We have moved!!!!!

Tiger & Joy now has a new home at www.tigerandjoypresent.com with a new fancier look and a more focused approach. Definitely excited by it so please do come on over and check it all out. There's new music posted (and posts will be far more regular), there's new input and everything on this site will slowly be moved to the new space. Thank you for your visits, and please share the new address to like minded souls. Onward and upwards......

2014 and on.....

New year, new start- the Tiger & Joy reboot is moving ahead and as a final fling on this location here's some new music to pursue. The site has and will continue to feature out of print and deeply limited music, mostly digitized from vinyl, but there's a lot of other good stuff out there you can buy and support the artists keeping it all alive. Here's a few favourites from this past year, all a little away from what's usually posted here. Let's start with the Beirut based OkyDoky. Totally excellent downbeat instumental hiphop with a heavy analog synth element. This album has been the soundtrack to a lot of work sessions and driving for me- you can grab it for a mere donation here.

Beirut again, in partnership with Alexandria Egypt. Zeid Hamdan and Maii Waleed's album of very lovely stripped down electro. Check it out (and then buy it) on Soundcloud.

Yes, I know- this is getting silly but here from Beirut is the new Mashrou' Leila album and it's a good one- 'alternative rock' is how they're usually described, but I don't believe that moniker does a band with a sound this orchestral and a violinist this good justice. The album is available at iTunes.

Just so it's not entirely the Lebanese claiming glory, here's the sort of brilliant madness that can only come from the former Yugoslavia- Las Balkanieras, the reigning queens of Balkan dancehall get all folkstep with Serbian dance geniuses Shazalakazoo. And you should get that new M.I.A. album too, it's a monster. Stay tuned, things are going to get fun........

Ziad Rahbani

As a taste of things to come thanks to the collaborator, here's a little video fun- an absolute monster of a track from a man who should absolutely be recognized for the depth and quality of his work on a more worldwide scale. It is (and again this is all thanks to the new cultural source) called 'Abu Ali' and is a five part suite written and composed by Rahbani. This is some madly smooth funk action here, and a slightly sad reminder of just how urbane and cosmopolitan Beirut was (and can be) when other people aren't staging their wars there. Go ahead, take a half hour to relax, have a cup of nice strong coffee and imagine yourself in the Paris of the East......

Sadly a day later this post has taken on a new tone after the brutally sad events in Beirut and Syria. Our thoughts go out to those caught up in this madness.....

Folk Songs & Dances From Lebanon

After the recent mention of Fairuz, it seemed wrong to not post something of hers, thus we have this collection, an album I remember being in a friend's family record collection many years back. Side one features a pair of tracks from Fairuz, while another long standing staple of Lebanese pop, Sabah, holds down side 2. In one of those wonderful moments of things linking up weirdly, Sabah also makes an appearance in 'Bosta', easily the best dabke on a bus film ever made!

(In all seriousness it is a very entertaining movie and well worth the time should you come across it.)

In hopefully momentous news, things will be changing here soon- the blog will take on an all new look and an all new address to become a much more carefully curated deal, complete with some occasional expert input from another contributor. Onward and upward.......

Mohammed Abdel Wahab- Cleopatra

Staying in an Egyptian vein after last weeks post, here's a lovely album from another Delta great, Mr. Mohammed Abdel Wahab. Interestingly, amongst Abdel Wahab's typically prolific output are not only a song used as Libya's national anthem pre and post Gadaffi, but the anthems of Tunisia and the U.A.E. as well. As for information on this selection, you'll have to wait a few weeks  until my Arabic translator can be called upon to help me out with some of these liner notes, but for now the music is here .

Jennifer Grout & Umm Kulthum

A bit of a strange post this week, but bear with me. The young blonde woman above is Jennifer Grout, a 23 year old American who has made it to the finals of 'Arabs Got Talent' despite barely speaking the language. Already a classically trained singer, she fell in love with Arabic music a few years ago after hearing Fairouz and has become a very adept singer and Oud player as the clip proves. Currently living in Morocco to further her musical education, Ms. Grout was encouraged to enter the tryouts for the show and the rest is, as they say, history. There's a good story about her here and as someone who fell in love with Arabic music at about the same age thanks to Fairouz, I couldn't be happier for her- she's done well. In honor of Ms. Grout's performance, here's an excellent Umm Kulthum/Oum Kalsoum 45 for your enjoyment, all 4 sides of it!

Yugomelodii

I'm always willing to gamble on these self-released items, and here's it paying off. An album of well played Macedonian folk, obviously a US recorded and based band, but definitely the real deal. Couple of great zurla moments, some good singers- I'm happy. A bit of idle research however, and this record took on a real character. Our label mastermind, Atanas Kolarovski (that's him above), is quite the story. Born in a Macedonian village in 1926, he grew up in a pretty representive Balkan village community, played music under the guidance of friends and family, joined the army in WW2 at the age of 16, wound up in the Army choir and eventually in a national folk ensemble after the war. In the 70's he moved to Seattle where he's been involved in folk dance ever since- he was honored at a Seattle Folk Festival just last month in fact. Such a great backstory to an odd record found in a thrift store- you can hear it here.

Amar Prem

More of the Bollywood vinyl, and this time a more mellow piece of work. Music is by R.D. Burman but he's staying away from the full-on dance madness and working with a more classical styled sound, helped by Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar on vocals, with one track sung by R.D.'s dad- S.D. Burman. It's lovely stuff, perfect for that post night out wind down or lazy morning start up. Get it here.

Godard Soundtracks Pt. 2

As genius as Godard's films are, the soundtracks are every bit as wonderful. Here's the other LP from this set. Tracks from A Bout De Souffle, Une Femme Est Une Femme and Alphaville amongst others, and featuring some brilliant Michel Legrand pieces and the utterly fantastic Anna Karina on a couple of tracks. Get Nouvelle Vague ici.

Fareed Al Atrash

Spelled 'Fareed' this time, but the same fantastic voice. There's a few classics here, obviously culled from other albums as there's no dates, recording info or even accurate transliteration of song titles! Still, Farid is the man, and the album is here. In other news, the second Wednesay is fast approaching so it's Discostan time for those in the LA area. Come along, it'll be another stormer of a night.

Arpadys- Sirocco

I know next to nothing about these guys except it's some pretty good French Space Disco. Google led me into a world of reviews of old school European discos which was culturally fascinating and distracting, so really all I can tell you is this is suitably gallic and odd, and they like their trancey jams as much as any Moroccan really, except Arpadys favour synths and bass as the means of delivery. Descendez ici.

Rabih Beaini

A bit of a digression here- this a new record and usually I avoid posting such things, but the scarcity of this and the quality of it mean I'm putting up here. (I was lucky enough to score this bit of vinyl on a recent trip to London, and yes, I am showing off.) The album is Albidaya, and it's from Rabih Beaini, a Lebanese born/Berlin resident composer. He works in a pretty experimental vein, has quite the array of analog synths and makes an incredibly good record. There's elements of free jazz, folk and psych rock in here, but melded beautifully. Well worth checking out here.

African Guitars Disc 2

I'm managing to drag this one out a bit, but here's disc 2 from the African Guitars set. As previously mentioned, this is definitely collector scum territory- 200 copies, box made from the wood of Mississippi's former location, slightly dubious pressing quality, but there's some good stuff in here. Disc 2 is electric stuff, but not the usual full on African blues/funk- there's material from Uganda, Kenya, Zaire and Sierra Leone (S.E. Rogie at his best) and it's all here.

On a live sort of note, for LA/SoCal residents, it's Discostan Wednesday again on the 9th of October at Footsies in Cypress Park, and this one should be a stormer- there's going to be live Zurla players! I'll post the flyer as soon as I get one, but please come on by if you're in the neighbourhood, it'll be a fun night.

The Pan Islamic Tradition- Music Of Morocco

Again apologies for a gap in posts- it was more travel which of course means more music to digitize. I'll get better about posting regularly, and here's some good stuff to start with. A 1975 Lyrichord release of some music from the Moroccan Islamic brotherhoods. Side 1 is Gnaoua/Gnawa recordings while Side 2 is less commonly heard J'bala tracks. All of it is seriously good, trancey jams. Get it here.

Omar Khorshid- Rhythms Of The Orient

There are certain artists I like a lot, and as previously mentioned, Omar Khorshid is most definitely one of them. Here's 1974's 'Rhythm Of The Orient' with a classic Rashid Distribution cover and the original release of 'Guitar El Chark'. It's a great record (and a sound file gifted by a friend) and it's here.

Куд Кочо Рацин

Another of my digitizing projects is the stack of Balkan 'folk' 45's that's accumulated, and here's a good one. Macedonians doing 'Folk Dances For The Zurla & Drum'. I'm a huge fan of anything involving reeds, and the Macedonians do it well, from bagpipes to the simple zurla. (A convenient visiting expert was helpful in explaining some of the finer points of the instruments which was quite interesting indeed.) Преземете the tracks here.

Bairaag

Apologies for the lag on this post, it's been busy with a last minute trip and some issues with storage volume. Excuses aside, it's all sorted and we're back on it. A recent project has been the ripping of some Bollywood vinyl, and here's the start of that- 'Bairaag', from 1976. Kalyanji Anadji in charge of the music, Mohammed Rafi, Asha Bhosle, Lata Mangeshka and Mahendra Kapoor on the vocals- you can't go wrong. Better yet, the film stars the very lovely Leena Chandavarkar who's first husband died in an accidental shooting and who's second husband was the much older Kishore Kumar, all of which is fantastically Bollywood. Enjoy the music here.

Discostan 1 Year Anniversary!

Come on down!

A delay....

Sorry friends, storage space issues. It will be fixed by this time next week as soon as a little burst of travel is over. There's good stuff waiting to be uploaded, and the digitization of the Bollywood vinyl has started in earnest, so be prepared. In the meantime, enjoy this. The first minute and a half is a bizarre collection of stills, but then it gets going and does it ever get going......

Turkish Delight

Another one of those things with really interesting music hidden inside a dubious cover. Side one is really more Macedonian gypsy music (Esma Rejepova & Stevo Teodsievski being present) while side 2 features the Dolgru Yol Turkish Ensemble doing exactly what you'd want them to do. Monitor Records had an interesting run there, lots of very good and authentic folkloric style music repackaged into at best cheesy and often slightly lurid covers- an interesting artistic concept for a label, but not too different to several of the current reissue labels do nowadays. Get the gypsy/Ottoman party here.