Category: Ethnic Music
Local music
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Song of the Birds
In addition to rescuing Bach’s unaccompanied cello suites, Pablo Casals is also well-remembered for bringing Song of the Birds to international fame. After his exile following the Spanish Civil War, he performed Song of the Birds at each of his concerts as a protest against Franco’s fascist regime. In time, this song came to symbolize the plight of refugees around the world.
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Barokan Farewell
You’ve heard Ashokan Farewell even if you don’t think you know it. You’ve heard it in a TV show, a film, or a documentary about the Civil War. Chances are, if someone played you the first bar, you could hum the rest. What if one were to write a somewhat Baroque-sounding variation of Ashokan Farewell, as a self-accompanied cello music?
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Afghan Song Now Banned
Cellist and conductor Dan Allcott rearranged a popular Afghan song, “Bia ke borem ba Mazar”, previously performed by his friend William Harvey on the violin, for the cello, self-accompanied. The title of the song means: “Let’s go to the lover city of Mazar-e-Sharif”. When played unaccompanied thus on a solo string instrument, the tune sounds even more haunting and exotic than voiced versions. Songs like this are now banned in Afghanistan, since the Taliban took over.