The Nonesuch Explorer series is “the series that introduced countless listeners to music from afar," says the New York Times, "opening up the delights of world music by mingling the scholarly and the sensuous ... The albums, recorded from the ‘60s to the ‘80s, have held up magnificently.”
The revival of the series began in August 2002 with the release of 13 volumes of African music, including the popular Drum, Chant, and Instrumental Music; Witchcraft and Ritual Music; three mbira (thumb piano) recordings from the Shona people of Zimbabwe; and Hamza El Din’s The Water Wheel.
Originally recorded beginning in the 1960s, the series re-issue sees these legendary titles remastered and repackaged for the new millennium, including newly designed o-card covers, and the inclusion of original liner notes.
While much of what is released today as “world music” reflects the influence of many cultures, most of the recordings in the Explorer Series offer a musical window to a specific community at a specific point in time, without the strong imprint of Western society or pop music. These recordings have served as source material for much experimental and world music today, and the series itself continues to stand on its own as a unique document of musical culture.
Explorer Series: Indonesia
Latest Release
- March 1, 2003
While the first album in this three-part series focuses on the gamelan style of the Paku Alaman court, this second features that of the Mangkunegaran court, from the city of Surakarta, capturing two famous gamelans, Kyai Udan Arum and Kyai Kanyut Mesem, the latter considered by many to be the most beautiful gamelan in all of Java.
Releases
- March 1, 2003
- March 1, 2003
- February 25, 2003
- February 25, 2003
- February 25, 2003
- February 25, 2003
- January 28, 2003
- January 28, 2003
- January 28, 2003
News
- May 30, 2017
David Lewiston passed away in Hawaii on May 29, 2017, at the age of 88, after an extended illness. The inveterate traveler-musicologist was among the first to release recordings as part of the Nonesuch Explorer Series, which presented indigenous music from around the world, in the late 1960s. His first recording in the series, Music from the Morning of the World, featuring field recordings from Bali, was inducted into the National Recording Registry of "culturally significant" sound recordings in 2008. Here, the musician, producer, and writer Brian Cullman offers a remembrance.
Tour
Photos
Videos
About Explorer Series: Indonesia
The Nonesuch Explorer series is “the series that introduced countless listeners to music from afar," says the New York Times, "opening up the delights of world music by mingling the scholarly and the sensuous ... The albums, recorded from the ‘60s to the ‘80s, have held up magnificently.”
The revival of the series began in August 2002 with the release of 13 volumes of African music, including the popular Drum, Chant, and Instrumental Music; Witchcraft and Ritual Music; three mbira (thumb piano) recordings from the Shona people of Zimbabwe; and Hamza El Din’s The Water Wheel.
Originally recorded beginning in the 1960s, the series re-issue sees these legendary titles remastered and repackaged for the new millennium, including newly designed o-card covers, and the inclusion of original liner notes.
While much of what is released today as “world music” reflects the influence of many cultures, most of the recordings in the Explorer Series offer a musical window to a specific community at a specific point in time, without the strong imprint of Western society or pop music. These recordings have served as source material for much experimental and world music today, and the series itself continues to stand on its own as a unique document of musical culture.