Care of Washington, D.C.'s most favored (and revered) archivist label, the full UNESCO Collection of Traditional Music will see the material world for the first time since 2005.
Yes, indeed, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings is re-releasing this entire catalog series--in both physical and digital formats.
Beginning in the Spring of 2014, Folkways will put out two albums each week for about one year. With more than 100 titles from some 70 nations, each one was recorded in situ and captures the space like only field recording can.
To give you the best idea of just how mammoth this endeavor will be, have a detailed look at every United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization release here:
As if that weren't enough, the following spate of new releases will join those long out-of-print records:
Japan: Koishimaru Izutsuya: Master of the Kawachi Ondo Epics
Oman: Arabian Weddings
Peru: Andean Music of Life, Work, and Celebration
Portugal: Festas in Minho
Portugal: Music and Dance from Madeira
Romania: Festive Music from the Maramureş Region
South India: Ranganayaki Rajagopalan--Continuity in the Karaikudi Vīṇā Style
Uzbekistan: Musical Traditions of the Karakalpaks
Venezuela: Afro-Venezuelan Music, Volumes I and II
"The UNESCO Collection of Traditional Music stands as one of the earliest achievements of UNESCO's program for safeguarding and revitalizing intangible cultural heritage," the label says. "The republishing of this collection marks renewed commitment to making this unique collection of diverse musical expressions accessible to the public."
Can't wait until Spring? Feel free to preview the collection with the Anthology of Indian Classical Music: A Tribute to Alain Daniélou featuring Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar's father alongside the incredible Ali Akbar Khan (second only to that greater guru of Vedic music, Pandit Pran Nath).
While the more commercial aspects of the music industry at-large seem to falter, caving to the immediacy of exchange over the internet, Smithsonian Folkways remains poised to seque, almost seamlessly, into the digital age.
One precious Ecuadorian flute at a time...
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