I have mentioned previously that I keep up my subscription to eMusic not despite the fact that most respectable UK and US labels won't let it sell their product, bur because of that. I'm on an historic rate which means I can buy 40 tracks for next to nothing every month, and I use it to experiment with all sorts of weird and wonderful sounds.
One of the labels that does sell through eMusic is Laizoms Musika. They are based in Manipur in India, one of the states way over east on the border of Myanmar. As far as I can work out they dedicate themselves to the pop music of the Meitei people, the largest ethnic group in Manipur.
The lads at Laizoms are putting out a lot of new releases, which I have not got round to listening to yet, and there is also what appears to be a country gospel album which is a must have I think. But we'll start with a couple of tracks from the earliest release in their catalogue, which is a 1989 compilation called "Jun Louh Zogam".
The sound quality is terrible but, hey, that's the zeitgeist for you.
"Zogam Liang Se" - S Chingnu
"Zogam Ngai Veng" - V Paukhansiam
To preempt the inevitable questions: No, this lot and the Meitei people are not related.
It might be the solvent-linseed oil vapours speaking, but that S Chingnu is very good
ReplyDeleteI like that one as well. Very reminiscent of Thai disco music of the 1980s on a compilation I have that came out on one of the hipster labels about 10 years back. I must dig it out.
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