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The John Berberian Ensemble - Music Of The Middle East (1966) [Reissue 2001]

Posted By: jclane

Date: 22 Aug 2013 19:18:41

The John Berberian Ensemble - Music Of The Middle East (1966) [Reissue 2001]

After recording two thoroughly excellent LPs for the Mainstream label, Expressions East and Oud Artistry, John Berberian followed his benefactor, A&R man Peter Spargo, to the notorious Morris Levy's Roulette Records, where he waxed this standout album. Recorded in 1965 or 1966 and released around the same time, Music of the Middle East continues the oud master's progressive interpretations of traditional Armenian, Turkish, Greek, and Arabic material. Indeed, one can view this record as a logical transition between his previous releases and the trailblazing psychedelia of Middle Eastern Rock. There is more of an emphasis on the instrumentalists here compared to the Mainstream albums what with the numerous solos and taksims (improvisations) that grace many of the performances. In fact, only one track on Music of the Middle East features vocals.

Many of the same musicians who appear on Expressions East and Oud Artistry play on this album as well, including Souren Baronian on clarinet, saxophone, and bongos; John Vartan Valentine on guitar; Steve Pumilian on finger cymbals and dumbeg; and Bob Tashjian on dumbeg and vocals. However, this album is also notable for featuring the talents of veteran Turkish kanunist Emin Gunduz, clarinetist Hachig Kazarian, and, most notably, bassist Chet Amsterdam. The latter was a New York City jazz musician who had played with a large number of other Middle Eastern performers throughout the 1960s and clearly had a feel for this kind of material. Berberian's recollections are that Amsterdam used an electric bass during the recording sessions, making Music from the Middle East one of the first, if not the first, album in the genre to feature such an instrument. However, if this is correct, it sounds as if it were recorded at a much lower volume level than the Fender bass he plays on Middle Eastern Rock. Also worth mentioning is the fact that Baronian, the clarinet player on Berberian's first two records, is for the most part a percussionist on this album, with Kazarian handling the responsibilities for the aforementioned woodwind instrument. All of these factors contribute to an LP that is neither better nor worse than its predecessors, just a bit different.

Track Listing

1. Dalé Dalé - 4:07
2. Hijazker Longa - 3:45
3. Chifte - Telli - 5:28
4. Nehevent Longa - 4:08
5. Oud Solo - 4:29
6. Gamavor Zimvor - 2:53
7. Tsamiko - 4:33
8. Samra Ya Samra - 7:22

EAC

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 1 from 15. November 2010

EAC extraction logfile from 26. September 2012, 1:52

The John Berberian Ensemble / Music Of The Middle East

Used drive : Optiarc DVD RW AD-7240S Adapter: 2 ID: 1

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 48
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Appended to previous track

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 32 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy New\FLAC\FLAC.EXE
Additional command line options : -8 -V -T "ARTIST=%a" -T "TITLE=%t" -T "ALBUM=%g" -T "DATE=%y" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%n" -T "GENRE=%m" -T "COMMENT=EAC" %s

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 4:07.10 | 0 | 18534
2 | 4:07.10 | 3:45.07 | 18535 | 35416
3 | 7:52.17 | 5:28.28 | 35417 | 60044
4 | 13:20.45 | 4:07.57 | 60045 | 78626
5 | 17:28.27 | 4:28.58 | 78627 | 98784
6 | 21:57.10 | 2:53.22 | 98785 | 111781
7 | 24:50.32 | 4:33.35 | 111782 | 132291
8 | 29:23.67 | 7:21.50 | 132292 | 165416

Track 1

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Peak level 99.9 %
Extraction speed 2.3 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC D3D56D47
Copy CRC D3D56D47
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [BCD3A937]
Copy OK

Track 2

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Peak level 99.9 %
Extraction speed 2.5 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 2568326D
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Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [9D87C20F]
Copy OK

Track 3

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Peak level 99.9 %
Extraction speed 2.6 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 509FA637
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Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [8AFDA92A]
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Track 4

Filename C:\Lossless\The John Berberian Ensemble - Music Of The Middle East (1966) [FLAC] {Universe UV 023}\04 - Nehevent Longa.wav

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Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 07B4B743
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Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [0C108C2B]
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Track 5

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Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [9F9A03BF]
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Track 6

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Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [D614E5A0]
Copy OK

Track 7

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Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [B8187C50]
Copy OK

Track 8

Filename C:\Lossless\The John Berberian Ensemble - Music Of The Middle East (1966) [FLAC] {Universe UV 023}\08 - Samra Ya Samra.wav

Peak level 99.9 %
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Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [69CB7F61]
Copy OK

All tracks accurately ripped

No errors occurred

End of status report

==== Log checksum 8C6EFA73E822EF8B9B590C7C56821B57C32BA25F0CAB2DFCA1C7368CE15C9C48 ====

CUETools

[CUETools log; Date: 8/21/2013 10:25:50 PM; Version: 2.1.4]
[AccurateRip ID: 000ab1e4-0047b31e-61089d08] found.
Track [ CRC | V2 ] Status
01 [bcd3a937|e28beb70] (0+0/0) No match
02 [9d87c20f|6bbe217b] (0+0/0) No match
03 [8afda92a|5402eded] (0+0/0) No match
04 [0c108c2b|0008c140] (0+0/0) No match
05 [9f9a03bf|fb188b7e] (0+0/0) No match
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07 [b8187c50|cc64758b] (0+0/0) No match
08 [69cb7f61|321850d9] (0+0/0) No match

Track Peak [ CRC32 ] [W/O NULL] [ LOG ]
– 99.9 [445587CC] [86073073]
01 99.9 [D3D56D47] [D191B12A] CRC32
02 99.9 [2568326D] [DFB6E37E] CRC32
03 99.9 [509FA637] [7288E24F] CRC32
04 99.9 [07B4B743] [1102B885] CRC32
05 99.9 [44C8D124] [DE067483] CRC32
06 99.9 [B8ABA0DF] [68AACC40] CRC32
07 99.9 [37AA9F01] [88CC5262] CRC32
08 99.9 [6EE84097] [81AA89F7] CRC32

Personnel

* John Berberian — oud
* Hachig Kazarian — clarinet
* Emin Gunduz — canun
* Saouren Baronian — clarinet, saxophone, bongos
* John Valentine — guitar
* Bob Tashjian — dumbeg, vocals
* Chet Amsterdam — bass
* Steve Pumilian — finger cymbals, dumbeg

––––––––––––––––––––

Original Released: 1966
CD Released Date: 2001, by Universal
Format: CD, Album
Length: 36:45