WEF (World Entertainment Friday), Week 23
Weekly selection of somewhat unusual music from around the world
From the darkest corners of YouTube, here are some songs that you’re unlikely to ever hear on FM radio.
If you know something that would fit in, let me know in the comments.
Artist: შარა (Shara)
Title: ესაა მთელი სამყარო (esaa mteli samkaro, It’s the Whole World (?))
Country: Sakartvelo («Georgia the country»)
Year: 2022
We’re visiting Georgia again. What’s most surprising about this song is that is sounds just as if it was recorded somewhere on the Baltic shores. Note the ramtara-rida-rida-ro refrain – very similar ones occur in Latvian folk songs (e.g. ramtai-ramtai-radi-ridi-rīdi), where they however carry no meaning whatsoever.
My theory is that there’s most likely no ancient «hidden history» behind coincidences like this, but some exchange of folklore happened in 18th-19th century via Russian army.
Artist: Cimbalom Brothers
Title: Dobrudja Echo
Country: Hungary
Year: ~2018
Cimbal[om] is a surprisingly versatile instrument. Brought to my attention by James.
Artist: Markahuasi
Title: Negra Guitarrita (Little Black Guitar)
Country: Peru
Year: 1994
In spite of YouTube’s efforts to feed me whatever was posted in the last week or two, I still manage to come across some good old stuff.
You are on a roll. I loved all three. The cimbalom had me hypnotized. The flying hammers of the lead musician blew me away and made very nice patterns above his instrument. The speed of Rachmaninov and the skills of a world class whack-a-mole player while making amazing music — that is truly wondrous.