Merrie Melodias #2 - Free the Jazz - 28th May 2024

Uzbekistan-based DJ and boss of the experimental **https://tawpot.bandcamp.com)** label **[Eugenie Galochkin](https://www.instagram.com/gl4kn/)** presents rare vinyl rips from the Soviet **[Melodia](https://soundcloud.com/firmamelodiya** label. **Melodia** has released music from all around the world: from obscure Baltic electronica and free jazz from Siberia; to synth-pop from Tajikistan and academic avant-garde from Ukraine. The series will explore how national and cultural characteristics are embedded in musical language.

We continue to listen to rare records released on the Soviet major label Melodia. This time – and not for the last time – the episode is dedicated to jazz in all its manifestations.

We'll start with the first jazz composition in the history of the USSR (the Uzbek band under Pavel Chaplevsky made this recording in 1935), listen to balearic improvisations from Ukraine, electro-boogie from Kazakhstan, jazz-mughams from Azerbaijan and then dive headfirst into fr