From Irene McC Sent Mon, May 3rd 1999, 14:59
From Irene McC Sent Mon, May 3rd 1999, 14:59
I spent the year of being 20, turning 21, hitch-hiking through Europe, primarily the Celtic areas - with backpack and guitar - busking and travelling. At that time I was firmly immersed in trad. Celtic music and consider(ed) myself quite acquainted with the *sound* of that music. Thus it was with some surprise that I entered the music section of the library last week and heard what I took to be Irish music - only to find out that it was in fact Bulgarian. I now have this CD on hire : Traditional Music from the Balkans - and it is truly beautiful. The librarian assured me that the use of bagpipes in the Balkans predated that of the Celts by quite a period of time. What I also find fascinating is the use of call and response patterns in much of this music (and the selections are of Greek, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Arabian, Turkish and Rumanian origin). Who can give me some more basic background information on all this? Apologies if anyone considers this irrelevant to IDM - imo. although it is not of a current nature, it is still fundamentally DANCE music and much of it relies on repetition and patterns still employed by music makers today. I *