:19 + 3:24 + 4:36 + 8:36 + 7: 14 )
( Azerbaijani. A suite which is a prime example of the art of mugham. Alim Qasimov is as great a singer, as any now living, anywhere. The female singer- also remarkable - is his daughter, Fergana. The texts come from poems/ghazals by Seyyid Azim Shirvani {1835-1888}, who was part of ’the Azerbaijani enlightenment movement’ of the late 19th and early 20th century. Alim and Fargana also play daf {a large frame drum}. Their ensemble’s instrumentalists are Rafael Asgarov on balaban {the ’oboe’ that sounds like no other - softer, more haunting. Armenians call it ’duduk’}, Rauf Islamov on kamancha {spike-fiddle, which is swivelled to-fro the bow, rather than the bow to it}, Ali Asgar Mamadov on tar {wire strung lute} and percussionist Natiq Shirinov. Occasionally, they’re joined by Yasef Eyvazov on oud - the gut/nylon-strung, fretless Arabic lute.

YOU WOULD LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT MUGHAM?

There’s an overview, here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mugham

A really good , 2001-vintage Qasimov-centric article is here:
http://azeri.org/Azeri/az_latin/latin_articles/latin_text/latin_91/eng_91/91_alim.html

A revealing/amusing ’mugham field report’ - from 21st century Baku - is here:
www.worldviewmagazine.com/issues/article.cfm?id=107&issue=25

LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT THE POET AND EDUCATOR SEYYID AZIM SHIRVANI {1835-1888} ?

For a brief overview, go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seyid_Azim_Shirvani )

2357
CD CUT 10, ’LULLABY OF THE CAT’
IGOR STRAVINSKY, ARR BY DANIEL O’DONOGHUE
PUBS NOT SPEC
DANCING CAT /WINDHAM HILL 8697-02024- 2
( Available from label’s excellent website:
www.dancingcat.com )
KEOLA BEAMER - ’KA HIKINA O KA HAU’( THE COMING OF THE SNOW )
1: 30 (excerpt)
( very spare, nicely arranged.. and a surprise: not what you would reasonably expect from a Hawaiian guitarist known as a master of slack-key guitar/ ki ho’alu. Keola plays two nylon-stringed ac guitars and one steel-stringed ac guitar - respectively, in D Minor {D-A-D-F-A-D} and dropped D {D-A-D-G-B-E} tunings )

Presenter

Doug Spencer

Producer

Doug Spencer