Rare 78's Heaven Part 2: Excavated Shellac

Yesterday I wrote about curator Ian Nagoski’s wonderful 78’s collection and I thought I’d share another phenomenal collector, Jonathan Ward of the prolific Excavated Shellac blog.

Kr. Irama, by Moh. Sjah & Orkes Kerontjong M. Sagi

This song from Indonesia is totally fantastic–I love the dizzying scales and intonation of the walking guitar in the background in contrast with the sailing violin and vocals.

Jonathan says “Krontjong itself is a relatively new type of urban folk music, developing in Indonesian urban areas a little over 100 years ago, with Batavian, Portuguese, Malay, and even African influence”.

See the original post and many many more at Excavated Shellac.
Another fav is this trio of songs “sung by the female duet of Tupou and Fakaua, two ladies-in-waiting of the Tongan queen Sālote Mafile’o Pilolevu Tupou III, who reigned from 1918 to 1965. The young duo were invited to the UK in 1954 and stayed sixteen days. They performed traditional songs for Queen Elizabeth, and recorded six sides for the company on their trip. ”

For those fortunates in the Los Angeles area, Jonathan will be DJing a set of rare 78’s of music from Kurdistan to Madagascar this Sunday, March 28th. Show starts at 3PM at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall Art Park. More info here.