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Smithsonian on demand service

K

Kit Taylor

Well-Known Member
http://www.smithsonianglobalsound.org/index.aspx

Anyone use this?

I've had a go, but the download files are numbered rather than named and don't appear to contain any artist or album tile info tags, so SlimServer only sees a bunch of numbers when the music is playlisted. Which seems a bit useless. Have I done something wrong is that just the way it works?

Very annoying. The music is mega, though, and I love not having stupid wasteful CD packaging cluttering the place up. I get download rates of 82KB/s, which is about 20 minutes for a one hour album in FLAC format.
 
Kit, Joel has used this. I would as well, but wanted the lovely dvd and booklet that accompanied the Music of Central Asia Series. You can download the sleevenotes as well.
 
I've used it a fair bit too, although I'm old-fashioned and burn everything I download onto audio CD so I can play it on a CD playing device.

-- Ian
 
Is it not possible to tag the flac files with names? There is a tagging option on FLAC Frontend (the flac app that I use), but I have not previously required it's services.
 
On a related note, I just picked up a box set of 6 Bach LP's done by the Smithsonian from the Virgin Mega Store here in Orlando.

Cost me $4.99!!!!! Brand new sealed - I was impressed.
Don't know if it was a pricing error or all Smithsonian stuff is that cheap.

Richard
 
Its pretty much fairly priced yes... they are academics and not greedy ****s.

I often leave my system to dribble out selections from the Smithsonian Radio Global Sound (not tried the Silk Road Radio yet) when working -- its a bit like a sort-of tape machine explosion in a music ethographer's study -- or Andy Kershaw meets Verity Sharp without the annoying bits (i.e. without Andy kershaw or Verity Sharp and definitely without the long pompus drawn in breath between tracks...) I'd pay for this service... I may start donating tbh...

Its a great marketing exercise as well as it sells me about a CD every month -- last month it was finally that set of Tuvan field recordings of Shaman-Animal impersonations CD Tuva, Among the Spirits: Sound, Music, and Nature in Sahka and Tuva. Incredible stuff... This needs to be financially supported.
 
Downloaded this last night and currently enjoying listening to the chilled sounds of Rahim Alhaj (with Souhail Kaspar) playing When the Soul is Settled: Music of Iraq. Some lovely Oud playing with occasional percussion accompaniment.

The only pity is that they don't have the sleeve notes available for download. I'm sure this will appeal to the usual suspects on pfm who enjoy "world" music.

$10 for this? A bargain!
 
Hey, that was the first thing I downloaded!

I think the final 90 seconds of the last track is total genius, really rockin'. Know anything more like that.
 
That is a bit of a coincidence! For your info, I just received an e-mail telling me that they have just posted the liner notes to the linked page above (I had asked if and when this would be done). Great work and friendly service too.

I will need to spend some time on there to see what's next.
 
Kit Taylor said:
I think the final 90 seconds of the last track is total genius, really rockin'.
Click to expand...
Back to the question in hand. To my ears, the rhythm here is not supple and does not really swing, but rocks rather metronomically.
This sounds like belly dance practice music to me, which is not surprising as the performers are based in the US and `belly dance` is quite likely how they earn a living.
So perhpas start with some belly dancing...
For lots of Belly Dance and most kinds of Middle-Eastern music, try:

http://www.maqam.com/

The music on that recording strikes me as being perhaps closer in some ways to the Cairo sound than to Bagdhad (it seems Saddam preferred Um and her cairene music to the austere, intellectual baghdadi approach).
You could do worse than check out the work of Farid El Atrache...

PS the Music of Iraq album is very good, and that they play the way they do because they want to (which is not clear from my original post I think).
 
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