~flr'6,r"®

IMPORTANT NEWS: The new 1958
Edition of the Electronic Experimenter's
Handbook is now on sale. If you
like to· build useful, profitable electronic
devices, pick up a copy of the new
Handbook now.
60 Devices ••• Nearly 200 pages
••• a Practical "File" of Electronics
Ideas and Information
FOR YOUR HI-Fl. Presence control. Hi·fi crossover.
Filter. Electrostatic speaker system. Mixer equalizer.
Spa~e an~p lifier. $5 coax. Oval-Flex speaker enclosure.
JUnIor hi-fl. Hardware store crossover.
RECEIVERS. Shirt pocket transistor superhet. Superegen
unit. Miniature VHF ear. Junkbox BC receiver.
Etched circuit two-tuber.
FOR YOUR HOME. Invisible light door opener.
Plcmc power amp. DS supply for ACIDC motors.
Instal!ing a back seat speaker. Light-operated relay.
Transistorized in tercorn. Radio in tercom.
FOR YOUR DARKROOM. Audio photometer. Trans
i ~ tor s l ~ve Hash unit. Photographer's electric pencil.
Light dlstnbutor. Darkroom timer. Enlarger exposure
meter.
FOR YOUR HAM SHACK. Simple shortwave receiver.
VHF explorer's receiver. 70-watt transmitter.
Double your Heathkit AT- l output. Code practice set.
Antenna tuner. Transistor IO-meter receiver.
FOR YOUR WORKSHOP. Economy signal generator.
Simple oscilloscope calibrator. Rejuvenatbr for dry
cells. $ 14 signal tracer. Transistor cbecker. Capaci
meter. Low-cost multi-tester. Transistorized signal
tracer. Buzzer-type power supply.
FOR THE K~DS. IQ tester. Electronic worm digger.
Model spacesblp. Game computer. Transistorized phonograph
amplifier. Coin-operated oscillator.
SPECIJ.~L PROJECTS. Solar battery experiments.
Electr:lDlc anemo~ete~. Varistrobe. Detectorscope.
Slmp.hfied etched CIrCUitS. Car rattle locator. Simple
hurmng tool.
NOW ON SALE
Only $1
Pick up your copy today at your
newsstand or radio parts store
('7·> ZIFF.DAVIS PUBLISHING co.,
i· J.:,t .. i
~ 434 S. Wabash Ave., Chicago 5, III.
70
sponsible for this series, to which a fifth
volume will be added tlllS summer.
The first volume emphasizes flamenco
highlighted by a ferocious Soleares from
cave-dwelling gypsies and by the street
cries of Granada. Volume 2 contains much
unfamiliar material, recorded from actual
performance on location, as is nearly all
the music in this collection. Especially
arresting on tIllS second set are the growling
xinlbomba-Moorish friction drums of
Majorca.
Most absorbing items in the third volume
are street cries of Seville, a lovely
gypsy lullaby, church music based on
populat songs, and a fiery Saeta solo by a
male singer accompanied by a brass band.
Least exciting but quite charming is Volume
4. Taken as a whole, this is a firstrate
collection, with good notes by Lomax,
but unfortunately no texts or translations
of the songs.
Juerga Flamenca! is not only a Sizzling
experience musically but also one of the
best recorded of all flamenco discs. The
"presence" of the stamping feet is such
that you may find yourselves by the end
of the record inadvertently checking the
condition of your floors. Audio Fidelity
has further enhanced the naturalness of
the recording by using the conversation
of the musicians and spectators to bridge
tlle various performances. An excellent,
fiercely spontaneous flamenco jam session.
Unfortunately, no texts or translations.
The Folkways album has poorer sound
reproduction than the other albums under
review, but covers ground not explored
by Lomax in the Westminster
odyssey. Here is music from tlle Galician
region of northwest Spain, including the
gaita (bagpipe) as well as representative
songs and dances from Asturias, Catalonia,
Majorca and Navarre. Very helpful notes
by Emilio de Torre contain at least some
paraphrases of the lyrics.
In Epic's A Totlch of Spain, some of the
performances are less informal than in the
Westminster, Audio Fidelity and Folkways
collections, but this album is also
of value in that it includes types of Spanish
music not included in the others.
There are excerpts from zarzuelas; music
by the organillo (the street instrument
that looks somewhat like an upright piano
) ; enthusiastic student songs of love
and wine; and more familiar material.
First-rate notes by J. M. Quero contain
some full translations.
N. H.
Blues, Ballads, Streetsongs
• BIG BILL'S BLUES featuring BIG
BILL BROONZY-Yocals & Guitar.
Texas Tornado; Tro ubl e In Mind ; Martha;
Key To Th e Highway & 6 oth e rs. Columbia
WL III.
• SUSAN REED SINGS OLD AIRS-
Yocals with Irish Harp or Zither.
The Golden Vanity; Ir ish Fa mine Song; Must
I Go Bound; Jennie Jenkins & 14 others.
Folkways FD 5581.
• MUSIC IN THE STREETS pro·
duced by TONY SCHWARTZ from the
Streets of New York City.
Folkways FD 5581.
One of the best recorded of all Big
Bill's albums, this set of vocal blues in
the Afro-American heritage was first released
in Europe on the Philips label and
has been included here as part of an LP
avalanche comprising Columbia's Adventures
in Sound series. Big Bill accompanies
himself on guitar in a program
consisting mostly of city blues with country
roots. There are also two fiery gospel
songs. The performances project fiercely
urgent power that explodes from Bill's
totally self-revealing honesty. Keeping
the ardor cohesive is Bill's virile beat.
Of quite different origins are the songs
of Miss Reed. They were grown in Ireland,
England and by residents of rural
America who did not have to fight free
of slavery and later second-class citizenship.
These are mainly gentle songs of
love and lost love. Miss Reed performs
them with sensitive tenderness in a clear,
cool but not chilled voice. A number of
the selections are familiar; it would be
valuable if Miss Reed's next album for
Elektra were to explore fresher repertory.
"In any city in tlle wor1d," states Tony
Schwartz who conceived and recorded
Music in the Streets, "you will find music
being played in the streets." During llis
field trips in New York, Tony taped such
diversified expressions of urbanized folk
spirit as a glass bowl player, the late
quaint fiddler in front of Carnegie Hall,
folk singers at Washington Square, gospel
street meetings, street festivals, and parades
along Fifth Avenue. It's a fascinating
musical kaleidoscope, as the familiar
does occasionally become fa sci nat i n g
when it's no longer taken for granted.
Schwartz might, however, have included
less of the self-conscious "folk" singers in
Greenwich Village.
N.H.
North from India
• THE SOUNDS OF INDIA with
RAYI SHANKAR.
Chatir Lal, N. C . Mullick. Columbia WL 119.
• ARMENIAN FOLK SONGS featuring
the Armenian State Chorus and
Song and Dance Ensemble.
Erez (A Drea m); Getzek Tesek (Go And
See ); Mi Lar Bulb ul (Weep Not, Nightinga
le ) & 13 others. Monitor MF 303.
The Sounds of India, part of Columbia's
Adventures in Sound series, features
HIFI & MUSIC REVIEW
1
l