To What Strange Place collects the work of musicians from Anatolia, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Levant who lived in the U.S. and recorded in New York City between World War I and the Depression (1916-1929), as culled from Nagoski's own collection (according to a recent Washington Post profile, he purchased most of the source records en masse, for $5, from some dudes paid to haul junk out of vacated row houses). None are sung exclusively in English, and nearly all nod to musical traditions likely unfamiliar to casual listeners. It's not particularly easy to absorb, at least at first-- the textures and instrumentation are foreign, the tempos are shifty, the voices often spastic. Read More https://canary-records.bandcamp.com/
