Longing for the past : the 78 rpm era in Southeast Asia

"The four CDs (...) are superbly remastered with a rich, clean sound and very little obvious surface noise/crackle in many cases ... The very first track, Vietnam's Ut Tra On singing Ton Tan Gia Dien from 1946, backed by guitar and violin, rivets you. It sounds like a wigged-out eastern fusion of old-time fiddle and Hawaiian guitar, except that the guitar isn't played with a slide, it has its fingerboard dug out between the frets to allow microtonal bending, as might be done on the dan tranh zither. We learn all that, and the history of the song and some biog of the singer, from the fascinating notes. 89 more tracks of thrill and discovery to go! ... Dust to Digital create special music/listener ecosystems in this way ... You emerge at the other end a different, better educated and thoroughly entertained person. That'll also be a person who will return to this music endlessly".