New Music: NaraBara, Bagedai, Mekit Dolan Muqam Group

NaraBara – Dab Hi

After years of Mongolian metal bands evoking the grasslands with riotous rock and roll breakdowns, it’s refreshing to hear a band take the music of their ancestors in another direction. NaraBara – the music collective led by prolific producer and singer Yider, finds refuge in the complex harmonies and intricate rhythms of jazz – injecting new life into the ‘mystical storytelling and atmospheric qualities of Mongolian folk’. Their latest EP, may not have the novelty of the band’s trailblazing debut Hamt Zamin Hümüs, but it proves there’s plenty more to discover in its merging of genres and firmly puts NaraBara on the map. 

多年以来蒙古金属乐队总以狂暴的摇滚乐段落唤起人们对草原的感情，看到一支乐队将他们祖先的音乐带到一个新方向总是让人耳目一新。NaraBara 是由多产的制作人、歌手伊德尔领导的音乐团体，他们在爵士乐复杂的和声与节奏中找到了慰藉，为“蒙古民谣中的神秘故事和浩瀚宇宙”注入了新的活力。乐队的最新 EP 可能没有首张专辑 Hamt Zamin Hümüs 那么革新，但证明了在流派融合中还有很多值得探索的地方，并坚定地将 NaraBarra 推向更大的舞台。

https://narabara.bandcamp.com/album/dab-hi

https://music.163.com/#/album?id=182579755

Bagedai 巴格岱乐团 – 巴格岱

Hailing from the border region between southwest China and northeast Myanmar, Bagedai are one of the many world music group representing and modernizing their ancestral music. Part of the Wa ethnic group – the name stems from the homeland where all Wa people first strived. There’s a rustic beauty to the music the expansive troupe creates on their debut, released with Kunming-based label Sea of Wood – one that never dips into gimmick or appropriation. So while electric guitars accompany its melodies, and elements of reggae strive for control (a touchstone of lots of Yunnan-based world music), the band never loses touch with its roots or its elementary celebration of music and its ties to the Wa community. 

来自中国西南部和缅甸东北部边境地区的“巴格岱乐团 ”，是诸多代表并现代化他们祖先音乐的世界音乐团体一员。作为佤族的一员——他们的名字源于佤族先民最初奋斗的故乡。巴格岱乐团的首张专辑由昆明的唱片公司淼木唱片发行（他们从不搞噱头也不做挪用之事）因此，尽管电吉他伴随着旋律，雷鬼音乐的元素也在努力控制（这是许多云南世界音乐的试金石），但乐队从未失去自己的根，也从未失去对音乐的基本赞美以及与佤族社区的联系。

https://music.163.com/#/album?id=181910534

Mekit Dolan Muqam Group 麦盖提刀郎木卡姆乐队 – Bayawan 巴亚宛

A distinctive form of folk music and one of the most important cultural heritages of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, Muqam is a form of large-scale suites that include songs, dances, and instrumental sections, prominently featuring improvisation. On the latest release from Old Heaven Books, the Mekit Dolan Muqam Group pays tribute to what’s often considered as ‘the wildest, if not the uncanniest tradition’ of Muqam. Recorded over a studio session at the 7th Tomorrow Festival in Shenzhen last year, Bayawan is a beautifully realized achievement – a transformative listening experience – ritualistic, welcoming, beguiling, haunting – familiar yet foreign at the same time. 

作为一种独具特色的民间音乐形式，也是维吾尔族最重要的音乐文化遗产， “木卡姆音乐”是一种集歌、舞、乐于一体，以即兴演出为特色的大型套曲。在旧天堂书店的最新发行中，麦盖提刀郎木卡姆乐队向通常被认为“最为野性、最为独特的一支”的木卡姆致敬。在去年深圳的第七届“明天音乐节”之际，录制于录音室现场，《巴亚宛》是一个精美绝伦的成就——变革般的聆听体验：充满仪式、热情似火、萦绕心头，既让人感觉熟悉又感到陌生。

https://oldheavenbooks.bandcamp.com/album/mekit-dolan-muqam-group-bayawan