Bill Wagner wrote: > Dear Jay, > > Regarding Balkan folk music... The Bulgarian State Radio and Television Female > Vocal Choir has an interesting collection on Elektra/ Nonesuch's Explorer Series > titled "Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares" and may have done a second album. > > The Pennywhistlers, a women's vocal group from the sixties, has several wonderful > albums, including "Folk Songs of Eastern Europe" and "Songs of the Earth" with > Theodore Bikel. I'm sorry to say I do not know if they are still available. > > Instrumentally, the Irish musician Andy Ervine has done some wonderful recording > of Eastern-European dance tunes with very complex rythyms. Green Linnet and > Shanachie Records are two major Irish labels. Folk Legacy also has a large > catalog, and the Smithsonian took over the Folkways archives which should include > some Balkan music. > > I hope this is helpful. > > Bill Wagner I've been trying to send a post about this for days, and it keeps bouncing back--I was going to mention the ""Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares", there is a second album, the group was actually a subset of a larger group directed by Philip Koutev and there is a nice CD compilation under that name as well. Also on Nonesuch is A harvest,a shepherd, a bride, that is field music collected by Martin Koenig and Ethel RaiM(who founded the Pennywhistlers). I don't care for Andy Statman's stuff, because he doesn't really keep the rhythms well enough to dance to (which is what is all about). As an alternative, I'd suggest Zlatne Uste, who are a traditional balkan brass band that play the music. This stuff can be ordered from Elderly Instruments, who are on the web, and Tower has been known to carry it--especially the Voix Bulgares, which was a big hit on college radio a few years ago, and one of the cuts, Polegnala e Tudora, is actually now used in a Volvo commercial. Ted ______________________________________________________ Get your free web-based email at http://www.xoom.com Special clipart offer: http://orders.xoom.com/email