Pirates Choice

Amazon.com
For people who know their Senegalese music, Orchestra Baobab's Pirates Choice is the Holy Grail. By the time this music was recorded to four-track in 1982, the immensely popular band had been playing nightly for years at a Dakar club called Baobab. But legendary status in Senegal didn't help the musicians get wider attention--the album wasn't released in Europe until 1987, and it only now comes to the U.S. for the first time. Latin music was popular in Dakar, a port city, and the band mixed various strains of Latin music with different African music styles to create uniformly stunning results not all that different from Afro-Cuban music. The French vocals are lovely, and the powerful mix of African and Latin percussion is undeniable--but keep a particular ear out for guitarist Barthelemy Attisso, whose tasteful leads float over the top. The original six-track album is hard to pass up, but this reissue contains a second disk with six unreleased songs from the same session, making this a must-have. --Tad Hendrickson

Tracks:

Utrus Horas
Coumba
Ledi Ndieme M'bodj
Werente Serigne
Ray M'Bele
Soldadi

Tracks:

Ngalam
Toumaranke
Foire Internationale
La Rebellion
Ndiaga Niaw
Balla Daffe

Amazon.com

For people who know their Senegalese music, Orchestra Baobab's Pirates Choice is the Holy Grail. By the time this music was recorded to four-track in 1982, the immensely popular band had been playing nightly for years at a Dakar club called Baobab. But legendary status in Senegal didn't help the musicians get wider attention--the album wasn't released in Europe until 1987, and it only now comes to the U.S. for the first time. Latin music was popular in Dakar, a port city, and the band mixed various strains of Latin music with different African music styles to create uniformly stunning results not all that different from Afro-Cuban music. The French vocals are lovely, and the powerful mix of African and Latin percussion is undeniable--but keep a particular ear out for guitarist Barthelemy Attisso, whose tasteful leads float over the top. The original six-track album is hard to pass up, but this reissue contains a second disk with six unreleased songs from the same session, making this a must-have. --Tad Hendrickson

Customer Reviews:

infectious groove.......2007-06-30

Good stuff. Warning--You might get the urge to quit you job and wander West Africa.

SMOOTH TO THE TOUCH.......2007-01-31

this is an album that i can just enjoy a lazy day with. it has that feel for me of a day at the ocean where i have my lil cool drink and the migration of the gulls and i just get lost and forget the world. love it from beginning top end. you will too!!!! check it out!!!!

One of the best albums I own..........2005-09-30

I knew nothing about the history of this album's lineup, and actually picked it up on a snap decision (rare for me these days) because I thought it looked interesting.

It's not Cu-bop, it's not wholely Senegalese, and it's not Jazz, although it has elements of all three. I don't remember the names of the band members, but the guitarist alone makes the album worth buying. If I had to come up with an analogy, "Pirates Choice" is the "Souvlaki" of world music.

Jimmy Buffett would kill to make an album this good. Absolutely essential.

fantastic, but plagarizing kills one song.......2005-06-08

let me say without a doubt volta is absolutely the s***, from their first disc to frances, it just goes from great to greater. i firmly believe they will lead all music that is tasteful in a new direction...a la every band that has done so in history. even their live show rocked harder than any other concert i have been to, and they were the only band on the bill! but i have to digress, now, hearing the first sign of unoriginality(?) out of their collective musical output. simply, track 3 is lifted right off another album by baobob orchestra- pirates choice. the very first song, "utrus horas" is exactly what mars volta plays in their afro-samba breakdown. NOT the rock-out part. but it is half of volta's song, and that says a lot. no homage is made to baobob, or any credits, or anything.....just a rip off of their jam. listen for yourself. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005UPF7/qid=1118244841/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/103-0483868-3287833?v=glance&s=music

and that song goes on for 8 mins with various instrumental solos, just as volta does in their "rendition." let me know what you guys think about this.

Sharing the love of World Music.......2004-08-20

If I could give this album a higher rating I would. I heard a piece on NPR one day driving home and I thought I like this band, wonder if the album is any good. So I purchased it and it is one of my favorite mellow albums to listen to. If you like world music this is a must have CD.

Average customer rating:

A Great British collection
If you like Baroque music, buy it; it is excellent

Rule Britannia

Manufacturer: Nimbus Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Compilations | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Baroque (c.1600-1750) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Italian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Operettas | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Odes | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Psalms | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Te Deum | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Rule Britannia and Other Music from Last Night of the Proms
Royal Salute
Music from the coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
Marches-1/British
Regimental Marches of British Army, Vol. 1

ASIN: B00004W3JI
Release Date: 2000-10-17

Tracks:

The Island Princess: Tpt Aire/Sym Of Flatt Trumpits
'Mr. Handel's Water Piece': Ste in D: I. Ov
'Mr. Handel's Water Piece': Ste in D: II. Gigue (Allegro)
'Mr. Handel's Water Piece': Ste in D: III. Aire (Menuetto)
'Mr. Handel's Water Piece': Ste in D: IV. March I (Bouree) - March II
The Choice Of Hercules: I. Ov (Largo-Allegro)
The Choice Of Hercules: II. March
Europe Revells In Ye Peace: Sym
'Ste De Clairque' (Tpt Voluntary Ste): I. Prld: The Duke Of Gloster's March; Minuet & Sybelle...
'Ste De Clairque' (Tpt Voluntary Ste): II. Ser & Ecossaise
'Ste De Clairque' (Tpt Voluntary Ste): III. Bourre & Hornpipe
'Ste De Clairque' (Tpt Voluntary Ste): IV. Gigue
'Ste De Clairque' (Tpt Voluntary Ste): V. Rondeau: The Prince Of Denmark's March (Tpt Voluntary)
The Fairy Queen: Sym To Act IV: I. Intro - Canzona
The Fairy Queen: Sym To Act IV: II. Adagio
The Fairy Queen: Sym To Act IV: III. Battle (Allegro) - Pastoral - Battle
The Indian Queen: Tpt Ov To Act II
Son in E, Op.3 No.5: I. Allegro
Son in E, Op.3 No.5: II. Largo
Son in E, Op.3 No.5: III. Giga: Allegro
Atalanta: Ov: I. Adagio - Allegro
Atalanta: Ov: II. Andante
The Judgment Of Paris: Recitative: Awake, Awake, Thy Spirits Raise; Aire: Hark, Hark, The Glorius...
Birthday Song For Queen Mary: Come Ye Sons Of Art (Ov & Chor): I. Sym (Largo - Allegro)
Birthday Song For Queen Mary: Come Ye Sons Of Art (Ov & Chor): II. Adagio
Birthday Song For Queen Mary: Come Ye Sons Of Art (Ov & Chor): III. Ritornello - Chor
Funeral Music For Queen Mary: I. March
Funeral Music For Queen Mary: II. Canzona
Funeral Music For Queen Mary: III. March (Reprise)
Alfred: 'Rule Britannia'

Tracks:

Pomp And Circumstance Military: March No.1 in D, Op.39 - English Str Orch/William Boughton
Pomp And Circumstance Military: March No.2 in a, Op.39 - English Str Orch/William Boughton
Pomp And Circumstance Military: March No.3 in c, Op.39 - English Str Orch/William Boughton
Pomp And Circumstance Military: March No.4 in G, Op.39 - English Str Orch/William Boughton
Pomp And Circumstance Military: March No.5 in C, Op.39 - English Str Orch/William Boughton
The Pirates Of Penzance: Ov - SCO/Alexander Faris
HMS Pinafore - Ov - SCO/Alexander Faris
Ste: The Planets, Op.32: Jupiter, The Bringer Of Jollity - Philharmonia Orch/William Boughton
Te Deum - Christ Church Cathedral Chor, Oxford/Stephen Darlington
Vars On An Original Theme, Enigma, Op.36: IX. Nimrod - English SO/William Boughton
The Old Hundredth Psalm Tune - Christ Church Cathedral Chor, Oxford/Stephen Darlington

Customer Reviews:

A Great British collection.......2005-10-05

This CD features several particular composers who have written pieces of music that are quintessentially British: Jeremiah Clarke, George Frideric Handel, John Stanley, John Eccles, Henry Purcell, William Corbett, Edward Elgar, Arthur Sullivan, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst and Thomas Arne. The pieces here are triumphant, celebrating that particular period of Empire when the British ruled vastly such that the sun never set upon it - one of the key elements of such triumphant music-making, particularly for the time, was the use of brass and trumpet. Some of the later composers included here draw on inspirations from these earlier times.

One of the featured performers on this collection is John Wallace, who was principal trumpet of the Philharmonia Orchestra since the 1970s; he founded the brass ensemble, the Wallace Collection, ten years later in 1986. In 2002, he became principal of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, Scotland, and the Wallace Collection gave their last performance shortly thereafter. However, the Wallace Collection lives on in performances on CD such as this one, performed with William Boughton and the English String Orchestra. Other tracks are performed by Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Alexander Faris and the English String Orchestra conducted by Stephen Darlington.

Pieces here are very familiar to anyone with an interested in British national composition -- pieces such as the Water Music by Handel are very famous, as are Holst's 'Planets' and Sullivan's (of Gilbert & Sullivan) 'Pinafore'; other pieces, such as Clarke's 'Trumpet Voluntary', are similarly famous even if their composers did not achieve the 'brand recognition' that Handel did. All of the composers here came from the period spanning the late 1600s to the late 1700s, when music was as often written for music halls and public performances as it was for royal events and commissions.

The performances here are uniformly upbeat and well played, with little by way of blemish save the occasional drop and surge in levels (as often becomes the case when recording music with sharp brass elements).

One can envision theatres full of people waving Union Jacks while this plays, and many of the pieces have a quality about them that speaks directly to the time and place of Britain.

If you like Baroque music, buy it; it is excellent.......2005-06-29

If you like Baroque music, buy this 2 CD's BOX SET; it is excellent. Clarke, Handel, Purcell, Corbet and so on are very well played. The orchestration is very good, the quality of recording is excellent. Remember that Baroque music uses mainly a single trumpet, few other brass instruments, some woodwinds and very few drums. It is very easy, elegant and pleasant to listen. When I got married in 2003, I have chosen only Baroque music for the ceremony and the banquet because Baroque music is so lovely, so delicate and so sweet. Even if you have never heard or you think that you have never heard Baroque music, buy this CD; I tell you, you will not regret your choice because it is really an excellent CD. You have my words.

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