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AMAZING SOUNDS No.107 / June 15, 2001
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THE COMPLETE DISCOGRAPHY OF JOSEPH LOIBANT IS AVAILABLE AT AMAZING
SOUNDS. IF YOU WISH TO PURCHASE ANY RECORDINGS BY HIM, YOU MAY USE
OUR MAILORDER SERVICE:

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====================
CONTENTS:

NEWS

THE ELECTRONIC MUSIC IN EASTERN EUROPE Chapter 7. This mini-series
is a brief approach to the electronic music and innovative /
alternative styles in Eastern Europe.

REVIEWS:
THOMAS RONKIN: "WITHIN; DISTANCE" Tristissima Records
THOMAS RONKIN: "SYMMETRIC" Tristissima Records
PERPETUAL OCEAN: "HOUDINI"
A PRODUCE: "SMILE ON THE VOID" Hypnos

====================

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NEWS

The new album by Trans-X is "01.01.01". More information here:

http://www.neuronium.com/trans-x/

Jean Michel Jarre's acclaimed album "Concerts In China" is now
available again on CD and Mini-Disc. More information here:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ts/artist-glance/124477/thesciencebookbo

On July 28, the band Dweller at the Threshold will give a live
performance at The Old Church, in Portland, Oregon, USA.

====================

THE ELECTRONIC MUSIC IN EASTERN EUROPE
Chapter 7

It is impossible to attempt to compress the musical universe
enclosed behind the iron curtain by decades in a single mini-
series. A basic approach to the reality of the musical avantgarde
in each one of the multiple, rich cultures of this great unknown
which is Eastern Europe, nowadays in full development, would need
the making of a book. Therefore, this mini-series will only be a
brief vision, perforce incomplete, of this avantgarde style
sustained on cultures maybe as ancient or even more so than those
in the rest of Europe.

RUMANIA
Iannis Xenakis is a well known musician of a Greek origin born
in Rumania, who stayed there until the end of World War II, and
settled in Paris since then.
Less well known are, on the other hand, some very important
artists, as for instance Iancu Dumitrescu, an innovative New Music
composer whose albums have quite a noteworthy international
distribution. Or Horatiu Radulescu, an electroacoustic musician
who has recorded some of his works at the IRCAM.
Mention must be made as well of Phoenix, a veteran band that
combines folklore, Rock and experimentation.

BULGARIA
Apart from the Female State Choir of Bulgaria, who achieved
recognition in some countries with the release of their album
"Mysteres" (where synthesizers and computers appear), there are
not many artists with international prestige. Partly, this is due
to the fact that synthesizers, a key element to make innovative
music, were not available in this country until the late 1970s.
The pioneer of synthesizers in Bulgaria was Simo Lazarov,
practising some sort of computer Jazz. Also important is the task
by Vesselin Nikolov, an artist who has been very good at combining
ethnic and avantgarde musics. Other artists to be taken into
account are Krasimir Timov, Vladimir Ivanoff, Sergej Djokanov,
Anguel Kotev, Vladimir Djambasov, Danail Draganov, Lubomir Denew
and the band Dilemma.

THE EX-YUGOSLAVIA
Before the war, Yugoslavia was one of the Eastern European
nations with a wealthier scene of alternative musics. Little by
little, this scene is being recovered, yet, as is logical, things
will never be the same again.

-BOSNIA
Born and brought up in Bosnia, Mladen Milicevic worked for the
entire Yugoslavia as a movie soundtrack composer. He was awarded
several prizes in festivals in Serbia, Croatia, France, and Sweden
(where he stayed for a month sponsored by the Institute of
Electroacoustic Music of Stockholm). He has performed in Ukraine,
Croatia, Czechoslovakia, the United States, Greece, Costa Rica,
Switzerland, France, Denmark, and Italy. He has taught in Bosnia
and the United States. He has also made soundtracks for the
cinema, radio, television and theatre. When I contacted him for
the first time, he had recently settled in the United States, as a
professor of the University of South Carolina. In a contact by
mail I had with him during the war, he was very sad indeed. It is
logical. Looking at his professional and personal trajectory in
the former Yugoslavia one can understand that this senseless war
has hurt him in more than one sense.

-CROATIA
Stanko Juzbasic is an electroacoustic musician who, when I got
news from him, was settled in Zagreb. He participated in some
international festivals and was involved with the Musical Biennial
of this city.

-OTHER ARTISTS FROM THE EX-YUGOSLAVIA
Other noteworthy artists from the ex-Yugoslavia are:
Composer Zagorka Zivkovic, settled in Sweden, who besides
composing movie soundtracks has also worked in the written press
and the radio.
Laza Ristovski, an ex-keyboardist of the band Smak, whose solo
works are characterized by the use of the organ.
Boris Kovac, a virtuoso of World Music.
The ensemble Acezantez, devoted to ethnic fusion, sonic
collage and electronic experimentation.

-THE TERRIBLE DAMAGE CAUSED BY THE WAR IN YUGOSLAVIA
During this cruel war, numerous musicians settled in the
former Yugoslavia, who being fellow citizens became members of
warring peoples and communities, have disappeared or their track
was lost.
After the end of the war, contact with several of them has
been re-established, although the continuation of hostilites in
different areas makes it rather difficult to recover some of the
former contacts (the most common case is that of the people who
left their home towns and now have trouble to come back to their
old homes). Yet there are some of these musicians whose fate is
unknown and whose personal circumstances prior to the beginning of
the war seem to suggest a personal tragedy. In this sense, I will
be grateful for any information forwarded to me about the current
situation of alternative musicians from the former Yugoslavia.
Whoever wishes to send me any data, can do so to my personal
email:
jmunnshe@...
or to that of Amazing Sounds specifying that the message is sent
to me:
amazings@...

OTHER MUSICIANS RELATED TO EASTERN EUROPE
Finally, a brief reference to two musicians:
In the curriculum vitae that Sergio Barroso sent me he says:
"Canadian composer and synthesist". It is sad that an artist must
reject his roots so as to keep the freedom of his art. This Cuban
musician studied composition in Cuba and Czechoslovakia,
microtonal composition in Czechoslovakia, and computer music in
the United States. He has received awards in Cuba, Bulgaria,
Colombia and France. He made an electroacoustic soundtrack for a
version of "La Casa de Bernarda Alba" performed in Poland,
Czechoslovakia, Nicaragua, Eastern Germany, Finland, the United
States, Mexico and Spain. He has performed his works in numerous
countries. He has released his albums in Russia, Canada, Cuba and
France, among other countries. He was appointed for high posts at
the University of La Habana and the Cuban Ministry of Culture. In
1980 he left his country of origin and cut any professional links
with it.
Iury Lech has settled in Spain, after having remained in the
United States for some time. The son of Ukrainian immigrants, he
is a musician, poet and movie maker who has a global vision of
art. Having studied the piano and Theatrical Direction, he has
released several music albums, where he shapes his ideas of global
Art, which he described to me in the musical mode as "A personal
quest for a way of making music not lacking in impressionist
roots". Some of his videoclips have been aired on TVE. He was
selected within the area of literature for the Biennial Barcelona-
87 / Bolonia-88. He alternates his artistic activity with the
translation of literature and the reviewing of books.

As a final note to this series of articles, I am very grateful to
the musicians who forwarded me information about themselves when
we got in contact, which has been the basis for this series. I am
honored for their confidence in me.

(By Jorge Munnshe)

If you wish to purchase any recordings by these artists you only
have to use the links.

Iannis Xenakis
http://gemm.com/q.cgi?rb=AMAZINGS&artist=Iannis+Xenakis

Vladimir Ivanoff
http://gemm.com/q.cgi?rb=AMAZINGS&artist=Vladimir+Ivanoff

Iancu Dumitrescu
http://gemm.com/q.cgi?rb=AMAZINGS&artist=Iancu+Dumitrescu

Laza Ristovski
http://gemm.com/q.cgi?rb=AMAZINGS&artist=Laza+Ristovski

Boris Kovac
http://gemm.com/q.cgi?rb=AMAZINGS&artist=Boris+Kovac

Sergio Barroso
http://gemm.com/q.cgi?rb=AMAZINGS&artist=Sergio+Barroso

Iury Lech
http://www.amazings.com/mailorder.html

====================

In Amazing Sounds we receive many messages from our readers asking
us about how to purchase some of the CDs reviewed in our magazine.
We have a mailorder service in order to improve the distribution
of some of these records wanted by our readers. You can now mail
order some of these CDs.

http://www.amazings.com/mailorder.html

====================

REVIEWS:

THOMAS RONKIN:
"WITHIN; DISTANCE"
Tristissima Records
Thomas Ronkin has created a thrilling sonic adventure in this
album. The work has passages where the synthesizers create dense,
powerful atmospheres. Other parts possess a great melodic beauty
with romantic airs. There are slow pieces, and other rhythmic
ones. The music has Ambient, Minimalist, New Instrumental and also
Space Sequencer elements skilfully fused together. The most
impressive theme in the album is, in my opinion, "Alla Tedesca",
of a mysterious air, a great beauty and powerful sequencers.
EDGAR KOGLER

THOMAS RONKIN:
"SYMMETRIC"
Tristissima Records
In this double CD, the listener will find eleven themes full of
mysticism, with melodies that in some occasions tend to be of a
melodic romanticism, while in other instances they have an
enigmatic, or even a dark air. Some pieces are slow, but others
turn out to have a quite energetic rhythm. The music is
characterized by a powerful use of synthesizers and sequencers.
EDGAR KOGLER

PERPETUAL OCEAN:
"HOUDINI"
The style of this CD combines the most risky aspects of Industrial
and Gothic Music with Ambient. The vocals are an important element
in this work.
ALEJANDRO HINOJOSA

If you wish to purchase this recording you only have to use this
link:

http://gemm.com/q.cgi?rb=AMAZINGS&artist=PERPETUAL+OCEAN

A PRODUCE:
"SMILE ON THE VOID"
Hypnos
The seven tracks that constitute this album are inspired by the
novel of the same title by Stuart Gordon, where myth and the
modern world meet, weaving a tapestry ranging from restlessness to
dream to a strange awakening, as suggested by the music itself,
since it turns out to be mysterious, cosmic, oniric, mystic, at
times dark, and undoubtedly suggestive of a strange world in the
extreme.
MONTSERRAT ANDREU-MARIN

====================

We are preparing an international directory of record companies,
artists, festivals, radio shows, zines, webs, journalists,
associations, and other organizations & people working in the
field of electronic music, Ambient, New Instrumental,
Experimental, World Music, and so on. The inserts are free. The
persons or firms wishing to be included can send us a file of no
more than 600 words with the data they consider as being of
interest (contact addresses - snail mail, telephone number, fax,
email, URL... -) and an explanatory text on their activities in
English) to: amazings@...

We are also preparing an encyclopaedia of composers of electronic
music. The artists wishing to be included can send us a biography
(with a list of works and contact address if they wish to) of no
more than 900 words, in English, to amazings@.... Inserts
are free.

The persons or firms having a page in internet related in some way
to the alternative musics can communicate the URL, as well as a
brief description of its contents, to webmaster@..., and
we will set a link from our web to theirs (The insert of a link in
our web is free whenever it is corresponded with a similar link
from their web to our web)

====================

Our warmest greetings for our readers and until the next edition
of Amazing Sounds.

====================

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articles to the hottest news in our web organized as a directory,
in HTML format, with photos, and with hundreds of links:

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readers. It is financed only by means of its sponsors. The firms
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**********