I highly recommend to one and all the Dimitri Pokrovsky Ensemble's CD "Faces of Russia" (a.k.a "Gesichter Russlands"). It's a collection of old Russian folk songs and liturgicals, sung "in the old fashion". I first heard this group a few weeks ago on NPR, on the car radio, and I ordered the CD from Amazon as soon as I got home. I just listened to it for the first time. The only thing disappointing about it is that there are only 16 selections, and fewer than half are more than two minutes long. I want more!
The voices weave in and out and around each other. Sometimes it's like chanting. I don't know what polyphony means (but you know I'll go look it up as soon as I finish this), but the word seems appropriate to describe it.
Warning (the reason for the "Ouch!"): Do not run a wire from your amplifier in the living room to the PC in the den, and listen to #14 Vargan (central Russian Wedding music to ward off evil spirits ... mouth harp, flute, and scythe - the only instrumental on the CD) on the PC speakers. It will blow out the speakers, if it doesn't crack your teeth first.
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Post Script: Whoop! I am so good sometimes I scare me! Polyphony (well, actually polyphonic) is exactly the right word! Now you go look it up.
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