As lounge music and easy listening were massive during the 1990’s, library music seems to be the rage for today. So many labels are releasing wonderful compilations that it’s nearly impossible to keep up with what’s coming out, and what belongs on the top shelf. Buried Treasure Records seems to have come out with the year’s best library comp, which also happens to be available on vinyl and CD. Check out these tracks by no-name artists who deserved a better fate than to be forgotten for so long. All the material is brilliant!
Brass
[Music] Félix Blume – Death in Haiti: Funeral Brass Bands & Sounds from Port au Prince
French sound artist and engineer Félix Blume produces something voyeuristic and creepy, yet engaging and life-affirming at the same time. This album is a collection of brass music played at funerals in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince.
According to the website, there are featured in these ‘performances’ 15 dead, 15 funerals, 16 funeral processions, 1 procession with no dead, 5 churches, 1 cemetery, 1 wake, all recorded, including the wails and sobbing of those who lost their loved ones. There is a feeling that death has been conquered and mocked, however, in the same way New Orleans funerals tend to be.
This is field recording at its most engaging, at least for me.
[Music – Kočani Orkestar – Siki Siki Baba (Strict, Strict Father)
All credit goes to Canio Rosario Maffucci for posting a live version of this hit by Macedonia’s Kočani Orkestar earlier today.
Those who remember the movie Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan will certainly remember this tune!
A Miscellany Of Tasteful Music 