VA - Music From The Mountain Provinces (2014)

Numero present David Blair Stiffler's breathtaking 1988 excursion to the isolated, landlocked Mountain Province of the Northern Philippines. Risking "life and limb" to document the region's under-recorded cultures, the noted field recordist's trip actually ended as a hostage of the MNLF rebels, who confiscated his party's equipment bar the clothes on their back and a single cassette. Upon return to America, the masters, intended for release by Folkways, were shelved in light of Folkways founder Moses Asch's death, but thankfully they' were rediscovered to become the record in front of you, quarter of a century later. It contains 12 pieces ranging from gamelan-like percussive patter thru a number of bluesy 'Bamboo Zither' pieces to an utterly spellbinding 'Lullaby' accompanied by humid atmospheres, bird calls and rasping percussion which just stopped us dead in our tracks. Arguably, this is a region that very few of us will ever visit, so consider this a rare and privileged insight to worlds lesser heard.