OUT NOW: I REMEMBER SYRIA Digital Reissue Charity Release SF009DI

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES COMMUNIQUÈ

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES PO BOX 17971 SEATTLE WA 98127 USA

http://www.sublimefrequencies.com

I REMEMBER SYRIA Digital Reissue Charity Release SF009DI

 

Available Now...

Now is the time to purchase "I Remember Syria" for download. All proceeds will be donated to the Syrian Red Crescent, so please buy a copy or two, and tell people. Find it here at Boomkat (linked below) or on iTunes, Amazon, and anywhere else you purchase digital media. This edition comes with an expanded downloadable booklet.

The most important thing about this reissue is that all proceeds from the sale of this release will be donated to a charity that assists Syrians in need. And they are in need.

Syria doesn’t sound like it did on “I Remember Syria” anymore, and it doesn’t look like the photographs in the expanded booklet. As you may already know, Syria is suffering in the midst of unthinkable turmoil, attack and destruction. As a wide-scale humanitarian disaster continues to unfold, Syrians both within the country and in refugee camps beyond its borders are in need of immediate assistance.

“I Remember Syria” was assembled as a love letter to the country I grew to know as one of most civilized places on Earth. It contains recordings made and collected during my first travels to Syria between 1997 and 2000. Across the span of 14 years, I would travel there as frequently as possible. When initially released on Sublime Frequencies as a double-CD in 2004, the aim was to showcase and humanize a land and its people that had been politically and culturally exiled by the west for decades. Hopefully, these recordings can serve again as a testament to the beauty and unity of Syria, and the grace, hospitality and integrity of its people.

– Mark Gergis – March, 2013

“I Remember Syria” (SF009DI)
Sublime Frequencies is proud to present this digital reissue of I Remember Syria: an assemblage of field recordings, interviews, radio broadcasts and music, from one of the least-known quarters of the Arab world. Before the west associated Syria with its current crisis, it had politically and culturally isolated the country for decades – leaving little known of its contemporary peoples, or its rich heritage of art, music and culture.

Originally released as a 2-CD set in 2004, this one of a kind audio document was recorded and surgically assembled by Mark Gergis from recordings he made in Syria between 1997 and 2000. The results offer a multi-faceted glimpse into the country, as it was at the cusp of the 21st century.

Disc one features sounds from the ancient capital city of Damascus – including vivid street soundscapes, interviews, spontaneous live music, sounds captured inside the world-renowned Ummayad Mosque, and fragments of radio and television broadcasts, as well as exploring the mystery of a legendary underground city called “Kazib”.

Disc two takes us out to “Greater Syria”, capturing live musicians, political opinions of the day, radio excerpts and sketches, songs from cassette releases found around the country, and other audio anomalies. The closing track showcases the haunting sounds of wood against wood produced by the Norias – the giant irrigation waterwheels that have churned in the Orontes River, in the city of Hama, for centuries.

All proceeds from the sale of this release will be donated to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (IFRC) to support urgent humanitarian aid work during the ongoing crisis in Syria.

Purchase via Boomkat:
http://boomkat.com/downloads/704653-mark-gergis-i-remember-syria

Purchase via Emusic:
http://www.emusic.com/music-news/review/album/mark-gergis-i-remember-syria/

Purchase via Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/I-Remember-Syria/dp/B00CDALUMC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1366659148&sr=8-2&keywords=i+remember+syria

Red Crescent Home page:
http://www.ifrc.org/en/what-we-do/where-we-work/middle-east-and-north-africa/syrian-arab-red-crescent/

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES is a collective of explorers dedicated to acquiring and exposing obscure sights and sounds from modern and traditional urban and rural frontiers via film and video, field recordings, radio and short wave transmissions, international folk and pop music, sound anomalies, and other forms of human and natural expression not documented sufficiently through all channels of academic research, the modern recording industry, media, or corporate foundations. SUBLIME FREQUENCIES is focused on an aesthetic of extra-geography and soulful experience inspired by music and culture, world travel, research, and the pioneering recording labels of the past including OCORA, SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS, ETHNIC FOLKWAYS, LYRICHORD, NONESUCH EXPLORER, MUSICAPHONE, BARONREITER, UNESCO, PLAYASOUND, MUSICAL ATLAS, CHANT DU MONDE, B.A.M., TANGENT, and TOPIC.

NEW RELEASE: The Pierced Heart and the Machete DVD SF080

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES COMMUNIQUÈ

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES PO BOX 17971 SEATTLE WA 98127 USA

http://www.sublimefrequencies.com

The Pierced Heart and the Machete 

DVD SF080

The Pierced Heart & The Machete is a vivid, unflinching exploration of two annual Vodou pilgrimages in Haiti. The first is for Èzili Danto, goddess of love, art and passion; worshipers from all over the world descend on the southwestern town of Ville-Bonheur to bathe in the sacred waterfall where Dantò resides. The second pilgrimage is for Dantòs' husband Ogoun, god of war, iron and healing. It takes place at the end of July in the northern town of Plaine du Nord, where practitioners bathe in a mud pool and make flamboyant sacrifices.
This beautifully shot film offers disorienting yet illuminating glimpses of the contradictory and complementary aspects of these two lwa, the electrifying rites that honor them, and the intense music that accompanies these ecstatic and bloody ceremonies. As in her previous film for Sublime Frequencies, Staring Into the Sun, Olivia Wyatt’s vision is always sharp, unerring and unobtrusive.

70 minutes/Color; digipack; all-region DVD; NTSC format. Limited one-time edition of 1000 copies.

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES is a collective of explorers dedicated to acquiring and exposing obscure sights and sounds from modern and traditional urban and rural frontiers via film and video, field recordings, radio and short wave transmissions, international folk and pop music, sound anomalies, and other forms of human and natural expression not documented sufficiently through all channels of academic research, the modern recording industry, media, or corporate foundations. SUBLIME FREQUENCIES is focused on an aesthetic of extra-geography and soulful experience inspired by music and culture, world travel, research, and the pioneering recording labels of the past including OCORA, SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS, ETHNIC FOLKWAYS, LYRICHORD, NONESUCH EXPLORER, MUSICAPHONE, BARONREITER, UNESCO, PLAYASOUND, MUSICAL ATLAS, CHANT DU MONDE, B.A.M., TANGENT, and TOPIC. 

HISHAM MAYET FILM SCREENING SPRING TOUR

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES COMMUNIQUÈ

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES PO BOX 17971 SEATTLE WA 98127 USA

http://www.sublimefrequencies.com

Sublime Frequencies film tour with Hisham Mayet

Hisham Mayet is a founding member of the Sublime Frequencies Collective. His work with the label has been prolific and inspired. His many discoveries include introducing the legendary guitar bands from the Sahara; Group Doueh, Group Inerane, and Group Bombino. His many films for the label have been redefining the nature of ethnographic film and they continue to provoke, amaze and inspire.

Vodoun Gods on the Slave Coast
A Film By Hisham Mayet
Sublime Frequencies
50 minutes/2012

Hisham Mayet's exploration of West African possession ceremonies continues in Benin. Benin is the cradle and birthplace of Voodoo.  Formally known as the Slave Coast as, most of the slave industry was exported from its shores.    Voodoo worship is integral to the every day lives of the people of Benin.  This film, shot in 2010 during the country's rich Vodoun celebrations, is an impressionistic lens on the myriad ceremonies that this rich and diverse culture has to offer.   Showcasing intimate observations of a variety of Voodoo ceremonies: The cult of Sakpata (god of Pestilence and healing),   Egoun dramas shrouded in magisterial costumes and the Secret Police of the Zangbeto night watchmen, among other highlights.  This will be the premiere screening of this visual feast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ywahsfokAE

The Divine River: Ceremonial Pageantry In The Sahel
A Film By Hisham Mayet
47 minutes/2012

Sublime Frequencies announces a new film by Hisham Mayet: The Divine River: Ceremonial Pageantry in the Sahel. Condensed from 40 hours of footage shot between 2007 and 2012, The Divine River is an exhilarating, hallucinatory, harrowing record of music, ritual, life and landscape along the Niger River—which the Tuareg call Egerew n-Igerewen, or "River of Rivers"— as it winds through Mali and the Republic of Niger.

Traversing 300 miles of this transitional zone between the Sahara and the Savanna, The Divine River is not a linear record of a journey so much as a phantasmagoria of visual associations that create their own emotional topography and chronology, always accompanied by music that blurs the lines between sacred and secular, past and present.

Highlights include intimate views of ecstatic dance in the painted houses of the island-dwelling Wogo; the seductive courtship rites and trance vocals of young Wodaabe men; a mesmeric Tuareg and Zarma duet for guitar and molo; Hausa griots enchanting with comsaa strings; Zarma spirit possession ceremonies; and heart-stopping footage of the Dogon mask ritual atop the Bandiagara Escarpment in the village of Endele.

True to Sublime Frequencies' "aesthetic of extra-geography and soulful experience," The Divine River refuses hasty contextualizations and rote interpretations that, far from "explaining" cultural displays, deaden viewers to the presence of mystery. Avoiding the temptation to reduce ritual to a simple matter of ends and means, its silence respects the chasm that separates concepts like "possession" from their lived reality. Rejecting the distractions of an imaginary understanding in favor of simple attention and humility, it traces the portal to deeper knowledge counseled in a centuries-old Sufi prayer: "O Lord, increase my bewilderment."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWj3xnl87PQ

TOURDATES AND VENUES

Deep Hearts, screening Monday, March 11

Staring into the Sun, screening Monday, March 11

Folk Music of the Sahara: Among the Tuareg of Libya, screening Monday, March 18

March on three consecutive Mondays, Mar 4, 11 & 18

BAM Brooklyn Academy of Music
BAM cinématek presents Saharan Frequencies, a 
seven-film exploration of the sounds of North Africa 


In-person appearances by acclaimed ethnographer Robert 
Gardner, Sublime Frequencies co-founder Hisham Mayet with
Olivia Wyatt, and music critic Byron Coley.

Link here to official BAM event site

BAM Blog link:
http://bam150years.blogspot.com/2013/03/saharan-frequencies.html#more

Thursday March 7th:
Sarasota Springs NY
Spring Street Gallery
110 Spring Street
Saratoga Springs, New York

http://www.springstreetgallerysaratoga.org/hisham-mayet

Friday March 8th:
Brattleboro VT
Luminz Studio
74 Cotton Mill Hill, #346, 3rd Floor
Brattleboro, Vermont 05301
(802) 258-7378

http://luminzstudio.com/

Saturday March 9th
Willimantic, CT
Willimantic Records
744 Main Street
Willimantic, CT 06226 USA
* with ROBERT JAZ DJing from the Sublime Frequencies' vault

http://willimanticrecords.blogspot.com/

Sunday March 10:
Providence RI
Fête
103 Dike Street
Providence, RI 02909
* with ROBERT JAZ DJing from the Sublime Frequencies' vault

Fete event link

Tuesday March 12:
Baltimore MD
Floristree Space
405 W Franklin St 6th Floor  

Wednesday March 13th:
Richmond VA
Gallery 5
200 W. Marshall St.
Richmond, VA 23220
(804) 644-0005

http://gallery5arts.org

Thursday March 14th:
Asheville NC
The Apothecary
39 S. Market St. #B, Asheville NC 28801
(919) 793-5441/(919) 609-3944

Email	ashevilleapothecary@gmail.com

Friday March 15th:
Washington D.C.
Local 16
1602 U Street NW Washington, DC 20009
Email jim@tropicaliadc.com

http://localsixteen.com/

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES is a collective of explorers dedicated to acquiring and exposing obscure sights and sounds from modern and traditional urban and rural frontiers via film and video, field recordings, radio and short wave transmissions, international folk and pop music, sound anomalies, and other forms of human and natural expression not documented sufficiently through all channels of academic research, the modern recording industry, media, or corporate foundations. SUBLIME FREQUENCIES is focused on an aesthetic of extra-geography and soulful experience inspired by music and culture, world travel, research, and the pioneering recording labels of the past including OCORA, SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS, ETHNIC FOLKWAYS, LYRICHORD, NONESUCH EXPLORER, MUSICAPHONE, BARONREITER, UNESCO, PLAYASOUND, MUSICAL ATLAS, CHANT DU MONDE, B.A.M., TANGENT, and TOPIC. SUBLIME FREQUENCIES PO BOX 17971 SEATTLE WA 98127 USA

Hisham Mayet on Africa-O-Ye! Radio Show - Portland

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES COMMUNIQUÈ

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES PO BOX 17971 SEATTLE WA 98127 USA

http://www.sublimefrequencies.com

Program: 

 Africa-O-Ye!

Air date: 

 Thu, 02/07/2013 - 2:00pm - 4:00pm

Short Description: 

 Guest DJ Hisham Mayet, hosted by Dr. Zomb

This week's host Dr. Zomb is pleased to welcome back Hisham Mayet to the show.  Hisham is one of the folks behind the great record label Sublime Frequencies and is responsible for tracking down and recording some very cool music in various regions in Africa and getting it out to the listening public on both cd and gorgeous lp releases.  He'll be bringing in material that he has been listening to and researching lately and sharing it with us all so don't touch that dial!

Link here:

http://kboo.fm/node/53647


SUBLIME FREQUENCIES is a collective of explorers dedicated to acquiring and exposing obscure sights and sounds from modern and traditional urban and rural frontiers via film and video, field recordings, radio and short wave transmissions, international folk and pop music, sound anomalies, and other forms of human and natural expression not documented sufficiently through all channels of academic research, the modern recording industry, media, or corporate foundations. SUBLIME FREQUENCIES is focused on an aesthetic of extra-geography and soulful experience inspired by music and culture, world travel, research, and the pioneering recording labels of the past including OCORA, SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS, ETHNIC FOLKWAYS, LYRICHORD, NONESUCH EXPLORER, MUSICAPHONE, BARONREITER, UNESCO, PLAYASOUND, MUSICAL ATLAS, CHANT DU MONDE, B.A.M., TANGENT, and TOPIC. SUBLIME FREQUENCIES PO BOX 17971 SEATTLE WA 98127 USA

OLIVIA OWENS WYATT: 2 LA Events - LA Film Forum & Cinefamily

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES COMMUNIQUÈ

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES PO BOX 17971 SEATTLE WA 98127 USA

http://www.sublimefrequencies.com

Dear LA folks I am heading back to the west coast and would love to see you all or meet your friends! There are two really fun events happening. 

Details below...

Love 

O

LA FILM FORUM Presents: Jean Rouch's HORENDI 

+ panel discussion with Olivia Wyatt (Sublime Frequencies), Nancy Lutkehas & Michael Renov

Sunday, January 27th

7:30 pm

@ The Spielberg Theater at the Egyptian

6712 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA

Jean Rouch is one of my absolute favorite filmmakers and HORENDI (1972) is an analytic essay about the relationship between dance and music at the center of a possession ceremony (certain sequences are made in synchronous slow-motion sound). Two women possessed by Kirey, a lightning divinity, are present during the seven days of initiation.

----------------------------------------------------

CINEFAMILY & CINESPIA SALON Present: The films of Olivia Wyatt w/ THE PIERCED HEART & THE MACHETE, VIBRAQUATIC, STARING INTO THE SUN 

Polaroids and video portraits + Q&A

Thursday, January 31st

7:30 pm

@ Cinefamily

611 N Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles 90036

$12 Buy Tickets

I am really excited about this event. We will screen The Pierced Heart & The Machete, shorts from Vibraquatic and excerpts of Staring into the Sun, plus Staring Polaroid prints will be on display. There will also be a little after party at Cinefamily with several DJs.

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES is a collective of explorers dedicated to acquiring and exposing obscure sights and sounds from modern and traditional urban and rural frontiers via film and video, field recordings, radio and short wave transmissions, international folk and pop music, sound anomalies, and other forms of human and natural expression not documented sufficiently through all channels of academic research, the modern recording industry, media, or corporate foundations. SUBLIME FREQUENCIES is focused on an aesthetic of extra-geography and soulful experience inspired by music and culture, world travel, research, and the pioneering recording labels of the past including OCORA, SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS, ETHNIC FOLKWAYS, LYRICHORD, NONESUCH EXPLORER, MUSICAPHONE, BARONREITER, UNESCO, PLAYASOUND, MUSICAL ATLAS, CHANT DU MONDE, B.A.M., TANGENT, and TOPIC. SUBLIME FREQUENCIES PO BOX 17971 SEATTLE WA 98127 USA

3 NEW SUBLIME FEQUENCIES RELEASES - OUT NOW

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES COMMUNIQUÈ

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES PO BOX 17971 SEATTLE WA 98127 USA

http://www.sublimefrequencies.com

Order from Forced Exposure http://beta.forcedexposure.com/Home.html

Pop Yeh Yeh: Psychedelic Rock from Singapore and Malaysia 1964-1970 CD SF079

Until now, for some unknown reason, the psychedelic rock movement in Singapore and Malaysia, aka Pop Yeh Yeh, has never been given the worldwide attention it deserves. This compilation- Pop Yeh Yeh – Psychedelic Rock from Singapore and Malaysia – 1964-1970 – Vol. 1 - is the first of its kind to focus solely on the Malayrock groups of this region.

The Pop Yeh Yeh era, which took place roughly between the years of 1964 to 1970, coincided with the rapid modernization happening at the time in Singapore and Malaysia. (Sublime Frequencies has already released many incredible compilations from neighboring Indonesia, so it’s about time that the Malaysian groups got some attention!) Pop Yeh Yeh artists instinctively cross-pollinated electric sounds of the West with Malay melodies, and added their own local poetic voice to the lyrics they wrote – sung in Malay (and sometimes Bawean). The Pop Yeh Yeh musicians started out playing in styles inspired by Western groups like the Beatles and Cliff Richard, but they eventually succeeded in creating a sound all their own – a sound that is not only accessible to the Western ear, but also retains an undeniable Malay personality.

Nearly eight years in the making, this compilation was exhaustively researched and compiled by Carl Hamm and features 26 classic tracks of the very best bands and singers from Singapore and Malaysia’s Pop Yeh Yeh era, including M. Osman, Orkes Nirwana, Adnan Othman, A. Halim, Roziah Latiff and the Jayhawkers, J. Sham, Hasnah Haron, Zaleha Hamid, and many more. This CD edition comes in a tri-fold digipak with gorgeous artwork, two 40 page booklets with insanely extensive liner notes including band/artist bios, an overview of the era, translated lyrics, and plenty of rare photos taken from vintage magazines, album covers, and the artists’ own personal collections.

Samples: http://beta.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/SF.079CD.html

Scattered Melodies: Korean Kayagum Sanjo LP SF077

[Sublime Frequencies releases their first 78rpm compilations, and true to form these are sounds rarely heard by contemporary Western ears. These 2 albums (SF077/SF078) are compiled by Robert Millis, a long time Sublime Frequencies contributor and a founding member of Climax Golden Twins, He is the author of Victrola Favorites: Artifacts from Bygone Days (Dust-to-Digital 2008), a book of historic early recording documentation, ephemera and music drawn from Millis' 78rpm collection. In 2011, he produced and helped design …i listen to the wind that obliterates my traces (Dust-to-Digital), a similar book drawn from the collection of artist Steve Roden. In addition to composition, sound art practice and design, he has filmed and produced experimental documentaries on Asian music: Phi Ta Khon: Ghosts of Isan and This World is Unreal like a Snake in a Rope (both for Sublime Frequencies DVD release) and is an obsessive collector of 78rpm music records and ephemera.]

Scattered Melodies (SF077) is a compilation of Korean Kayagum Sanjo Music. Sanjo, meaning "scattered melodies," is a form of stylized string improvisation developed in the 1890s originally for the Korean kayagum, a smaller distant cousin of the Japanese koto. Stark and haunting, falling in the gaps between folk and classical music, kayagum sanjo employs a gradually increasing tempo, focused improvisation (the “scattering of melodies”), elastic rhythms, and intense snaps and vibrato that seem to power through the hazy abstractions of the 78rpm recording technology (these are old, exceedingly rare records that have survived nearly insurmountable odds: invasion, occupation, war, division.) Presented here are a few of the masters of sanjo as it originally emerged in the early part of the 20th century on 78rpm recordings from 1925 to the early 1950s. This limited edition LP comes enclosed in a beautiful tip-on jacket with two-sided insert featuring extended liner notes by compiler Robert Millis.

Samples: http://beta.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/SF.077LP.html

The Crying Princess:78 rpm Records From Burma LP SF078

[Sublime Frequencies releases their first 78rpm compilations, and true to form these are sounds rarely heard by contemporary Western ears. These 2 albums (SF077/SF078) are compiled by Robert Millis, a long time Sublime Frequencies contributor and a founding member of Climax Golden Twins, He is the author of Victrola Favorites: Artifacts from Bygone Days (Dust-to-Digital 2008), a book of historic early recording documentation, ephemera and music drawn from Millis' 78rpm collection. In 2011, he produced and helped design …i listen to the wind that obliterates my traces (Dust-to-Digital), a similar book drawn from the collection of artist Steve Roden. In addition to composition, sound art practice and design, he has filmed and produced experimental documentaries on Asian music: Phi Ta Khon: Ghosts of Isan and This World is Unreal like a Snake in a Rope (both for Sublime Frequencies DVD release) and is an obsessive collector of 78rpm music records and ephemera.]

The Crying Princess (SF078) compiles rare Burmese 78rpm records gathered by Robert Millis and Sublime Frequencies co-founder Alan Bishop during various trips to Burma (Myanmar) and continues the tradition of amazing music from this Southeast Asian nation released by SF (Princess Nicotine, Guitars From the Golden Triangle, Music of Nat Pwe). Spanning the years 1909 to 1960 these unique and ridiculously rare records feature early sides by Po Sein (one of the giants of early Burmese music and theater), vocal and harp music from 1929, "modern songs with electric guitar", and unique Burmese pop songs with piano, all from 78rpm sources. This limited edition LP comes enclosed in a beautiful tip-on jacket with two-sided insert featuring liner notes by compiler Robert Millis.

Samples: http://beta.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/SF.078LP.html

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES is a collective of explorers dedicated to acquiring and exposing obscure sights and sounds from modern and traditional urban and rural frontiers via film and video, field recordings, radio and short wave transmissions, international folk and pop music, sound anomalies, and other forms of human and natural expression not documented sufficiently through all channels of academic research, the modern recording industry, media, or corporate foundations. SUBLIME FREQUENCIES is focused on an aesthetic of extra-geography and soulful experience inspired by music and culture, world travel, research, and the pioneering recording labels of the past including OCORA, SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS, ETHNIC FOLKWAYS, LYRICHORD, NONESUCH EXPLORER, MUSICAPHONE, BARONREITER, UNESCO, PLAYASOUND, MUSICAL ATLAS, CHANT DU MONDE, B.A.M., TANGENT, and TOPIC. SUBLIME FREQUENCIES PO BOX 17971 SEATTLE WA 98127 USA