NATH FAMILY - Sounds Of The Indian Snake Charmers

For the first half of 2005, I lived with my wife Erika in Kirtipur, Nepal.\r\nDuring our days, while she was studying at the Kathmandu Association For The\r\nDeaf, I was roaming the streets and villages of the Kathmandu Valley in search\r\nof sounds and music. While kickin round the tourist district of Thamel\r\npicking up cassettes, I met a family of Snake Charmers from Hariyana, INDIA.\r\nAn old man probably in his 70s or 80s, his 2 grandsons, and one of the\r\ngrandsons sons. They asked if I wanted to see a show....I said Hell YES!!\r\nThey gave me a show...a KILLER show... were talkin 3 fuckin king cobras\r\ndancing at once, while a giant boa chilled at the side and few other random\r\nlil snake dudes are wigglin around here and there. I became obsessed. I\r\nhad met my new best friends... Though the kind of best friends you have to pay\r\nto hang out with. They were hustlers, yes.. But thats their job... The\r\nmoney was well worth the shows. I spent about 3-4 days a week for the next 2\r\nmonths, recording their music and their snake shows on mini-disc and videotape.\r\nI Drank alot of chiyaa with them, smoked alot of cigarettes and bidis. They\r\ntaught me how to make reeds out of bamboo, and I traded them some clothes for a\r\nsnake charming horn. They call them Beens, they are also known as Pungis.\r\nThese guys were the best. At the end of April they left Kathmandu, heading to\r\nPokhara, after that it was time for them to head back home with their earnings.\r\n Man...I missed them.\r\n This LP is the BEST OF THE BEST of the recordings I made of them. There are\r\nsome classic Bollywood tracks, a Nepali folk song, and side 2 is a 19 minute\r\ndrone journey into the head of the KING COBRA. The recordings were done in\r\nstereo. A been on the left, a been on the right. A premtal (stringed\r\npercussion instrument) on the left, a premtal on the right. The stereo\r\nrecording of the charmers sway creates a very disorienting stereo tremelo\r\neffect. Its almost as if YOU are the SNAKE! These tracks were recorded in\r\nan alley. There is the occasional rumble of a car passing by, and the low\r\nmurmer of the locals checkin out the white kid with the fancy gadget hangin\r\nwith the snake dudes. So here it is... pressed on wax, with a kickass\r\nsilkscreaned cover.... THE SOUNDS OF THE INDIAN SNAKE CHARMER!! \r\n-Aaron Dilloway, September 2005. CD issue of the LP.