Ancestral Voices by David Gilden

Ancestral Voices - David Gilden

In creating this album Gilden interwove acoustic sounds - kora tracks, and on one song, the mbira, a thumb piano from Zimbabwe with midi tracks. The following year, Gilden took the tapes to Rawlston studio in Brooklyn, New York, and added more keyboard parts and bass lines. Bassist Jimmy Earl filled out the sound with his eloquent frettless work on a number of tracks.

In 1990 Gilden recorded a new solo kora track, reflecting the evolution of his playing following an extended visit to the Gambia. He also added new colors to the existing tracks. New York studio percussionist Joey Cradello played bells, shakers, congas and talking drum. Internationally know bansuri bamboo flutist, Steve Gorn added a Indian Jazz flourish. John Burrell - known nationally to folk fans as Mr. Bones - used a pair of cow bones to add percolating rhythms to Gilden's kora rendition of an Irish jig. Finally, Ray Spiegel, a veteran to Mickey Hart's Diga Rhythm Band, played table and shaker on a track.

Ancestral Voices was originally issued on cassette in the late 80s and the CD version with additional tracks and remixes was released in 1990. The music has been out of circulation for twenty years, but still sounds fresh and timeless. The new 2010 reissue has been remastered by Foothill Digital using Sonic Solutions. Some older kora tracks have received Sonic's 'No Noise' restoration to remove low level clicks and other noises.

Magnatune selections - each for a limited time

My intention is to use the embedding link that Magnatune provides so that visitors to this blog can hear the very fine music I've come across. Assuming there's a practical limit to the size of this list of choices, my solution will be to create a dvd for each of the selections and have that on reserve in my personal archive. There is no financial motive, just really good music to share. Visitors can google magnatune and find more treasures there.