Customer Reviews

Rough Guide to the Music of Malaysia

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You just about can't go wrong with the Rough Guide series, and their Malaysia album here is no exception. The music on this album is really fascinating and fresh, and widely-ranging among representative performers both traditional and popular--a distinction which actually breaks down to a great degree in Malaysia, a phenomenon somewhat unusual for Asian music. These folks seem fully in touch with their musical roots and intent on making those roots sprout in new ways (i.e. this is living tradition). Longtime listeners to world music will especially enjoy this album for the intriguing blend of musical influences apparent in the different tracks, where Arabic, Persian, Indian, Southeast Asian, and European inflections find their way into a distinctive and lively Malaysian mix. Every track is nice in its own way; there are no real duds here.

Paul Fisher's liner notes are extensive and detailed. They really help the listener to place and contextualize the music on the CD so that one has a fairly solid sense of what one's listening to beyond just "some music from Malaysia" or something vague like that. The only problem with them is that they're utterly out of order with the actual track order on the disc, making it hard to locate his discussion of any particular track you happen to be listening to. Very frustrating if you are trying to follow along as you listen, or even if you're trying to reference something afterwards. Not every performer gets a little photo either, which doesn't quite seem fair (and there was extra room where these could've been included). My general sense is that in trying to make the notes look "cool" certain unnecessary sacrifices are being made. But luckily no sacrifices when it comes to the music itself, which of course for a CD is the main thing.