Artist	Song
Sainkho Namtchylak	Chahgaa (from Out of Tuva, 1993) (Tuva)
Chelaybinsk Choir	Zealous Patroness (from Preachings For Choir) (Russia)
Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (T.I.P.A.)	Tsong-pen Nor-sang (from Dharma Suna, 1997) (India/Tibet)
H. Hafiz Huseyin Erek	Ezan (Call To Prayer) (from Anthology of Chant, 1995) (Turkey)
Black Horse Ensemble	Zurgaan Tumen Mongolia (With Huumii) (from Mongolian Traditional Classical Music Art, 2001) (Mongolia)
Muzsikás & Márta Sebestyén	Farewell To Shabbat (from Maramaros: The Lost Jewish Music of Transylvania, 1993) (Hungary)
David Darling & The Wulu Bunun	Ku-Isa Tama Laug (from Darling: Mudanin Kata, 2001) (U.S.A./Taiwan)
Yma Súmac	Birds (from Voice of the Xtabay, 1950) (Peru)
Talitha MacKenzie	Rol Hol Ill Leó (from Solas, 1994) (U.S.A.)
Meredith Monk	Travelling (from Dolmen Music, 2000) (U.S.A.)
Field recording by David Lewiston	Ketjak: The Ramayana Monkey Chant (from Golden Rain , originally released 1969) (Bali)
Steve Reich	Pulses (from Music for 18 Musicians , 1976) (U.S.A.)
Marlui Miranda	Tchori Tchori (from Ihu - Todos os Sons, 1995) (Brazil)
Carl Orff	Fremde sind wir-Hymnus (from Veni Creator Spiritus-Kantaten und Chorsätze, 1984) (Germany)
Vocal Sampling	Radio Reloj (from Una Forma Mas, 1995) (Cuba)
Stimmhorn	Schnee (from Schnee, 1997) (Switzerland)
stimmreise.ch	Zückerli (from stimmreise.ch, 2006) (Switzerland)
Evgeni Ulugbashev	Khai (from The Silk Road: a Musical Caravan , 2002) (Khakasia, Russia)
The Tudor Choir/ Doug Fullington	Hallelujah (from The Shapenote Album, 2001) (U.S.A.)

Comment:

This mix was done in collaboration with the New Leif Allstars . After sending each other a bunch of files we thought would work for this type of mix, NLA and myself both mixed one half of the tracks. Then we crossfaded the two parts. A tip of the hat to Muzag for his Global Choral series, his pioneering of transitions, and for introducing me to Marlui Miranda.


Some notes, summarized from liner notes, All Music Guide, and other websites:
1. Sainkho Namtchylak is an experimental singer originally from Tuva. She has an exceptional voice, spanning seven octaves and proficient in overtone singing; her music enmeshes avant-jazz, electronica, modern composition and Tuvan influences.

5. Black Horse Ensemble was established in Mongolia in 1996. The two members of the band play the morin khuur (horse-head fiddle) and the yatga (zither) [not heard on this recording]. Khuumii is a form of throat-singing "which involves the whistling of a richly-ornamented melody with the tip of the tongue and the front teeth, while simultaneously producing a lower, rumbling base accompaniment from within the throat, harmonizing with the main melody."

6. The members of Muzsikás researched the music of Hungarian Jews before the war. After digging out old transcriptions from Hungarian ethnomusicologists and digging into the memories and repertoires of a pair of pre-war musicians that played regularly for Jewish event, the band decided to record their findings. On this recording we only hear Márta Sebestyén in an a cappella performance.

7. When UNESCO's international musicologists first heard the Bunun (one of 12 groups of indigenous people on the island of Taiwan) singing their unique eight-part harmony fifty years ago, they were astonished. The discovery overturned the scholar's original theory that music originated in single-note melodies, progresssing to two-note harmonies, and then on to more complex arrangements. In 2000 cellist David Darling traveled to Taiwan to record with the Bunun people. They recorded in a valley far away from the village, to take advantage of the natural sounds of the surroundings.

9. As a teenager, New York-born vocalist Talitha MacKenzie was inspired by field recordings of Gaelic music and taught herself to speak Gaelic. In the `80s she moved to Edinburgh where she became part of the band "Mouth Music." The short-lived collaboration with computer programmer Martin Swan yielded a chart-topping album in 1988. Her solo album, Solas, reached the top three on the Euro World charts in 1994.

11. Ketjak is a reeenactment of the battle described in the Ramayana epic--in which the moneky hordes came to the aid of Prince Rama in his battle with the evil King Ravana--complete with a chorus of more than 200 men imitating monkeys, as they chant the syllable tjak. The ketjak is a creation of the 20th century, but it descended from the more ancient trance dance.

12. "Steve Reich's breakthrough Music for 18 Musicians (1976) is constructed around a sensuous cycle of eleven chords. The piece opens with a pulsing chorale, then rises and falls in volume with the breath of the wind players and vocalists. With Music for 18 Musicians, Reich moved away from his minimalist roots, in favor of more elaborate musical technique and rhythmic augmentation. His first genuinely popular success, Music for 18 Musicians was a landmark achievement for Reich and introduced his music to people worldwide."

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