In 1952, Harry Smith compiled and released Anthology Of American Folk Music, made up of 84 American folk, blues, and country music songs. Now, acclaimed Portland fingerstyle guitarist Marisa Anderson is announcing The Anthology Of UnAmerican Folk Music, a project inspired by Smith's private record collection, which she had the chance to explore.
The Anthology Of UnAmerican Folk Music concentrates on music from places that the US has been in conflict with since 1970, such as Southeast Asia, the USSR, and the Arabic and Islamic regions of the world. Today's preview is "Taqsim For Guitar," and it's based on a 1955 recording called "Taqsim For Violin" from The Syrian Maqams, which was recorded by Deben Bhattacharya with no performer credited. Anderson explains:
Deben Bhattacharya was a prolific traveler and field recordist. He migrated from Varanasi to Europe when he was a young man in the early 1940s, first living in London and eventually splitting his time between Paris and Calcutta. In 2018, Sublime Frequencies put out a 4 CD compilation of his field recordings along with a book of photos and text that is highly worth digging into.
I transcribed this one as best I could over the course of many weeks, and then built an arrangement for guitar that follows the original piece as closely as possible given the limitations and conditions of playing a fretted instrument. I try to allude to the microtonal nature of the source material through string bending in a couple of key moments in the piece. A taqsim is an improvised piece of music preceding a more formal piece. My arrangement is not a true taqsim as it closely follows the recorded piece and thus is not improvised.
A portion of the record's proceeds will go to Tamizdat, a non-profit organization that facilitates, defends, and advocates for global artist mobility and cultural exchange. Hear "Taqsim For Guitar" below.
The Anthology Of UnAmerican Folk Music is out 5/22 via Thrill Jocket. Pre-order it here.
