Sound & Recording From Februar 2017

‘The Original Sound of Burkina Faso’ follows the hugely successful ‘The Original Sound of Mali’ compilation released in March this year, also on Mr Bongo. Here we have a collection of songs that pay tribute to a truly golden age of music; touching on folk, funk, blues, highlife, disco, psyche, latin, rock and soul. Burkina Faso may be one of the least well-known parts of West Africa but it ha a deep history and musical pedigree. A few years before President Thomas Sankara changed his country’s name from Upper Volta to its current one, a new sound emerged to soundtrack a cultural revolution.

Recorded live at the ancient Herodes Atticus Odeon in Athens 2004, this was the first European Concert that Sir Simon Rattle conducted in his new post as chief conductor of one of the most important orchestras of all times. Since 1991, when the Berlin Philharmonic gave their first European Concert, this annual musical summit in important cultural cities has become a brand name for excellence. This concert also represents the first musical encounter between Rattle and world-famous pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim.

Held each year on 1 May, the Berliner Philharmoniker’s European Concert has ever since 1991 been a byword for excellence. In a performance in Prague’s Estates Theatre, one of Europe’s most beautiful historical venues, the orchestra under the celebrated pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim is heard with some of Mozart’s most beloved masterpieces. What is more, the orchestra was seated in a reconstruction of the sets used in this very theatre at the world première of Don Giovanni.

Def Leppard rock Detroit! In the summer of 2016, Def Leppard s World Tour rolled into the DTE Energy Music Theatre on the outskirts of Detroit. As the sun began to set over a packed crowd the huge video wall behind the stage came to life with the exploding image of the band's latest album cover and Def Leppard began to power their way through a stunning setlist of classic hits and new tracks…