Various Artists - The World Is But a Place of Survival: Begena Songs from Ethiopia

Yet another act of astonishing act of ethnographic exploration from Death Is Not the End with this licensing of Stéphanie Weisser's 21st century recordings of the begena, an Ethopian instrument with long-standing historial and religuous import. Described as a ten-stringed lyre, on these recordings the begena generates a sound that the western ear might more openly connect with the avant garde - forgive the obvious comparison, but it's hard to avoid the similarities with Arthur Russell's cello manipulations on World of Echo - and to a certain degree, the instrument possessed a similar role in Ethiopian culture, a carefully crafted object considered the privilege of kings and nobles. The label gives little information regarding the provenance of these particular recordings, though they certainly sound as if they were made in the field rather than any storied institution, which does raise interesting questions concerning the meaning of the instrument and what its use communicates for both player and listener. Regardless, the performances themselves are incredible, hypnotic and of unusual reverence, replete with spirited but controlled vocal performances that contrinbute to a dream-like ethereality. Though using a different instrument, they elicit an effect comparable to the trance-inducing playing of Maalem Mahmoud Guinia and Hamid El Gnawi, as well as blues musicans like Junior Kimbrough and, with almost uncanny timing, the new solo record by Christer Botheń (out today HERE). There's been a few compilations of similar nature before - namely the Ethiopiques collection centering on Alemu Aga (who also features twice here) - but the wide variety of artists featured here feels something close to representative. And whether you're new to the sound or not, The World Is But a Place of Survival is undoubtedly revelatory. 
 
FFO: Arthur Russell, Maalem Mahmoud Guinia, Hamid El Gnawi, Christer Botheń