sublime frequencies

Sublime Frequencies Mix #1

ARTIST: MARK GERGIS
TITLE: Radio Vietnam
LABEL: Sublime Frequencies
CAT#: SF 095CD
RELEASE: February 3, 2013

Radio is an audio compass; the radio antennae, a divining rod. Positioned anywhere, it opens an exclusive window directly into the location in which it sits. Signals received on the medium wave (AM) and FM bands reveal programming intended for a local population by governmental, independent, pirate, or corporate media broadcasters. Anything from low-powered ethnic minority transmissions, high-powered westernized pop stations, and omnipresent state-run radio can be found on these bands. Shortwave bands expand the breadth and scope, pulling in regional and international receptions. Everything received factors into the experience. Music, news, talk shows, advertisements, station IDs, cross-phased interference, errant or intentional static-generated sounds, distant detritus, and random broadcast anomalies all become equally relevant. This disc continues the Sublime Frequencies locale-specific radio collage series with Vietnamese radio recordings culled and assembled from signals received in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City between December 2013 and November 2014. Inside the 70-minute program are moments of outstanding folkloric, traditional, and pop music, including performances on the electric guitar and the dan bau (a one-stringed guitar-like instrument), eclectic Vietnamese folk and rock stylings, dramatic effects-laden radio theater and musical segues, new wave pop forays, traditional percussion and vocal chants, news segments, dynamic radio bumpers, jingles and advertisements, comedic interludes, phoned-in karaoke sing-a-longs, English-language programming, early-morning exercise regimens, and coded messages from the outer ether. The grand total sum of these radio recordings doesn't aim to present a certified ethnographic study of contemporary Vietnam. Rather, the material here aims to distill and replicate the excitement, engagement, and discovery gained during heavy exposure to Vietnamese broadcasts over an eleven-month period during the teenage years of the twenty-first century. CD comes in a beautiful digipak with full color images, a booklet, and liner notes by <b>Mark Gergis</b>, who recorded, compiled, sequenced, and produced the project for Sublime Frequencies on location in Vietnam.

01. Induction Temperature (5:02)
02. Home Village Identity Event (5:50)
03. Morning Exercise in the Coded Ether (5:29)
04. America Lost the Vietnam War (6:55)
05. Medium Wave Youth Choral and String (5:48)
06. Hit Zones (5:18)
07. Population Control and the Origins of the Legend of Cam Huong (5:59)
08. Message to the Age of Twenty (7:19)
09. Mun Mun - Doctor of Ethnicities (5:36)
10. Phát Sóng Tổng Hợp (5:49)
11. Triumph and Folklore in the Year of the Horse (6:55)
12. Xin Chao Immortal (5:16)

- Sublime Frequencies presents Radio Vietnam, a 70-minute overview of the diversity and extreme brilliance of Vietnamese radio.
- Includes outstanding examples of Vietnamese folkloric, traditional, and pop music, radio theater, ads, jingles, bumpers, and various anomalies in another insanely entertaining and provocative Sublime Frequencies radio collage.
- Recorded, compiled, sequenced, and produced by Mark Gergis on location in Vietnam between December 2013 and November 2014.
- CD presented in a beautiful Digipak with full-color images, a booklet, and liner notes by Gergis.


PREORDER

Mark Gergis: Morning Exercise in the Coded Ether (taken from Radio Vietnam (Sublime Frequencies))

“Malimba and song.
Here, the malimba is modified by a metal chain that jingles on all the tongues, generating
additional harmonics. This music accompanies a children’s game; one person hides an
object and the others have to find it: There’s nothing here, my friend / there’s nothing
there / keep looking till you find it / ah, you found it.”

ARTIST: VA
TITLE: Music of Tanzania
LABEL: Sublime Frequencies
FORMAT: 2LP
CAT #: SF 096LP
RELEASE: February 3, 2015

Music of Tanzania is a spectacular collection of field recordings gathered by Laurent Jeanneau between December 1999 and March 2000. This debut volume of Sublime Frequencies' exploration of indigenous Tanzanian music compiles sacred and profane songs and dances of the Hadza, Datoga, and Makonde people. Highlights include stoned ecstatic dancing in a Hadza encampment; a drunken celebration of preteen sexual initiation from a Makonde fishing village; baboon imitations performed on the malimba; electrified Islamic trance percussion; and useful tips for amateur hyrax hunters. Many of these poignant, exhilarating performances come from dwindling minority groups whose way of life stretches back to the Stone Age, and who are capable of creating breathtaking music with anything from agricultural tools to tin cans and plastic tubes. Laurent Jeanneau is absolutely fearless in his pursuit of rare, exceptional and vibrant performances. He views his ongoing documentation of ethnic minority music as an act of resistance to globalization, state-sanctioned "peasant traditions," and cultural homogeneity, and accordingly spends months living under harsh and dangerous conditions in order to capture impromptu performances in their everyday cultural context. Using this method, Jeanneau has self-produced almost 100 albums preserving threatened musical traditions from some of the most remote regions on earth, in addition to compiling multiple volumes for Sublime Frequencies. This limited edition double LP tip-on gatefold package includes striking photographs by James Stephenson and detailed liner notes by Jeanneau.

Track listing:

Side A: Hadza (Northern Tanzania)
A1. Sitoti Plaus Malimba I
A2. Sitoti Plays Malimba II
A3. Malimba and Song
A4. Sitoti Plays Malimba and Sings
A5. Zeze and Song

Side B: Hadza, Datoga (Northern Tanzania)
B1. Hadza Epeme I
B2. Hadza Epeme II
B3. Hadza Berimbau
B4. Datoga Troubadour
B5. Datoga Dance

Side C: Makonde (Southern Tanzania)
C1. Makonde Ceremony

Side D: Mtwara (Southern Tanzania)
D1. Muslim Ceremony I
D2. Muslim Ceremony II

- Sublime Frequencies presents Music of Tanzania, the latest volume of field recordings from Laurent Jeanneau's extensive archive.
- Stunning recordings made on location between December 1999 and March 2000, compiling sacred and profane songs and dances of the Hadza, Datoga, and Makonde people.
- Highlights include stoned ecstatic dancing in a Hadza encampment; a drunken celebration of preteen sexual initiation from a Makonde fishing village; baboon imitations performed on the malimba; electrified Islamic trance percussion; and useful tips for amateur hyrax hunters.
- Limited edition double LP tip-on gatefold package.
- Includes striking photographs by James Stephenson and detailed liner notes by Jeanneau.


Malimba and Song (taken from the forthcoming 2LP Music of Tanzania on Sublime Frequencies)

Group Doueh - "Zayna Jumma" - Zayna Jumma [Sublime Frequencies]

ARTIST: BABA COMMANDANT AND THE MANDINGO BAND
TITLE: Juguya
LABEL: SUBLIME FREQUENCIES
FORMAT: LP
CAT#: SF 097LP
RELEASE: February 17, 2015

Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band are a contemporary group from Burkina Faso. Coming from Bobo-Dioulasso, the group is steeped in the Mandingue musical traditions of their ancestral legacy. The enigmatic lead singer Baba Commandant (Mamadou Sanou) is an original and eccentric character who is well respected in the Burkinabé musical community. A sort of punk Faso Dan Fani activist for traditional Mandingo music, Baba continues to redefine the boundaries between traditional and modern. In 1981, he joined the Koule Dafourou troupe as a dancer. Later, he embarked on his current musical direction as a singer, first in Dounia and then in the Afromandingo Band. His current band -- when he's not playing with the now-famous Burkinabé musician Victor Démé -- is the Mandingo Band. At present, he is a practitioner of the Afrobeat style, drawing inspiration from the golden era of Nigerian music. Fela Kuti/Africa 70 and King Sunny Adé are big influences, as is the legendary Malian growler Moussa Doumbia. Baba Commandant plays the ngoni, the instrument of the Donso (the traditional hunters in this region of Burkina Faso and Mali). His audience comprises multiple generations and strata of Burkinabé society; he accordingly adapts his repertoire to his surroundings, which range from cabaret Sundays in Bobo-Dioulasso to the sound systems of Ouagadougou. Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band are a formidable force steeped in Ouagadougou's DIY underground musical culture. Juguya is their sound. Limited edition LP housed in a Stoughton tip-on sleeve.

A1. Tilé
A2. Djanfa
A3. Waso
A4. Folon
B1. Ntijiguimorola
B2. I Kanafo
B3. Siguisso
B4. Juguya

- Sublime Frequencies presents its first release from Burkina Faso: a set of bracing Mandingo rock from contemporary Burkinabé group Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band.
- Enigmatic lead singer Baba Commandant (Mamadou Sanou) draws inspiration from Fela Kuti/Africa 70, King Sunny Adé, and Moussa Doumbia to craft a modern DIY Afrobeat sound with the ngoni, the traditional instrument of Burkinabé and Malian hunters.
- Juguya's release precedes a European tour planned for the spring of 2015.
- Limited edition LP housed in a Stoughton tip-on sleeve.


BABA COMMANDANT AND THE MANDINGO BAND: Juguya (taken from the Juguya LP (Sublime Frequencies))

Previewing Track 6 of "Radio Vietnam" - Available from Sublime Frequencies.

Radio Vietnam - Hit Zones

"Blue Basket" is a track from the great compilation Cambodian Cassette Archives: Khmer Folk & Pop music put out by Sublime Frequencies. We love this tune and love to couple it with another track on the same compilation - "Sat Tee Touy" ("Look At The Owl") - to make a medley.

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