Today we signed a contract for a new CD with Yulia Charkova, a young and talented singer from Khakassia in the Siberian part of the Russian Federation.
She plays the chatkhan (zither) and sings takhpakh (melodious songs), and alyptykh nymakh (epic songs). She also masters the throat-singing style of the Khakassians, called khai, which she learned from her father.
The expected release is in June 2010.
18 November 2009
Release of PAN 219 by Me La Amargates Tú, titled:Alma Vida Coraçón
Me La Amargates Tú performs Sephardic and Spanish music from the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. The ensemble combines the folkloric Ladino tradition with musical elements from the period in which the Sephardic Jewish communities lived on the Iberian Peninsula, prior to their expulsion by the Inquisition. The Sephardic Jewish community has preserved the Ladino language and songs for centuries.
Me La Amargates Tú uses instruments from this period(baroque harp, baroque guitar, viola da gamba, recorder) to make their own fascinating arrangements. 64+ min., 12-page booklet, UPC 713958021927.
14 November 2009
At the Womex conference in Copenhagen (28 Oct. - 1 Nov.) we found new distributors in Japan and the UK. We also negotiated festival performances for Troitsa from Belarus (PAN 171, 185, 196)in Canada in July 2010, and for Bisserov Sisters from Bulgaria (PAN 133, 7005, 2080) in Malaysia, also in July 2010.
24 October 2009 Ndere Troupe(PAN 2016, 2057, 201) has been awarded this year's Sun Shine Award for promoting African art forms at the AXA Equitable Center in New York City. Ndere Troupe thanks everybody sincerely, and hopes that you will stay with us, offering us the opportunities that will enable us to grow substantially.
21 October 2009 Baukje Asma, singer and tin whistle player of the Foo Foo Band (PAN 204) passed away this morning. She was diagnosed with cancer in the beginning of 2008, the many treatments she underwent since then have unfortunately had no results. She will be remembered as a fine musician and we mourn her passing.
9 October 2009 Release of PAN 221 by "Surmeuse, Woodhouse & DeHand", a CD aptly titled "Zonder Titel" ("Without title"). The three musicians comprising Surmeuse, Woodhouse and DeHand, were already playing together some twenty years ago, but for various reasons stopped in the early 1990s. But blood's thicker than water and in 2008 they picked up right where they left off, blew new life into the old repertoire and extended it with new material. The result is a spontaneous mixture of traditional music and the band’s own compositions as played on instruments that vary from a hurdy-gurdy and a chanter pipe to a tuba and a distorted electric guitar. It is that unruly combination that Surmeuse, Woodhouse and DeHand still stand for right to this very day. Folk music from The Netherlands, 50+ min., digipack. UPC 713958021828.
5 October 2009 Marguerite a short film by Dutch folk group Pekel (PAN 157, 159, 179, 211, 216) will be viewed at the Sensurround Music Film Festival. The festival takes place in Malmö, Sweden from the 16th to the 22th of November. Marguerite was released on "Dijkfolk", PAN 211. Congratulations to Theo Schuurmans, who produced end edited the film.
30 September 2009 Bernard Kleikamp, president of PAN Records, is off to Sicily for a week for a well-deserved holiday and fo research into the tradition of multipart singing that is practised during the Holy Week, Settimana Santa, by male ensembles called Lamentatores.
16 September 2009 Release of PAN 217: Raj Mohan , titled "Main Ghazal Hoon" ("Mastering melody"), Ghazals from North-India. Raj Mohan is a Hindustani singer, musician, composer and poet born in Surinam and living in The Netherlands since 1974. Raj learned the ins and outs of classical Hindustani music (khayal style) from his guru Ustad Jamaluddin Bhartiya, an adept of the illustrious Pundit Ravi Shankar, who was living in Amsterdam at the time. He especially excels in semi- and light classical North Indian vocal styles like ghazals, geets and nazms, in which he has been performing since 1985. 55+ min., digipack. UPC 713958021829.
1 August 2009 Release of PAN 2111/12 (Double CD): Songs from the uma. Music from Siberut Island (Mentawai Archipelago), Indonesia. The people on Siberut are organized into exogamous patrilineal groups (uma) of about five to ten families who together own a large communal house, also called uma, standing on stilts, used for rituals and festive occasions. Songs are the most important element in their music culture. They are usually sung during the evening while smoking, chatting or just ‘sitting in the wind’ on the veranda of the communal house. But they may also be sung while canoeing on the river, working in the forest fields or while minding the pigs. Next to their rich song culture the Mentawaians have a number of musical instruments, including various types of drums, bells, gongs, two kinds of bamboo flutes, and the jew’s-harp. Field recordings 1967 - 1995, liner notes and photographs by Gerard A. Persoon (CD1) and Reimar Schefold (CD2). Digipack, 24-page booklet, 155+ min. UPC: 713958211120. ISBN: 978-90-75718-09-6.
12 July 2009 Release of PAN 218: Madlot - Ons is geboren. Music from Advent till Epiphany. Madlot wants to render songs and dance tunes from the low countries in its own way, to pass down traditions and culture to present and future generations. The Advent, Christmas and New Year songs on this CD are unmistakably part of Dutch folk culture. These songs are part of a tradition of community singing and music making, and of going from door to door singing songs to beg; sometimes accompanied by “rommelpotten” (rumbling pots). Other instruments on this CD: harmonica, bagpipes, violin, guitar, mandoline, drum, shawm, recorder, sopranino, clappers. Madlot has selected relatively unknown songs, from the 15th through the 18th century, supplemented with material passed down by oral tradition which was contributed by the Meertens Institute or from Madlot's own collection. Traditional Christmas songs from the Netherlands, 59+ min., 8-page booklet. UPC 713958021828.
6 July 2009 Release of PAN 216: Pekel - De dans meester. Pekel performs exuberant folk music from the Low Lands in its own inimicable contemporary style. Pekel’s musicians play traditional instruments like bagpipes, harp, and flutes, but also “new” instruments like accordion, keyboards, guitar, and double-bass. Pekel is influenced by old Dutch sources, but also by the music recorded by ethnomusicologists during the 1950s and 1960s. Instrumental dance music (polka’s, waltzes, madlots, and others), 61+ min., digipack. UPC 713958021620.
