Rag Lore - Blue For al-Watawit of Yashkur

Demos for al-Watawit of Yashkur
by Rag Lore

Matthew Russell Boteilho:
Lapstyle guitar, tape loops, rebab bow

Rag Lore
"Demos for al-Watawit of Yashkur"
Poor Farm Editions Press
PFST07D
Digital, 22min
Released December 14th, 2014

Note: As of 2016, these demos are no longer available on Bandcamp. Check out the episode of The Avant Ghetto with Jeff Conklin below to hear "PT I". If you purchased and would like a link for direct download, please reach out—thank you for your support!

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PRESS

Heard on WFMU's The Avant Ghetto with Jeff Conklin:
https://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/58640

Included on UNCUT Magazine's 46th playlist of 2014:
http://uncut.co.uk/blog/the-46th-and-last-playlist-of-2014-809

Dying For Bad Music:
"...a constant, beautiful drone and lap steel guitar improvisations. If you liked the Rag Lore release on Dying For Bad Music then you won't be disappointed here either. You probably have to act fast and download this, since it is declared as demos they may not be up forever..."
http://dyingforbadmusic.com/blog/post/2015/01/rag-lore-blue-for-al-watawit-of-yashkur-2014.html

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Rag Lore
Blue For al-Watawit of Yashkur

posted Fri, 9 January 2015 13:14 by dfbm | Write a Comment

# american primitive, drone

Not unlike the previous post of Samuel Gray Edmonson's Suite this is also a long piece divided in three parts. Due to his personal connection to North Africa and specially Egypt, Matthew R. Boteilho aka Rag Lore embeds his guitar improvisations in arabic imagery and titles. I can't exactly tell if his music is influenced by arabic music, but I would say yes. Maybe not in a music theroretical way but in his expression.

So Blue For al-Watawit of Yashkur feels like a never ending night on the hill of Yashkur beside that ancient well described here (thanks to the internet!) If you want to go down the rabbit hole and see what Matthew inspired to these recordings, then read here about the house of the Cretan woman. (That's my assumption, I could have talked to him, but ain't nobody got time for that ^^)

Nothing really changes over the 20 minutes of the piece. It's basically a constant, beautiful drone and lap steel guitar improvisations. If you liked the Rag Lore release on Dying For Bad Music then you won't be disappointed here either. You probably have to act fast and download this, since it is declared as demos they may not be up forever.

I apologize in case of poor research about the place and invite you to correct me in the comments