David Dalle
Thursday September 15th, 2011 with David Dalle
Orchestral music from the "East"

On today's show I play several examples of orchestral music far outside the mainstream western traditions. Four pieces in total from Egypt, Krygyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Iran. They range from using strict late-romantic symphonic orchestration as the two examples from Central Asia to featuring soloists and instruments from the local traditions as the two examples from Egypt and Iran. This music, in a sense, represents artifacts left over from cultural and political imperialism and colonialism from the late 19th and first half of the 20th century. But despite the negative political connotations that has, it does not mean a talented musician or composer can't create great music in these adopted traditions, often mixing into it local traditions, melodies, modes, and instruments. Very, very rare music.