Arabic music (not elsewhere classified)

Maybe it's just the harem scenes in racist movies, but seldom will you hear a regional compilation at once so distant and so familiar. The Sahara is bigger than Europe, and insofar as these often nomadic artists—very few of whom I'd heard before, with only the jet-setting Tinariwen and one other on Festival in the Desert—have home bases, most hail from lands thousands of miles apart, and further off the musical map than Mali: Mauritania, Niger, Libya, the Morocco-occupied "Western Sahara." Yet except for the closer, a long poem-sermon with rosewood flute by an Algerian Berber, they share lulling chants, many by women, and a steady pulse that seems neither African nor European but "Arab," which it isn't. Although often born of political conflict, they evoke eternal things—subsistence beyond nations, a post-nuclear future, world without end amen. A

I don't think there's a generic thread for Saharan or N. African music, so I'm noting this here. This isn't my favorite type of stuff (I've been pretty underwhelemed with Tinariwen), but I like much of what I'm hearing on the audio samples. I don't know what Christgau knows (something I'm increasingly loath to underestimate), and I'm certainly no expert, but I wonder if he's wrong to back away so quickly from saying that the pulse here is Arab. I think on some tracks it is. Tadzi-Out's "Chet Féwet" sounds really close to traditional music from Kuwait, to me anyway. Just because the music isn't Arab music, doesn't mean some aspects of it are derived from the Arabs.

This has some good stuff on it, of a sort that I so far I've only previously had on cassette. 08 - Assel Abu Bakr - Aseebak is especially interesting, with lots of the typically really good, almost percussive, oud playing that typically shows up in this music, a female chorus that keeps doing this odd sort of dip (maybe this has been electronically modified somehow), and layers of percussion, and the inescapable violins.

July 27, 2005
An Iraqi-American Helps to Keep Soulful Music From Baghdad Alive
By ROBIN SHULMAN

When Amir ElSaffar sang his sad, lamenting music at an Arab-American arts center in Lower Manhattan earlier this month, people closed their eyes and mouthed the words. When he stopped, they crowded around and said how he had moved them.

"I smell the Tigris," one woman at the Alwan for the Arts center said. Others said the music made them smell Iraqi fish, feel Iraqi heat and miss Iraqi family. While his songs took the audience of Iraqi-Americans back to a Baghdad that no longer exists, Mr. ElSaffar is fighting to help make sure that the music does.

The Iraqi maqam - maqam (pronounced ma-KAHM) is the name for a musical genre and also the specific pieces in it - has been played for centuries in Baghdad coffeehouses, homes and mosques. It consists of a repertory of melodies, performed by a singer with an instrumental ensemble, that can be used in improvisations according to specific rules.

But since the 1930's Egyptian and Lebanese radio and later television have weaned Iraqis from homegrown traditions. And during the last 60 years of frequent political turmoil and war, some of the greatest maqam masters, along with other artists, have fled the country. Since the American invasion in March 2003, the fear of violence has kept many remaining musicians from performing and teaching. Today, only one person alive is known to have mastered the full repertory of 56 maqam melodies, Yeheskel Kojaman, an Iraqi musicologist, said in a telephone interview from London. Unesco has identified the Iraqi maqam as an "intangible heritage of humanity" and plans to encourage performances and training.

So when Mr. ElSaffar, an Iraqi-American jazz and classical trumpeter who lives in New York, went to Baghdad in 2002 to learn his ancestral musical tradition, he had trouble finding a maestro who would take him on. For the last two and a half years he has been traveling in Europe, studying with exiled Iraqi masters. Back in New York since May, he has formed an ensemble to perform maqam music and has taught others to play it with him.

Mr. ElSaffar, 27, does not seem like a natural crusader for Iraqi culture. He was raised in Oak Park, Ill., by an American Christian mother, a professor of Spanish literature, and an Iraqi Shiite Muslim father, a physics professor. Mr. ElSaffar, who says he does not subscribe to any particular religion, learned only a smattering of Arabic and while growing up visited Iraq just once, with his father, in 1993.

But when he won a $10,000 prize for jazz trumpet in an international competition, he said, he decided to use the money to go to Iraq and learn its music. He added that only when he began to weep at the Baghdad airport did he realize he had been starved to connect with his father's country. In Mr. ElSaffar's first weeks in Baghdad in March 2002, as he listened to a maqam and heard the pain in the singer's voice, he felt something break open inside him, he said. "It sounded like crying to me," he said, a sobbing that became singing and drew him in. He said that he had also felt an intellectual fascination for the improvisation. He learned to play a maqam on his trumpet, and soon found a teacher of joza, a fiddle made from a coconut shell and the heart tissue of a water buffalo. The other instruments in a maqam ensemble are usually the santur, a kind of dulcimer; an Arabic tabla, a goblet-shaped drum; and a riqq, a tambourine.

By June 2002, when Mr. ElSaffar returned to New York to play trumpet with Cecil Taylor, maqam music was influencing his jazz performance and he said he knew he had become obsessed. That fall, he went back to Iraq to continue studying the maqam, and stayed until the end of the year.

He said that a man in Baghdad had said to him: "Why did you come here? Are you crazy? Why don't you just go to London? The only maqam singer left who knows the entire repertory is in London. Find him." He did. For the next three years he traveled through Europe pursuing three great musicians of the maqam tradition. He took the train with a suitcase packed with a dozen maqam books, some 50 tapes, perhaps 75 CD's.

To make money, he got out his trumpet for occasional jazz gigs, and also tapped an inheritance from his mother, who had died. In Munich he went to Baher al-Regeb, among the first to notate the Iraqi maqam, and the son of the maqam musician Hajj Hashem al-Regeb. In a small city in the Netherlands he studied with a maqam singer known by her first name, Farida. But in London he found his maestro in Hamid al-Saadi, the man said to be the only one to know the entire repertory.

The teaching of the maqam is an oral tradition passed from master to student. Systems for transliterating the music in Western musical notation are just as approximate as transliterating Arabic words in English letters. Mr. ElSaffar would record his lesson with Mr. al-Saadi and then rehearse for hours from the recording, singing and playing santur on his own.

Brilliant maqam composers last established new pieces in the repertory in the 1920's, Mr. ElSaffar said. At that time, Jews were the main instrumentalists for maqam music. When most Jews left Iraq in the early 1950's, the government forced two Jewish musicians to stay behind and train two Muslims in their art, Baher al-Ragab said in a telephone interview from Munich. He said his father was one of the Muslims.

In his own search for musical greats, Mr. ElSaffar contacted musicians in Tel Aviv only to find that the old generation of Iraqi performers had died and no new one had risen in their place.

Today, the mosque is the safest repository for maqam music in Iraq, and variations of it are part of the recitation of the Koran - by both Sunnis and Shiites - including the call to prayer, mourning rituals, and celebrations of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad. But Mr. ElSaffar said he hoped that by performing, teaching and researching the maqam he can help the secular tradition of the music to thrive.

"Amir," his teacher, Mr. al-Saadi, said in a telephone interview, "is preserving the true essence of this music."

This oddly titled CD, Yatahadda Michael Jackson, also sounds promising (if full of familiar songs--and not by MJ, incidentally).

Lebanese-Egyptian singer Laure Dakkash died in Cairo; she was 88. She had a hit song in 1939, it was titled Aminti Bi-l-Lah. But the song continued to be played in Arab media. I used to do an imitation of the song because it was odd in lyrics and music. Let me sing it for you:
Aminti bi-l-laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
Aminti bi-l-laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Nur jamalik ayah
aya mni-l-laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
Aminti bi-l-laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

http://angryarab.blogspot.com/

Mohamed Iskandar needs no introduction; his long fruitful journey in his musical career made him one of the icons of Lebanese music.

We are proud to announce the release of his new album with 8 terrific brand new tracks of pure Lebanese Shaabi and folkloric music.

Iskandar Studied music and learned how to play Oud in the Conservatoire in 1984. Graduated from Layali Lebanon Program in 1988 and got the Golden Medallion for the Lebanese Shaabi Music category. Also in 1988 he released his all-time smash hit “Meen El Shaagel Balak” which was a great success and gave him huge exposure in the Middle East. (it is interesting to know that this song was written and composed by him)

During his long journey he released 15 albums with more than 140 songs and 20 video clips

the 8 tracks are great additions to the artist’s rich repertoire.. The first single is track no.3 La Tekser Bikhater Mara, which is expected to set the dance/Dabkah floors on fire. First track Hakeeni is a great opening with the outstanding Mawal in the beginning. Iskandar is famous with his perfect Mawwals as he starts most of his songs with one. Of course folkloric songs like Track 4 Ataba w Mejana and 5 Jammal are excellent Dabkah tracks which can be heard mostly in weddings.

This is a must-have album for all Lebanese Shaabi/folkloric music lovers, Dabkah lovers and Mohamed Iskandar fans which are a lot and the longevity in his musical career is a perfect proof.

http://www.mondomix.com/en/videos.php?artist_id=202&reportage_id=565

http://mattgy.net/music/

From Matt's blog on December 11th (he also posts songs):

"Last weekend I got a bunch of my friends to join in a trip up to Clichy-sous-Bois, a suburb northeast of Paris, to see a Moroccan gnawa concert by Hmida Boussou. As many of you already know, Clichy-sous-Bois was the original flashpoint for the recent riot troubles in France. The point of the trip was then two-fold: to check-out this place so badly portrayed in the media as a centre of racial hatred and burning cars, and to listen to some great live gnawa music from down in Essaouira.

As expected, Clichy-sous-Bois’ downtown turned out to be a quiet little French town much like any other Parisian suburb. That said, we weren’t in the middle of the cités but as one Clichy-sous-Bois resident put it, “this isn’t Chechnya.” It’s actually a nice little place that’s a pain in the ass to access using public transport at night. The Boussou concert was part of the ongoing Afrocolor festival in the suburbs of Paris. I’ve been busy with work, life and travel so I haven’t been able to check-out any of the other shows, but the programme is impressive and the festival is quite well-organized.

The Gnawa are a sufi Islamic brotherhood from southern Morocco (around Marrakesh and Essaouira) who use music, rhythm and dance to heal and entrance their followers. Gnawa music has become sort of trendy in Western culture this last while which is why I ask myself, isn’t track 5 on the Cowboy Bebop sountrack a gnawa song? Does anyone know anything about it? Song posted below.

Anyway, the Hmida Boussou concert was great. He’s a well-known Gnawa musician back home and if my armchair Google research is any indication he commands a far-reaching and good reputation. At the show everyone was rockin’ out to the rhythms and an entranced fan or two even hit a trance and dropped to their knees on stage. Definitely worth the RER. I picked-up his CD called Les Fils de Bambara on the way out - don’t think you can buy it in stores."

Really? What little I heard didn't sound too Algerian, but I heard very little. I'm not too interested in her.

Gnawa is good live. Well, the only performer I've seen is Hassan Hakmoun. Too bad I missed him last time he was here. (I didn't plan my day well, and then at the last minute I was trying to hail a taxi in pouring rain, while dodging homicidal Philadelphia drivers. I got so fed up with the whole thing that I just went home.)

http://www.maqam.com/cdcvr/NM-HMC1341.jpg

Layali Nour

Oh, I heard something from that new Souad Massi album--I think it was the tribute to that Iraqi singer--and I liked it more than I'd expected. I'm still not very interested in her voice though.

Syrian music star sings praise of suicide bombers

By Audrey Hudson
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

The Syrian singer of a band that was detained by the FBI's Terrorism Task Force for suspicious activity during a recent flight to Los Angeles has written about the "glorification" of suicide bombers to liberate Palestine.

Singer Nour Mehana's latest album includes the song "Um El Shaheed," or "Mother of a Martyr," said Aluma Dankowitz of the Middle East Media Research Institute.

The song tells the story of a woman who mourned her son's death until she realized that "he died for a good cause and he should be glorified for what he did," said Miss Dankowitz, who translated the song for The Washington Times.

Mr. Mehana, widely known as the Syrian Wayne Newton, sings to the mother that her son's goals are heroic and she should be happy he is dead.

"The song opens with the depiction of a mother crying over her son. He has said goodbye to his friends and family and is not going to come back. He went with a weapon in one palm and his heart in another palm and he's not going to come back," Miss Dankowitz said. "He went to fight to free Palestine, Golan Heights and South Lebanon."

The song ends with chants of "Allahu akbar," or "God is great," a common Muslim expression. Those were the last words shouted by a September 11 hijacker before the plane crashed into a Pennsylvania field and have been the last words of many suicide bombers in Israel.

Mr. Mehana's 14 Syrian band members were detained by officials June 29 upon deplaning Northwest Flight 327 from Detroit to Los Angeles, for acting in a suspicious manner that concerned the flight crew and air marshals on board.

Meanwhile, federal officials were summoned to Capitol Hill yesterday to brief Senate and House Judiciary Committee staff in response to reports of the incident, and the Federal Air Marshals Association requested a meeting with top officials in the Homeland Security Department.

Passenger Annie Jacobsen reported earlier this month in Women's Wall Street that the Syrians consecutively filed in and out of restrooms, stood nearly the entire flight in congregations of two and three, carried a McDonald's bag into the lavatory and passed it to another Syrian, and carried cameras and cellular phones to the restroom.

Just before landing, seven of the men jumped up in unison and went inside the restrooms. Upon returning to his seat, one man mouthed the word "no" as he ran his finger across his throat.

The men were flying on a one-way ticket via Northwest, and returning on a one-way ticket aboard JetBlue.

An Immigration Customs Enforcement official said Monday the men had overstayed their visit and should have returned on June 10, but a Homeland Security Department spokesman said they learned late Tuesday that an extension had been granted through July 15.

Officials called to Capitol Hill included Randy Beardsworth, director of Homeland Security's Operations, Border and Transportation Security Office; Thomas Quinn, director of the Federal Air Marshals Service; and Willie Hulon, deputy assistant director of the FBI's counterterrorism division.

One staffer who attended the briefing said officials were "very cagey" on details, which he described as "very frustrating."

However, the officials confirmed air marshals found the activities unusual and suspicious.

"They are trying to have it both ways and say yes, our people are smart enough to see something and that's why they called for authorities, but they deny it was as scary as it has been portrayed," the staffer said.

Homeland Security officials say they have no intelligence that terrorists are conducting dry runs on airplanes.

Federal air marshals and pilots also back Mrs. Jacobsen's account as similar to other incidents, and say terrorists constantly are probing security.

The Federal Air Marshals Association yesterday requested a meeting with top Homeland Security officials to discuss the issue of terrorist dry runs.

"A test run for terrorism is not to be ignored," said Bob Flamm, director of the association. "When a citizen stands up and speaks out in regard to air safety, it is the responsibility of law-enforcement officials involved to seek out the truth and not bury it."--http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20040728-111758-3815r.htm

Asmahan is so cool looking. (I'm googling Syrian music. Given her place in the Cairo music scene, I consider her to have been an Egyptian singer, regardless of having been born in Syria.)

Serhat Koksal (2/5BZ) will two mounth ( august and september 06 ) artist residency in Berlin/Podewil for Tesla Sound & Video Art project .
* http://www.tesla-berlin.de/_content.php?LanguageChooser=EN&aktion=SHOW_PAGE&Page_ID=184

* 2/5 BZ new 12 inch EP " MILITANT ORIENTAL / PEEL SESSION II " RELEASED in 15 th February 2006 from own' GOZEL RECORDS 002 ' label . SIDE A TRACKS BROADCASTED IN BBC RADIO 1 JOHN " PEEL SESSION " in DECEMBER 2004

* ''...and that track is from one of my favourites sessions of the recent past,from 2/5 BZ from Istanbul.No Touristik No Exotic it is called..'' John Peel BBC Radio1 2004
* '' Of all the music I heard in Turkey , I liked 2/5BZ best '' John Peel

DISTROS ;

* Hardwax ( Germany ) http://hardwax.com/label/gozel-records/
Gözel Records 002 Euro 12" @ EUR 9,00
2/5 BZ: Militant Oriental Peel Sessions II
wild oriental flav. cut-up scapes of turkish movie scores, pop etc.

* Juno ( UK )
http://www.juno.co.uk/ppps/products/209148-01.htm
2/5 BZ Militant Oriental Peel Session 2 (12") Gozel Istanbul 23 Feb 06 £7.99
Militant Oriental (Peel Session 2)
Karabesk (Peel Session 2)
Okuz Istanbul (Peel Session 2)
Petrol Stress (remake)
Bbam (electro Saz Baglama)
Saka Etmiyorum (Nurkish dub)

* Toolbox ( France )
http://www.toolboxrecords.com/catalog/Gozel+Records+02,p3554.html
* Militant Oriental Peel Session II"
* oriental psyche breakz » TOOLBOX
2/5 BZ, Serhat Koksal
' .. Something you'll just love and dig for years and years ! Probably the best record since beginning of 2006 ! ENJOY !!!
http://www.toolboxrecords.com

* Dj Nexus ( Usa ) http://www.djnexus.com/view_record.cfm?record_id=449373
2/5 Bz Militant Oriental Peel Session (Part 2) Gozel Istanbul Leftfield $11.52 @

* 12inch RU ( RUSSIA ) 2/5 BZ 12" 530 руб. Доставка от 7 до 10 рабочих дней
http://www.12inch.ru/catalogue.php?page=7&search=&filter=&InSt=

* * TOON'Z ( France ) http://www.toonzshop.com/cat.php?artiste=988
Une petite perle de serhat koskal and 2/5 bz.un disque que l'on garde precieusement ...

**** 2/5 BZ aka Serhat Koksal will play audiovisual performance ****

* in Audiovisiva 2006 Festival Milano /Italy in 25 th March http://www.audiovisiva.com
* in Record Release Party in Peyote/ Istanbul in 6 th April.
http://www.geocities.com/serhatkoksal/plakparti
* in 103 Club / 'Save This Date' Twen Fm Festival in Berlin 20 th april .
http://www.twenstream.de/joomlaa/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=57&Itemid=90
* in St Petersburg / Russia SKIF-10 Festival in 22th,24th April
http://www.kuryokhin.ru/skif/artists_e.php?id_art=2
* in St Petersburg / Russia Ges-21 in 24 th April http://www.aktivist.ru/clubs/articles/a21279.asp

2/5 BZ February 2006 Performances & Released John 'Peel Session II' 12' EP from Gozel Records .

http://www.transmediale.de/page/detail/detail.0.persons.703.3.html
http://www.juno.co.uk/ppps/products/209148-01.htm
http://www.toolboxrecords.com/catalog/Gozel+Records+02,p3554.html
http://www.djnexus.com/view_record.cfm?record_id=449373
http://www.12inch.ru/catalogue.php?page=7&search=&filter=&InSt=
http://www.clubtransmediale.de/index.php?id=2275
http://www.sonicacts.com/item_detail.php?id=54
http://www.tesla-berlin.de/_content.php?LanguageChooser=EN&aktion=SHOW_PAGE&Page_ID=184
http://3headz.de/blog/index.php?title=docile_people_listen_to_docile_music&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
http://www.hardwax.de
http://www.transmediale.de/page/detail/detail.0.projects.492.3.html

* Serhat Köksal founded his 2/5 BZ project in Istanbul in 1986. As a constantly evolving multimedia project, the output is in disparate formats: tapes, video collages, CD-ROMs, audio CDs, photocopied zines and live performances. The performances of 2/5 BZ aka Serhat Köksal are exuberant cut-up montages of traditional music, experimental electronic sounds, TV and B-movie images, brought together in a dadaistic confrontation of pop, orientalism, kitsch, comic and folklore. Serhat Köksal performed 80 audiovisual concert on festivals, clubs, exhibitions in Europe, Asia, North America. Under the slogan "No Exotic, No Ethnic Market, No Touristik" he investigates culturalistic clices and their effects on the economical and political situation of individuals and 2/5 BZ have two times John 'Peel Session' in BBC Radio 1 and presenting on the subject of Turkish pop cinema and deconstruction, exotic tourism and anti-city myths, copy culture and remakes, critical sound art and audiovisual experimentation using found footage, field recordings and samples - in short: a critical and humorous re-use of mass culture. He lives and works in Istanbul.
* http://www.geocities.com/serhatkoksal/nashusatour USA
* http://www2.festival-gmbh.de/sixcms/detail.php?id=5057 LUDWIGSBURG
* http://www.tesla-berlin.de/_content.php?aktion=SHOW_PAGE&Page_ID=117 BERLIN
* http://www.popbuero.de/index.php?l=Veranstaltungskalender&detail_id=3466 STUTTGART
* http://www.frieze.com/feature_single.asp?f=1115 ISTANBUL BIENALE / U.K.
* http://www.reboot.fm/news/item?item%5fid=281789 BERLIN
* http://borderphonics.samizdat.net/webradio/?p=79 NET / FRANCE
* http://www.toolboxrecords.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=2847 FRANCE MAIL ORDER
* http://www.add-on.at/cms/side10.html WIEN
* http://orange.or.at/programs/radia/emission?emission_id=187885 WIEN
* http://www.fulldozer.ru/news/102 MOSCOW
* http://www.lodziana.pl/archiwum/roz01181.html WARSAW
* http://www.mqw.at/programmdatenbank/index.php?tmp=q21-det&von=2005-08-28&TID=1453
* http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/johnpeel/tracklistings/peel_archive_shtml.shtml?20030506 PEEL SESSION

http://www.2-5bz.com http://conkzine.2-5bz.com

Asmahan, movie clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdMP4Yv_hFQ

Some recommendations. (Also check your e-mail.) This is probably going to be overkill, but--

For things kind of related to the Syrian/Lebanese style George Wassouf typically used to perform in (when he wasn't doing covers of Egyptian classics):

Yousef Shamoun: Taneh Wu Raneh (2005). Syrian singer living in the US. He's technically a much better singer, and possibly better all around.

Lebanese singer, Mohammad Iskandar's Hakini, also from 2005, is pretty good too, although it's grown off me somewhat, maybe because of the constant festive shouting in just about all the songs. It has some nice driving electric guitar though, and great rhythms.

There's a crazy compilation (very choppily edited at times), Sahrat Ataba Mijana, from a US-based label, that has some good material on it. I think it's mostly Syrian and Lebanese.

(As far as George Wassouf goes, almost everything I have is on cassette. If you were interested in him, I would avoid the stuff after, say, 1994, but you might want to go back farther than that. Of course, I doubt many Arabic music distributors include release dates on their sites.)

Ali Aldik - Aloush (Hooked on debka!)

*

For possibly heavier stuff (with more of an Egyptian slant), I recommend these:

(1) Popular performers with a classical and traditional foundation. (Many Arabs would simply describe this as classial music, actually):

Oum Kalthoum - Ana Fe Entezarak
Oum Kalthoum - Roba'Eyat El Khayam
Oum Kalthoum - Ya Zalemny
Oum Kalthoum - Al Atlal
Asmahan - Asmahan [ASMCD 601]
Farid El Atrache - Wehyat Eineri [Cairophon, CXGCD 629]
Farid El Atrache - The Legend [EMI393850] (I don't know all these songs by names, but based on what I recognize, it looks like a good compilation)
Fairouz - Safarbarlek - Bint el Harass
Marcel Khalife - At the Border

(2) Instrumental &/or mostly classical or folkloric:

Rahim AlHaj - When the Soul is Settled - Music of Iraq
Ali Jihad Racy - Simon Shaheen - Taqasim
Various Artists - Maqams of Syria
Farida - Mawal & Maqamat Iraqi
Ghada Shbeir - Al Muwashahat
Ensemble Al-Umayri - The Sawt in Kuwait

Context:

Thanks for those clips Rockist, they have made my night here at work. This guy is the real deal. Any recs for a beginner in this area ?

-- oscar, Wednesday, May 30, 2007 3:50 AM (Yesterday)

Yousef Shamoun (excessively long intro.):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGfUuPyqBOc

okay so i heard thsi great song with this massive beat, and this woman's voice singing in arabic, a really light, falsetto vibrato voice, and the words repeat the line
"i need you, my sweetheart" or "ana eyzak, ya habibi"

it's one of the best things i think i've ever heard, and i have NO idea what it is. i just have it on this mix. i'm gonna have to figure this out.

also, the song starts with like this bizarre sigourney weaver quote, or something, something from a movie - i'll have to decipher the quote when i get home

If you can put it up somewhere I will try to identify it. Do you know what country it's from?

no i don't but i will put it up tonight, i'm AAAACCCCHING to know. it sounds really, really, really beautiful to me.

rockist i'm gonna have to email it to you for now.

so the quote at the beginning definitely sounds like sigourney weaver and it's like "the earth was like a giant marble, an i was a ---- on it"

i'm forgetting what the word is, and i don't want to go back to the beginning right now cuz this lady is singing and crooning and i'm melting.

no: the earth was like a marble, and i was a giant on it

Well, it sounds like something I won't be able to identify, but I might at least have some idea of its provenance.

OK UPDATE!!!

fucking Transglobal Underground with Natasha Atlas

I know, BUT this song is AMAZING! really mindblowing.

there seems to be no thread about Sudanese music so I'm asking here, does anyone know Abdel Gadir Salim? I think I've heard a record by him yesterday, forgot the name but remember talking about Sudanese blues

anyone heard of this guy?

Here's something from Sudan

http://www.alfikra.org/inshads_e.php

Are there any threads on oud music? I searched for some but could not find any. I now have some random oud records, and I am curious as to whether they are by people previously recommended.

Oudists: S/D

(I am awake.)

Duh, I never thought to search for oudists. Cheers RS.