| The series of articles I have contributed to the last 6
issues of Grapevine have been intended as an encouragement to readers to
seek out and purchase the original music sources for our favourite dances.
I want to finish the series with some general points on music-buying: I
know it's not always easy to get original music sources. So what are the
problems?
I CAN'T AFFORD ALL THOSE CDs.
Yes, if you'd bought all the CDs mentioned in my articles,
you'd be much poorer as a result (like me!). Of course you don't have
to buy the CD version: cheaper tape versions are often also available.
Beware, tape versions have different catalogue numbers: when ordering,
be very clear if you want the tape version.
You don't have to buy everything anyway: choose one item every few months.
It's a question of priorities really: personally I always feel that CDs
or tapes are much better value for money than books or videos which tend
to gather dust after reading or viewing them only once or twice. A good
CD or tape can be listened to (or danced to) hundreds of times. And besides,
surely music is more important than food ……….!
MY RECORD SHOP DOESN'T HAVE ANY GREEK MUSIC.
Yes, it's almost impossible to get decent Greek music
from your local music shop. Indeed the chain stores seem to believe that
World Music means Africa, Cuba and South America and not much besides.
They do take orders though, so perhaps if they were inundated with requests
for Greek music, they might begin to stock it as a matter of course.
The best place to obtain Greek music is Trehantiri Music (address below)
who have an enormous stock and are very helpful. If you order by phone,
they do sometimes make mistakes, so if you can't visit in person, I suggest
mailing an order to them for the sake of clarity.
BUT I ONLY WANT ONE TRACK FROM EACH CD/TAPE AND
MY FAVOURITE DANCE TEACHER HAS CONVENIENTLY
PACKAGED THEM ON A CD/TAPE WITH DANCE NOTES !
How do you know you only want one track ? Nothing ventured,
nothing
gained, surely? Even if only one track is suitable for dancing, the remainder
may be very suitable for listening.
By all means buy the dance notes from 'your favourite dance teacher'.
But unless 'your favourite dance teacher' has obtained permission from
all the music producers, then selling a 'conveniently packaged' collection
of dance music is really not ethical : the music is not theirs to sell.
Indeed, we often seem to be participating in a sub-culture where the 'conveniently
packaged' collection of dance music (which incidentally is often inferior
in audio quality compared with the originals) has made us all lazy: there
is no incentive to spend a lot of time and money trying to obtain very
obscure CDs/tapes when 'our favourite dance teacher' is supplying all
the music and we can have it instantly - as soon as a session of yummy
dances finishes !
I would like that culture to change because I believe 'our favourite dance
teachers' should only be selling music where full permissions have been
obtained. It is not merely a question of ethics: folk musicians in particular
depend upon every single CD or tape they sell. It's a big investment for
a musician to produce a CD or tape. If we don't go out of our way to buy
their music, their next CD ( which will be even better ) might appear
2 years late or not at all. Where folk musicians only produce a total
of 1,000 or 2,000 copies of their CD, the sale of an extra 100 copies
can make a big difference. Similarly, the sale of an additional 100 copies
of an obscure Balkan CD could tip the balance for the distributors to
decide to make it available in the UK. Record suppliers definitely respond
to demand: the chain stores would stock Greek music if they thought there
was a demand for it.
I also believe if we stop demanding those 'conveniently packaged' CDs
or tapes, 'our favourite dance teachers' will not be encouraged to supply
them to us at their dance events.
So the 'convenient package' isn't doing us any favours: it's unethical,
the sound quality is often inferior, it reduces our demand for the original
music and it discourages us from exploring music for ourselves ( who knows
?: that obscure CD/tape you go to the trouble of tracking down might contain
another track that is an absolute gem, that inspires you to create a new
yummy dance ).
Ideally 'your favourite dance teachers' dance notes will
contain the full CD/tape information ( Artist, CD/tape title, track title,
CD/tape catalogue numbers and record label) that will enable you to obtain
the original for yourself.
I'VE TRIED TO OBTAIN THE TAPE YOU RECOMMENDED BY
YURI DELETOV & HIS NOSE FLUTE ORCHESTRA AND VIRGIN RECORDS TOLD ME
IT WAS DELETED!
Don't believe it ! Shop assistants will fob you off with
the "It's been
deleted" line: they just want an easy life and Macedonian music isn't
cool and it's obvious you don't know what you're talking about, because
they've never been asked that question before !! etc. etc. Even if they
are correct (which in my experience is unusual !) deletions are not forever
and the same item might be re-issued within months. Besides, deleted items
are often still on the shelves, if not in that shop, another one down
the road. Or phone up: try Tower Records in London for example. If you
have access to the internet, I recommend Amazon.co.uk - they have an amazingly
vast database which you can search by record label ( as well as the more
obvious artist and title ).
If the worst comes to the worst, try to find someone who
does have the item in question - does it have a contact address on it
at all ? If necessary go straight to the source.
Still no luck ? Never give up: keep a little list in your wallet or purse,
with all the details of those items you're seeking. Two years hence you
might find yourself on holiday abroad ( incidentally, Paris is THE place
for music shopping ), or away from home in London maybe, and you can pop
into a music shop armed with your list. It sounds obvious, but until I
adopted this methodical approach, I could never remember exactly what
I was seeking, and music shopping which was aimless browsing was a complete
waste of time. Wherever you go music shopping, I advise you to be specific
and focussed: every music shop is full of music, the vast majority of
which YOU DON'T WANT !!
So, I know these articles have only scratched the surface,
and I have only been able to mention a small percentage of the dance repertoire
in the space available. I hope that the Grapevine website (which currently
points to Raymond Thompson's dance database) might ultimately be the source
of all knowledge regarding music sources: we could all assist that process
by contributing our information to a central database, but inevitably
there is a lot of work to be done to achieve that.
So Good Luck ! Happy Music-Seeking ! If I can help you
with more information, do contact me.
Email : hazel@hazelyoung.co.uk
Trehantiri Music:
365-367 Green Lanes , Harringay , London N4 1DY
Tel: 0208-802-6530
Web: www.trehantiri.com Email: email@trehantiri.com
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