Firyuza (Turkmenistan, USSR)

I once joked that if it was from Turkmenistan, it had to be good. Of course I was talking about the Gunesh Ensemble, and didn’t realize there was a second group from the same place and time. Three long tracks adorn this one of a kind album. Seven piece group with guitar, sax, flute, keys, violin, bass, drums and percussion. While not as hot or as entirely unique as the almighty Gunesh, this is still a fascinating fusion, one that relects the unique culture of the Turkmens. I’m constantly amazed at some of the subversive sounds coming from the old Soviet Union. I’m surprised Boheme Music of Russian didn’t reissue this with all the other great ex-Soviet albums formerly on Melodia. Cool cover featuring the band, with instruments in hand, proudly wearing their traditional telpeks (tall fur hats).

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Gunesh (Turkmenistan, USSR)

At first the ensemble was a part of State TV and Radio Company of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic as a vocal group with supporting instruments. Later the composition of the group began to change as young people joined it. The group began to play jazz-rock tightly intertwined with the Oriental tradition. Gunesh' has always been in the process of reforming and was one of the first and best to organically combine the similar principles of the melodious improvisation on traditional mugams and jazz improvisation. The unexpectedly beautiful arrangements appeared,and polirhythmic compositions with odd measure were
further developed thematically.

For their second LP, Looking at the Earth, Gunesh stepped it up a notch on the creative scale. We still have 2 barn burner horn rockers but Gunesh also added some trippy Caucasus mountain music, Muslim prayer calls, psychedelia, hot fusion, Vietnamese traditional music, etc.. to make for one of the finest albums I've ever heard. Rishad Shafi is possibly the finest drummer to be found in the prog rock archives (Peter Gabriel considered him once but working it out with the Soviet authorities proved to be too much). 

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