Tag Archives: Popular music

Lalezar Ensemble’s Music of the Sultans, Sufis & Seraglio, Vol. III: Minority Composers; Vol. IV: Ottoman Suite

Turkey is strategically located at one of the world’s major crossroads. This applies to religion, culture, government and the arts as well as its physical location along trade routes. And for several hundred years ending in the early 20th Century, … Continue reading

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Sivan Perwer’s Sivan Perwer

Like so many politically active Third World musicians, Sivan Perwer is an exile from his native Kurdistan, at last report residing in Sweden. He has the distinction of having had his music banned by not one, but three governments. And, … Continue reading

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Uun Budiman and the Jugala Gamelan Orchestra’s Banondari: New Directions in Jaipongan

One realizes, after a while, that popular music, while it may appear in many guises, has certain things in common. Sometimes it is subject matter, sometimes it is more elusive. But, more on that later. Jaipongan is a newly designated … Continue reading

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John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera/Edward German’s Tom Jones (Highlights)

John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera is a particularly English variant of a form that was widespread in Europe and later in America: known as a “ballad opera,” it is a close cousin to the German singspiel (a stellar example of … Continue reading

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Jim Irvin and Colin McLear, editors’ The Mojo Collection: The Ultimate Music Companion

Trying to fill out your CD collection of reissued gems from the 1960s and 1970s? Wondering which Frank Sinatra or Elvis Presley albums are classics? Spent the ’90s listening to heavy metal and wonder what else you missed? Trying to … Continue reading

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