Radio Discostan 18 - A Love Song for Masr, June 30, 2013

Nowruz Piruz

Radio Discostan 19 - Discostan in Devotion (for Ramadan)

We are thrilled to host Rocky Hill Records' Darone Sassonian who has recently put out the timely and amazing compilation “Silk Road: Journey of the Armenian Diaspora (1971-1982)”

On this mix Sassounian shares a glittering soundtrack of gems, a collection of digger’s delights featuring luminaries like Adiss and Hamlet Minassian as well as slept-on treasures by Tatevik Hovhannisyan, Avo Sarkissian and more.

Sassounian spent three years tracking down the records and artists; fulfilling a calling to lift his people’s voice, a people that have always faced the threat of erasure. The music was made a generation after the Armenian Genocide, a testament to perseverance. The seven tracks featured are incredibly inventive and unique in their interpretations of Western seventies sounds.

TRACK LIST 

AVO HAROUTIOUNIAN 
Tears On My Eyes
ANDRE DANIK
Vorsort
ՀՐԱԻՐ, HRAIR 
Partzer Sarer
JOZEPH
Ko Achere
MARTEN YORGANTZ
Ammenaïan Serdov (De Tout Coeur) (Fundido Edit)
ARAM SATYAN FT. NARINE ARUTYUNYAN
Spring Promise
MELKON, SEVAN 
Ah! Im Anouche Yar
EDDY JEGHELIAN 
Im Sireli Ashdarag
TATEVIK HOVHANNISYAN AND ARTHUR GIRAGOSYAN
Our Eh Labderuh Ayn
JOZEPH 
Karoun E Yegel
ARAKSIA VARDERESSIAN 
Dou Im Yerkn Es
AVO SARKISSIAN 
Like A Bird
HAMLET MINASSIAN 
On The Day's
ADISS HARMANDYAN 
Nune
YORGANTZ 
Siraharvetsa (Je Suis Tombé Amoureux)

Journey Of The Armenian Diaspora - hosted by Darone Sassounian

Time Traveling In Tehrangeles

Vintage Central Asian Hour - Pop Overbite x Discostan

The island nation of Sri Lanka is facings its most devastating economic collapse in its history. Since March, 2022, waves of protests have culminated in a protest village in the capital city of Colombo. Where there is protest, there is protest music. This episode features some of the most potent expressions that have come out of this mass movement, in Sinhala, Tamil and English, as well as “bus music” (a popular genre among the working class) and a few deep cuts of yesteryear.

Imaad Majeed is a multidisciplinary artist based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. They are Director and Curator of the trilingual performance platform KACHA KACHA. They are Co-Curator and Project Coordinator of a platform for music from the fringes of Sri Lanka: Thattu Pattu. They are one part of the artist collective The Packet and VJ/DJ of Packet Radio (SUPR FM). They enjoy making playlists on Spotify, and write about musicians from Sri Lanka for the international music blog Beehype.

Sri Lanka: Protest Sonics

The emergence of electronic and new wave music in Kosovo marked not only an artistic movement in the margins of the Yugoslav creative scene but also a significant political act. During a time of social and political upheaval, music became a powerful means of expression for the people of Kosovo. In the 1980s and 1990s, as tensions escalated and the region faced political turmoil, electronic and new wave artists used their music to confront the oppressive regime and challenge societal norms.

  Combining elements of post-punk, synth-pop, alternative rock and traces of disco, Kosovar bands and artists in the ‘80s carved out their unique sound characterised by introspective lyrics, atmospheric melodies, and innovative production techniques. This artistic movement has provided a platform for local musicians to explore their creativity, address social issues, and redefine the boundaries of contemporary music in Kosovo. This mix brings together some of these songs of love, lust and youthful resistance.

Kosovar New Wave w/ Guest Vullnet Voca

Thai South, Malay North with Banja Ramerjee and Peter Doolan

Tracklist
George Kirmiz - Sajjel  Ana Arabi
Al-Bara'em - Tha'er
Sabreen - On Man
Al Fajer - Rubbama
Muhiddine Al Bagdadi - Al Fajir
Kofia - Leve Palestina, Krossa Sionismen
Riad Awwad - Infitada
Kofia - Nazaret
Mustafa al-Kurd - Kinderlied
George Kirmiz - الويل لكم
Mustafa al Kurd - Ya Hala
Rim Banna - Hala la la lia  
El-Funoun Palestinian Popular Dance Troupe - Lover's Hymn
Riad Awwad - The End
Zeinab Shaath - I Am an Arab

For Falasteen

Music of the Psychedelic Islamic State

The Haunted Discostan

Jonathan Ward of Excavated Shellac plays us his favorite glass-shattering, heart-splintering selections sung by 78 sirens from Mali to Indonesia, recorded from 1908 to the 1960s! You have been warned! 

1. INDIA - Shanmuga Vadivoo - Nadanamakriya-Arulpa
2. TAJIKISTAN - Rena Galibova - Shirin Shirin
3. MOROCCO - Rshisha Hlima & Cheikh Abdesalam - Aishek Baba
4. ALGERIA - Cheikha Remettez Relizania (Cheikha Remitti) - Cheri Oumali, Pt 1
5. MALI - Coule Diabaté - Yayanko
6. ZANZIBAR - Miss Peponi binti Abubakes - Na Mshangao Na Nyingi Fikira, Pt 1
7. KURDISTAN / IRAQ - Mariam Khan - Halimi
8. SERBIA - Ruza Koritarka - Mito Mitance
9. BULGARIA - Mita Stoicheva - Zasvirila Medna Svirka
10. UZBEKISTAN - Halima Nasyrova - Hayromanan
11. AZERBAIJAN - Agigat Rzaeva - Siurmeli Kyz
12. INDONESIA / JAVA - Upit Sarimanah - Kulu Krawang
13. MALAYSIA - Miss Saianah - Nasib Padang
14. THAILAND - Seyrani - Pae 3 Chan, Pt 1
15. BURMA - Tin Tin Mya - Nwei Mou Hsaun
16. CONGO - Tshamumania Anastasie and singers - Ndumba Wakumi Diekde Dikasa
17. GUINEA - Dousouba Kouyaté and Diaraba Kanté - El Hadji Kairaba Toure

Glass Shattering Tracks from Excavated Shellac

Discostan x Zenaankhana

Discostan For Spoonerisms

Discostan Dance Floor Classics

Omid Walizadeh live set on Discostan Dublab Radio

A sound collage originally created for Norient by Arshia Fatima Haq: "Making a mix from the sounds of the subcontinent proved challenging as these are the sounds I am closest to and farthest from. What emerged is a personal audio memoir, with digitally manipulated and ruptured fragments of scores from lesser known films, children’s songs, political and religious broadcasts, and field recordings of my own in Pakistan and India. Aural invocations of nostalgia, exile, and longing.”

Line of Control: Forgotten Scores and Field Sounds from India and Pakistan

DJ Ají put this mix together exploring the sounds of East and North Africa, with stopovers in Somalia and Sudan, for our show on NTS Radio.

The Sound Of Honey - Songs of Sudan and Somalia

A Summer In Discostan

dublab.com

DJ Haram x Radio Discostan

Discostan Lebanon 80

A guest mix from N.R. Safi of the amazing Afghan psych and Pashtun noise band, Naujawanan Baidar. A selection of popular and traditional Afghan music mostly focused on beloved songs copied from his grandfather's cassette collection, much of it on Kabul Music House, hand-dubbed mixtapes and radio recordings, from the 70s-80s. The sounds here run from traditional instrumental dance music to oddly cross-eyed disco folk to legendary crooners like Nashenas and Ahmad Zahir, plus an Uzbek cover of an Afghan classic – basically little bits and pieces of Naujawanan Baidar's musical DNA.

Naujawanan Baidar - Discostan Mixtape

Songs in Broken English (originally aired on 9.27.16)

We are delighted to present our take on "Disco Musical Stories", a collection of psychedelic children's songs, lullabies and cartoon soundtracks, from Agadez to Kabul to Jakarta and beyond, from the archives of Arshia Fatima Haq and Jeremy Loudenback (plus a shout out to Natasha Noorani for contributing "Bara Mahinay" + Madinah Wardak Noorai for Afghan music research). The title is from Sharda's iconic children's album, which inspired our search for these cuts over the last decade. Originally aired on NTS Radio, June 8, 2020.

Disco Musical Stories

From time to time, my father will wonder out loud: "Why do you collect these records? They're old, no one listens to them anymore, they take up so much space..." The funny thing is, I know I inherited this obsession from him. He took me to buy my first cassette when I was 4 in Hyderabad, India. He took me to see Aziz Warsi there too, and then later in the US, Ghulam Ali, Munni Begum, Jagjit Singh, in run-down halls where concerts for immigrants where staged in the 80s and 90s. He would play qawwalis and ghazals on fading tapes on long drives across the frozen Midwest, and Bollywood songs on warm and fuzzy 8-tracks as I sat on the vinyl armrest between him and my mother in the prized sky-blue Oldsmobile he bought with his hard-earned paychecks. At the time some of his favorite songs seemed interminably long but now I realized they instilled a certain kind of deep listening in me. He always liked hearing the live versions of things, he said that the singers came alive then and now I realize that he liked the improvisation – and maybe why I instinctively became such a fan of free jazz in my 20s. It was where I heard Dai Halima for the first time and where I learned that music could be the most direct conduit to the ecstatic divine. Those songs inscribed themselves in me and played on repeat. They played through the years we were at odds. They insisted on being heard through this project that came into being 10 years ago. As time went on, as can happen, he stopped listening to music as much as he became more religious. He doesn't know that I DJ, or that I do radio shows, or anything like that. But I made this mix some time ago, of songs he shared with me, and songs I think he might like, and even though he'll probably never hear it - this one's for you. What are your father's favorite songs? Comment below!

My Father's Favorite Music

We are so excited to share the premiere mix by Pakistan-based ethnomusicologist and musician Natasha Noorani for her project Peskhash. 

An hour-long expedition which attempts to dust off some of the most avant-garde sounds from 20th Century Pakistani music. In memorialising the country’s music, a lot more focus has been on the singer and has often left the music director out of the mix. Brimming with synthesisers, tablas, provocative english catch-phrases and powerful female voices, this episode features the compositions of Sohail Rana, M. Ashraf, Karim Shahab-ud-din, Tafo and many other subversive music directors.
Peshkash is a collective designed to serve as a hub for Pakistan's sonic history. Peshkash is currently developing, maintaining and curating a sound library of archival material including recorded sound art (vinyl, cassette tapes and VHS) and oral narratives to further research and awareness regarding Pakistani music.

Peshkash x Discostan

This week on Radio Discostan, we are honored to host this very rare collection of recordings from the personal archives of Afghan Records Gallery, tracing the borderless journeys of songs between Afghanistan and its surrounding regions:

"Considered as coming from the crossroads of Asia, Afghan music is often presented as a mixture of Indian and Persian influences. It is true that we find these ingredients in the kitchen but it would be forgetting a little too quickly that Afghanistan is also a land which saw the birth of great composers like Jalil Zaland, Nainawaz or even Ustad Shayda. Many traditional songs have become popular in neighboring countries to the point where for some of them it is no longer clear who started performing them. Artistic and popular expression doesn't care about damn borders, does it? The song Kamar Barik is the perfect illustration of these traveling melodies: composed in Tajikistan to illustrate a poem by Lahouti (Iranian), it was Afghan singers who probably interpreted it most; Ustad Biltoon or Zaher Howeida (who had great success in Iran with this single in the 70s) had it prominently in their repertoire. Jalil Zoland, former manager of Kabul radio and himself a great singer and musician, spent a while in Iran where he composed several pieces for quite a few well-known artists. Afghan singer Naïm Popal also recorded his first tapes in Iran with some famous Iranian musicians. In the other republics of Central Asia, many artists, both classical (like Leyla Sharipova) and pop (the Gulshan ensemble in Tajikistan) also used the Afghan repertoire to bring their personal touch to these pretty compositions. This non-exhaustive musical selection invites you to take a look at these transnational connections."

Afghan Records Gallery is the project of Bordeaux-based Julien Thiennot. The site’s collection consists of vinyl recordings from Radio Kabul and Radio Afghanistan musicians, vocalists, and composers. 

This show originally aired on NTS Radio on July 29, 2020.

Afghan Transnational Connections - guest mix by Afghan Records Gallery

On today's Radio Discostan we present an hour of music from Bangkok's Arab-Malay scene assembled by Peter Doolan of Monrakplengthai. In these songs, we hear Thai pop/rock sounds layered among rhythms, melodies and textures from throughout the Muslim world. Influences from Malaysia, Indonesia, Egypt, Lebanon, and India are all discernable in the mix.

Thai Arab-Malay acts had their heyday in the '70s and '80s entertaining cosmopolitan visitors from the ummah on "Soi Arab" (Sukhumvit Lane 3/1), and popular nightlife bands of the era have remained a staple at mosque fairs and other cultural events around the central provinces ever since.

The selections in this set are primarily digitized from cassettes that were for sale at Phrakhanong's Yanavy Tape & Video or from various second-hand vendors around the capital.Peter Doolan covers the world of Thai music on cassette at monrakplengthai.blogspot.com.

Originally aired on NTS Radio on August 26, 2020.

Discostan X Monrakplengthai

Al-Andalus, the site of dreams, conflict, and confluence from the world over, for centuries past and into the future. From Lorca in Farsi and Khayyam in Andaluz, to the odes of Sufi "Hispano-Pakistani" Aziz Balouch, Azerbaijani ‘Spanish guitar’ and ‘flamenco sitar’, this brilliant mix compiled by @stwfa traces musical connections, fantasies and imaginaries of Al-Andalus from Sevilla to Turpan.

Stefan Williamson Fa is an anthropologist and music producer from Gibraltar. His research and works focus on religion, music, and everyday forms of sonic expression in the Caucasus, Anatolia, and the Mediterranean. Stefan is a co-founder of Mountains of Tongues, a project which aims to promote musical diversity in the Caucasus.

The Idea of Andalusia with Stefan Williamson Fa

Music from Beirut to Bangkok via Bombay. 
Follow us on our instagram @discostan for regular updates!

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