I came across this album only recently via Canary Records, the label run by music researcher, record producer and avid 78rpm collector Ian Nagoski who has featured on Folk Radio UK before and is probably best known for the release To What Strange Place : The Music of The Ottoman-American Diaspora, 1916 – 1929 (Tompkins Square).
To Drive Away the Vampires: Balkan Folk Musics, 1930s-80s is a 60 minute collection of recordings by Epirot, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Albanian, and Serbian musicians. It was orginally compiled in 2007 and issued on CDR but was later restored in 2013. It’s available via Ian’s Bandcamp page here and it’s one I highly recommend you take some time out to listen to. One of the things that struck me when listening is that this music is how much more accessible it is now. Not just because of the research and restoration but also where it now sits in public awareness thanks to bands like A Hawk and a Hacksaw who were the first band to turn me on to Balkan music. Go and check them both out if you haven’t done already!
The Man who Sold his Beard
An Introduction to a Hawk and a Hacksaw
A 20-minute film, ‘An Introduction To A Hawk And A Hacksaw’, documents two years of travelling and performing throughout Europe and the United States.
canary-records.bandcamp.com
www.ahawkandahacksaw.net