Nahawa Doumbia - Vol. 2 - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Raphaela Gromes has long been celebrated for her highly virtuoso, brilliant and passionately expressive cello playing. What also distinguishes this exceptional musician is her enjoyment of the musical treasure hunt. With her last Sony Classical , she delighted audiences with the world premiere recording of the original version of the cello sonata by Richard Strauss. On her new album, Gromes surprises again with a world premiere recording of the Cello Concerto by Julius Klengel, who was already acclaimed as a new wonder cellist in his early years throughout Europe. The previously unpublished manuscript of this concerto has now been specially arranged for Gromes which she recorded together with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin conducted by Nicholas Carter. Raphaela's album also features the famous cello concerto by Robert Schumann, a Romance for cello and orchestra by Richard Strauss and duo pieces by Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann and Brahms. For the duo pieces, Raphaela is accompanied by her long-time piano partner Julian Riem. Robert Schumann's InchWidmungInch is taken from the song cycle InchMyrthenInch. The InchRomanceInch by Clara Schumann is originally the middle movement of her first piano concerto. And Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 5 is arranged by the famous cellist Alfredo Piatti

Neal & Leandra - Hearts & Hammers [COMPACT DISCS] date 01/31/1994

Nahawa Doumbia's new album Kanawa concisely captures this current moment in Malian history. The singer, whose storied career spans more than four decades, reflects on the immigration crisis from the Malian perspective in the title of her new album Kanawa. Across eight songs recorded in Bamako with a band including traditional and modern instruments, Doumbia merges her early work that relied on a spare expression of her trademark didadi rhythm with the bombastic range of contemporary Malian pop. The beautifully complex musical accompaniment that results is courtesy of the large ensemble she pulled together with producer and arranger (and day one collaborator) N'gou Bagayoko. The band features two highly expressive Malian string instruments, the ngoni and the slightly smaller kamalé ngoni, as well as a variety of percussion, drum programming, karignan (a metal scraper) and acoustic and electric guitars. Doumbia's daughter, a celebrated singer with her own group and busy concert schedule, Doussou Bagayoko sings on InchAdjorobena,Inch a song about patience, tolerance and living in peace. Doumbia weaves together a roadmap of her psyche when it comes to the good and bad life has to offer. She talks about marriage and women leaving home to join another through the metaphor of a tree in the garden; she includes gunshot samples in the song InchFoliwilenInch to honor the bravery of hunters, soldiers and other courageous people; she uses a bird in InchDjougohInch to talk about lazy people; and, in InchNdiagnekoInch she advises people to ignore critics, just do you. Mali has gone through an intense period of regional strife and terrorist incidents over the last ten years and Doumbia roots the album in tragic local concerns with deep global implications. InchThe meaning of Kanawa is so simple. We see our children trying to cross the ocean all the time. I said that many of our chil