Pola X

One of the most enigmatic figures in rock history, Scott Walker was known as Scotty Engel when he cut obscure flop records in the late '50s and early '60s in the teen idol vein. He then hooked up with John Maus and Gary Leeds to form the Walker Brothers. They weren't named Walker, they weren't brothers, and they weren't English, but they nevertheless became a part of the British Invasion after moving to the U.K. in 1965. They enjoyed a couple of years of massive success there (and a couple of hits in the U.S.) in a Righteous Brothers vein. As their full-throated lead singer and principal songwriter, Walker was the dominant artistic force in the group, who split in 1967. While remaining virtually unknown in his homeland, Walker launched a hugely successful solo career in Britain with a unique blend of orchestrated, almost MOR arrangements with idiosyncratic and morose lyrics. At the height of psychedelia, Walker openly looked to crooners like Sinatra, Jack Jones, and Tony Bennett for inspiration, and to Jacques Brel for much of his material. None of those balladeers, however, would have sung about the oddball subjects – prostitutes, transvestites, suicidal brooders, plagues, and Joseph Stalin – that populated Walker's songs.

Maria Morning Star - Cantigas de Santa Maria, Vol. II - The Renaissance Players (1996) {Walsingham Classics WAL8008-2}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 315 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 158 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 61 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1996 Walsingham Classics | WAL 8008-2
Classical / Medieval / Early Music / 13th Century / Spanish

“This cantiga tells how King Alfonso of Castile suffered in Vitoria and had a pain so great that they thought he would die from it. They put upon him a book of the Cantigas de Santa Maria to cure him. [The King recounts :] … I didn't scream nor did I feel any pain at all, but felt well instantly…”. -Cantiga 209, Muito faz grand'erro. Thus King Alfonso X, el Sabio, tells in the first person how he was miraculously cured of a mysterious illness (now thought to have been caused by a tumour of the maxillary antrum) when the Book of Cantigas de Santa Maria made by his scribes was placed upon his frail, ailing body. In this, as in all the cantigas in the Book, Alfonso wished to make it clear to all his subjects, at every level of society, in an accessible language (the poetic Galician-Portuguese vernacular) and a persuasive medium, that divine grace was an everyday reality.

The music Manu Dibango is known for its alchemy of Jazz, African and Jamaican music, Gospel and R&B. His unique style was the forerunner of what we now call world music. Dibango is perhaps best remembered for his 1972 afrobeat single Soul Makossa, often considered the first disco record. This new best-of collection from Frémeaux features twelve tracks released between 1978 and 1989, including the 1978 Kingston remix of Reggae Makossa. Guest artists include Michael and Randy Brecker, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare.

Twenty Polish Christmas Carols (Polish: 20 polskich kolęd) is a collection of Polish carols arranged for soprano and piano in 1946 by Polish composer Witold Lutosławski (1913–1994) and then orchestrated by him for soprano, female choir and orchestra in 1984–89. The music and lyrics were taken mostly from 19th-century printed sources.