The Smithsonian Folkways catalog also contains Dances of the World's Peoples, Vol. 1: Dances of the Balkans and Near East, as well as Vol. 4 which is Middle Eastern. Typing "Balkan Music" into the Excite search engine brought up a great wealth of sites for anyone interested. Bill Wagner Ted Boucher wrote: > 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