30 July 2013

Bangladesh







The Murung are people living beyond the Chittagong plain in the hills of West Bangladesh, near the Burmese (Myanmar) border. Consisting of a population of around 50,000, they have their own language & have been able to avoid being converted to the neighboring religions.

Their main musical instrument is the plung, a mouth-organ whose origin is from the region of Burma & Cambodia. It is made of a wind-chest made of a calabash gourd, several bamboo pipes between three to five, & a bamboo mouth piece. Each pipe has a hole & contains a free reed which vibrates when the hole is closed by the fingers of the players. The reed will vibrate either when inhaling or exhaling.



A plung ensemble can contain between ten to twenty instruments of different sizes. The music is repetitive & rhythmic. It creates more tone-color melodies than real melodies. It is heard during particular events such as weddings, funerals, or other public celebrations & ceremonies. There is also another version of the plung, called the rina plung. It accompanies litanies, lists of names of ancestors, or love poems, which are half-sung & half-murmured. These songs are accompanied by ecstatic dances.


This record was produced in France during the Festival de l'Imaginaire. This Murung music was heard for the first time outside of their native hills of Bangladesh.

On Bangladesh: Ritual Mouth Organs of the Murung, the performers are: Long Ngan; Man Yam; Mong Poy; Thing Ngook; Reng Ning; Pa Ya; Sak Sing; Chik Tu; Pa Lay; Rang Lai, Pai Ngee, & Tang Poy – all on plung.

decryption code in comments

Tracklist –

Piece for Plung Orchestra
Song & Rina Plung
      Part a – Man’s Song: Village Chronicle; Nostalgic Poem
      Part b – Young Women’s Song: Prayer to the Forest Spirits
Dance for the Sacrifice of the Cow, Accompanied by the Plung Orchestra

Enjoy,


13 comments:

  1. Many thanks. I've been wanting to hear this for ages.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Welcome, & thank you for the comment. Glad to have you along for the journey
      & glad you found something that interests you. Hope you find more to delight your
      ears & mind. I've tried to mix it up, male & female, various genres, trying to have
      differing musics that might appeal to different folks. Thanks again & maybe we'll be
      conversing again.

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    2. This is just as fantastic as I imagined. It actually really reminds me of Flutes Of The Mandara Mountains on Ocora.

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  2. Man,
    this blog is awesome!
    thank you so much!

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    Replies
    1. The thanks belongs to you & all the other folks like you who follow along & give me encouragement to do this stuff. Thank your for your comment. You have helped make my day.

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  3. this has been one of my favorite records for years.
    if terry riley was a tribe this was the one he would be
    robert

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    Replies
    1. You got that right, Rocket. I want some of that Riley tribal music if you find some. Until then I'll listen along to this & I'll have some of whatever you're smoking, too. Thanks for the comment, brother. This is sublime!

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  4. I've said it before but I'll say it again, thank you for the kind words & for taking the time to comment.

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  5. Chance of a re-up? Learning of this thru Lea Bertucci's piece in Artforum....thx! Amazing blog

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    1. I have re-uploaded the file. Thanks for letting me know that the link was dead.

      decryption code:
      b2Zmd-Q1e_E3dPwS69ZZDAlo7RhqwtF8cHwNzR5D38c

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    2. Awesome, thank you!!! xo

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  6. Many thanks for sharing us this unic possibility to hear this !

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  7. Fantastic and your links are still alive (the second ones for a Mega access).
    Thank you so much again!!

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