Where else can I find a collection of songs only ever previously available on 78rpm singles from locales as far-fetched as North Korea, Tanzania, South Africa, China, Egypt, Albania, Kurdistan, Italy, Iran and on and on and on? Thank the stars for the hard-working souls over at Dust-to-Digital, working ever so hard to share overlooked and forgotten sounds from decades past and lands far away.

While I would personally struggle to explain the innate differences between instruments as varied as the Italian zampogna, the Turkish zurna, the Indian pungi, the Chinese suona...the analytical and informative liner notes here do so with ease and help establish the differences (and similarities) within the general family of "reeds"...or aerophones, as they are technically classified. Presented in a scholarly fashion without being overly didactic, the accompanying photos and label scans are particularly choice.

If you've spent time with any of Third Man's archival releases produced by Chris King (Why the Mountains are Black, How the River Ganges Flows, etc) then these sounds will prove to be, dare I say, familiar.

My favorite here is "Reng-E Ghafghaz", propelled by a driving davul drum beat, the wheezy virtuosity on display is reminiscent of Arabic wedding traditions I have been known to enjoy in person. But really...you can't go wrong here. The French and Italian tunes are ebullient and celebratory, the South African song seeming almost like inverted zydeco, the North Korean song (released on a Czechoslovakian record label!) the interplay between the instruments verging on the impressively anarchic.

Step out of your comfort zone and bliss out to this 'round the world in 14 songs journey. It's worth your time.