New Reviews: February 14, 2003
Reviews by Matthew J. Forss
South African Choral: Songs Of The Alexandra Youth Choir
Alexandra Youth Choir
Naxos World
Hailing from South Africa, the Alexandra Youth Choir performs
vocal music sung in English, Xhosa, Zulu and Sotho. Guitar, piano,
saxophone, bass, drums and percussion accompany the traditional
vocal tunes. Lovers of South African choral music should rejoice
for the release of a truly brilliant recording.
Prim
Jim Sande
Independent Release
American musician and producer Jim Sande, brings us incredible
indefinable music on his latest release, Prim. Prim draws upon
several musical styles including, avant-garde, experimental,
atmospheric, electronic, jazz, classical and trip-hop. Though
mostly an instrumental effort, Jim does include a few low,
restrained vocals on a few of the tracks. However, Prim is a
shining piece of musical experimentation for any discriminating
music lover.
Intimo
Yolanda Aranda & Enrique Coria
Acoustic Disc
Based in California, USA, Yoland Aranda and Enrique Coria
celebrate their Mexican and Argentinian backgrounds with
voice and guitar. Each track features incredible vocal
abilities from Yolanda and superb guitar work from Enrique.
A variety of Latin American and South American styles including
ranchera, pesillo, bolero, huapango, chacarera, marinera and zamba
are performed by the duo. Their incredible knowledge of Mexican and
Argentinian music makes Intimo an enjoyable and authentic recording
of traditional Latin music.
Matthew J. Forss is currently a full-time student at Lakeland College-Sheboygan,
Wisconsin. He is majoring in Biology and German Language/Culture. Since 1998,
he has collected numerous musical instruments and CDs from around the world.
Also in 1998, he wrote a paper on Mongolian Ethnomusicology, titled:
How Does Music Play An Important Role In The Life And Culture Of Mongolia?
Currently, he has collected over 100 CDs that represent dozens of different
countries. His general interests include ethnomusicology journalism and
researching the traditional/contemporary ethnic music of various cultures
from around the world. His specific, geographic areas of study include the
traditional and popular music from Central Eurasia (especially Mongolia, Uzbekistan,
Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.) In November of 2000, he accepted the position of
writing world music CD reviews for this site.
