Arabic music (not elsewhere classified)

(Actually Amro Diab isn't Lebanese, but Oscar D'Leon isn't Puerto Rican either and he shows up on PR music sites, so whatever--I care about her. Please tell me that's not just some generic windows thing.)

If you're into Lebanese pop, by far my fave is Nancy Ajram:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UT9JOO9xN8

Judeo-Arabic music

Dear All,

We would like to invite you to this year's Andalousies Atlantiques Festival, celebrating the prodigious musical heritage of al-Andalus. This year's event will take place in Essaouira from October 30 to November 1, 2008 and will pay tribute to two giants of Judeo-Arabic music who passed away earlier this year - the Moroccan Sami El Maghribi and the Algerian Lili Boniche. Among the groups performing are El Gusto, a 50-person ensemble that reunites veteran chaabi musicians who performed together in the casbah of Algiers in the 1950s - including Maurice El Medioni, Ahmed Bernaoui, Rene Perez, and Luc Cherki under the leadership of Abdelhadi Halo; Maxime Karouchi, a young Moroccan-born vocalist who performs Andalusian nuba, and Sami El Maghribi's melhoun and chaabi repertoire; Mohamed Briouel and the Orchestre Andalous de Fes - Briouel directs the Music Conservatory of Fez, and won the Prix du Maroc for his book Moroccan Andalusian Music: Nouba Gharibat Al Husayn; and the group Jil Jilala, who fuse the rhythms of Issawa and Gnawa with melhoun, and whose songs of protest of the 1970s and 1980s have become classics.

During the morning, panels will bring together researchers, journalists and musicians to discuss the music legacy of al-Andalus. Films, documentaries and exhibits will be shown during the afternoon - concerts begin at 6:00pm.

Here is a link to a newsreport on last year's Andalousies Atlantiques festival:

The Arabesque music festival at the Kennedy Center in DC from February 23rd to March 15th should be good.

Here are some of the February events and I've linked below to the site for all of the gigs

Mon. 2-23

Oud Knights with Amina and Shayma: When Oud Speaks (female oud
players from Bahrain) for free from 6 to 7 (and webcast and archived)
at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage
__________________________________________________________
Tues. 2-24
Al-Farah Choir: Damascene Jasmine (Based in the Lady of Damascus
Church in Syria, more than 100 children of the choir perform
Byzantine, Muslim, and Arab songs) for free from 6 to 7 (and webcast
and archived) at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

Lebanese Oud master Marcel Khalife w/ the Qatar Philharmonic
Orchestra with Lorin Maazel conducting at the Kennedy Center Opera
House

Cie2k(Moroccan choreographer Khalid Benghrib's all male contemp.
Dance co.) at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater (US premiere)

__________________________________________________________
Wed. 2-25
Chabab Al Andalous Rabat Orchestra with Bajeddoub Mohammed and Ronda
Bahae ( orchestra from Rabat, Morocco seeks to preserve Andalusian
music using Arabic poems and traditional instruments) for free from 6
to 7 (and webcast and archived) at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

Bachir Attar & the Master Musicians of Jajouka at 8 at the Kennedy
Center Eisenhower Theater (highly recommended)
__________________________________________________________
Thurs. 2-26
Amine and Hamza (Tunisian brothers, oud player Amine and qanun player
Hamza M'Raihi play classical Middle Eastern music, as well as their
own compositions) for free from 6 to 7 (and webcast and archived) at
the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage
__________________________________________________________
Fri. 2-27

K'NAAN (Hailing from war-torn Mogadishu, Somalia, hip hop artist
K'NAAN grew up during the Somali civil war. Despite speaking no
English, he taught himself hip hop and rap diction and now lives in
Toronto) for free from 6 to 7 (and webcast and archived) at the
Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

Ensemble Al-Kindi with Sheikh Habboush and the Whirling Dervishes of
Aleppo, Syria for an evening of music and dance at the Kennedy Center
Eisenhower Theater (should be good I think!)

__________________________________________________________
Sat. 2-28

Nawal (France-based singer from the Comoros Islands in the Indian
Ocean whose acoustic sound is said to resemble Indo-Arabian-Persian
music meets Bantu polyphonies, and the syncopated rhythms and Sufi
trance of the Indian Ocean. Nawal sings in Comoran, Arabic, French
and English) for free from 6 to 7 (and webcast and archived) at the
Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/festivals/08-09/arabesque/

RS, any recommendations?

That looks great. I'd be curious to hear the female oudists from Bahrain. (Do they accept groupies?) My impression is that there are a lot of good oudists in the Gulf that we just don't hear or hear about much over here. (See the 4-CD Muscat (sp?) oud festival box set.)

I think Khalife plus orchestra tends to be boring, especially if he's doing his instrumental music. (I like his old protest songs best, like the Arab in the street.)

I sometimes think of starting a new thread like this, but making an annual rolling thread, even a broad one, wouldn't make sense. I don't hear enough new-to-me Arabic stuff in one year to justify that.

Yea, just use this one.

I missed the Bahrain female oud duo last night but the hour gig was videotaped and you can watch it here http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/millennium/artist_detail.cfm?artist_id=AMINASHAYM

--

I did get a press ticket to the hour and 15 minute "Arabeque" sampler preview event-

a mostly sweet-voiced 100 child Damascus choir;

a noisy awesome number by Bachir Attar and the Master Musicians of Jajouka from Morocco(4 percussionists and 4 guys on what I think is called a ghaita, which is like an oboe but squeeks more );

a solo ghaita number by Attar;

the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra doing a Marcel Khalife composition with Khalife's younger son hitting a smallish bongo-like percussion instrument(his playing made the piece);
a literature reading;

"Oman, Oh man" a dance number choreographed by Debbie Allen and featuring a young vocalist nicely chanting to Allah;

Marcel Khalife and his Al Mayadine Ensemble doing a tribute to Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, plus another number. Khalife's voice is so warm and touching while his oud playing is more raw in feel and his band jazzy---his oldest son playing discordant piano, youngest son sitting on a wooden box and banging it--like a Peruvian cajon; and an acoustic bass player getting deep notes out of his instrument. They got real noisy at one point with the piano-playing son, his black jeans hanging low, grabbing the insides of the piano with one hand while htting the keys with the other. Meanwhile, Dad, with a bright red scarf draped dramatically around his neck, feverishly moved the bottom hand on his big ol pear-shaped oud.

The audience was a mix of folks speaking Arabic and dressed in various types of traditional garb, tuxedoed guys who may be Kennedy Center big bucks donors, young Arab women in short skirts and high boots; State Department people and others...

That sounds pretty good, including the Khalife segments.

I can't watch/hear that oud video here, because the same IT department that hasn't updated their two year out of date version of Explorer also hasn't seen fit to make Real Audio available.

Sorry

I can't believe Ensemble Al-Kindi with Sheikh Habboush and the Whirling Dervishes of Aleppo, Syria at the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theatre was sold-out Friday night and there were no press passes left. Grrrrr.

Lots more coming to Arabesque in March

March Arabesque events at Kennedy Center (lotsa good ones)

Mon. 3-2

Farida and the Iraqi Maqam Ensemble with Malouma (Mauritania singer/ ardin ten-stringed Mauritanian harp instrumentalist and Senator whose music blends Moorish traditional music with rock and reggae, and was once banned) at 8 at the the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theatre

_______________________________________________________________________
Tues. 3-3
Rami Khalifé ( Oud player Marcel Khalife’s piano-playing son melds classical, improvised jazz, Lebanese and more) with his Juilliard colleague Francesco Tristano ) for free from 6 to 7 (and webcast and archived) at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

Cie La BARAKA (Abou Lagraa, French/Algerian choreographer fuses hip-hop, contemporary dance, and multimedia visuals) at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

________________________________________________________________________
Wed. 3-4

Bnet Houariyat (from the region of Marrakech, Morocco, the five women perform traditional Berber songs and dances) for free from 6 to 7 (and webcast and archived) at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

Karima Mansour (Egyptian dancer/choreographer) & percussionist “Temporament” at the Kennedy Center Family Theater

______________________________________________________________________
Thurs. 3-5

Kinan Azmeh (Syrian clarinetist combines classical with jazz, electronica and Arab music) for free from 6 to 7 (and webcast and archived) at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

_______________________________________________________________________
Friday 3-6

Salma El Assal (leading Sudanese vocalist—her voice has been compared to Aretha Franklin) for free from 6 to 7 (and webcast and archived) at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

Author and actress Heather Raffo teams with jazz trumpeter and Iraqi santoor player Amir El Saffar for spoken word and music at 7:30 at the Kennedy Center Family Theatre

Simon Shaheen (leading Arab composer and multi-instrumentalist directs an evening entitled “Aswat-Celebrating the Golden Age of Arab Music -1920’s to 1950’s) with a traditional, 12- to 15-piece Arab orchestra and special guest vocalists at 8 p.m. at the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater

_______________________________________________________________________
Sat. 3-7

Suheir Hammad (female Palestinian-American hiphop influenced poet) ) for free from 6 to 7 (and webcast and archived) at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

Marcel Khalifé (Lebanese oud player) and his group pay tribute to the late contemporary Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish at the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater

________________________________________________________________________
Sun. 3-8

Hoba Hoba Spirit (Casablanca, Morocco electric guitar and drums group plays self-described “Haiha Music,” loosely translated as “Wild Partying Music,” inspired by metal-punk, Gnawa, and Sufi music) for free from 6 to 7 (and webcast and archived) at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

Fathy Salama and orchestra : “Sultany” (Egyptian pianist, producer, arranger, composer of Arabic and jazz sounds who combines trad and modern sounds and collaborated with Youssou N'Dour on the awesome album, Egypt) at 7:30 at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

___________________________________________________________________
Thurs. 3-12-

Oriental Music Ensemble of the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in Palestine (classical and contemporary Arab music for oud, nay, clarinet, qanun, and percussion) ) for free from 6 to 7 (and webcast and archived) at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

_______________________________________________________________________
Fri. 3-13

Ahmed Fathi (Yemeni singer and oud player) for free from 6 to 7 (and webcast and archived) at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

________________________________________________________________________
Sat. 3-14

Rum-Tareq Al Nasser (Jordan) for free from 6 to 7 (and webcast and archived) at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

_______________________________________________________________________
Sun. 3-15

Djamel Laroussi and his band (Algerian who combines North African/Saharan desert rhythms with reggae, jazz, hard rock, pop, soul, and funk) ) for free from 6 to 7 (and webcast and archived) at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

I'd love to see the Simon Shaheen and the Fathy Salama gigs but I think I'm gonna be busy on the parenting front those nights.

Farida and the Iraqi Maqam Ensemble with Malouma (Mauritania singer/ ardin ten-stringed Mauritanian harp instrumentalist

This is going to be a real vocal blow-out. I don't find I enjoy listening to Mauritanian music at home, but I'd be very interested in seeing it live again. But anyway, both singers have very physically powerful voices, I think. (I can't quite recall what Malouma sounds like, but any traditional Mauritanian singer is going to have to have a powerful voice).

Ahmed Fathi (Yemeni singer and oud player) for free from 6 to 7

Fathi is a fantastic oudist and very good singer. I'd definitely recommend trying to make this if possible.

The others I've either commented on enough before or don't know.

I can at least see the Fathi one (and the other 6 to 7 gigs) online if I can't make it.

Farida and the Iraqi Maqam Ensemble with Malouma (Mauritania singer/ ardin ten-stringed Mauritanian harp instrumentalist

I went to this. Malouma has a rougher-edged voice but she is also into blues and jazz a bit and those influences ocassionally showed in her vocals. She had a guitarist who added blues fills and once, ZZ Top accents. She was backed by two West African women who sounded more Senegalese than Moorish/Arabic, plus a drummer, bass and another guitarist. The ardin looked and sounded cool.

Farida I discovered is known as "the Voice of Mesopotamia." Wow, what a voice. It filled the hall. Her band was more traditional than Malouma's. The songs all followed similar patterns which ocassionally got a little dull. Interesting instruments though, a hammer dulcimer-like thing, a zither like thing, a homemade vertical thin fiddle, an Arabic tambourine, and a nice violin player.

Washington Times (conservative Moonie-owned paper) dance critic Jean Battey Lewis excerpt (plus W. Times readers comments):

There's an element of chance in choosing what to see and hear among these mostly unfamiliar works. Sometimes it comes a cropper, as did something Friday night billed as a dance performance with whirling dervishes. Three whirling dervishes made a brief appearance and offered a short finale in a two-hour program of nasal singing by the Ensemble Al-Kindi. A purpose of the festival is to offer new experiences and different aesthetics, but for truth in advertising, it would have been good to know the program was about singing, not dancing. The Syrian dervishes evidently have become more of a tourist attraction, often paired on a program with belly dancers.
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/03/dance-arabesque-immersion/

meanwhile a commenter says:
I don't like Islam or the Muslim culture. This propaganda should be boycotted.

March 3, 2009 at 3:51 p.m.

Some interesting Arabesque shows in DC this weekend. See the schedule I listed a few posts up.

This guy blogged on March 7th about the Sudanese singer Salma El Assal show and the Simon Shaheen one (with Umm K. on the video screen)

http://asianclassicsproject.wordpress.com/2009/03/07/arabesque-performances/

bump

share Arabic Movies, Arab video, Arabic video, video Arab and play Arabic MP3s. After registering Free, members can join groups based on their interests. A classified page allows members to advertise to others in the community, while the events page publicizes happenings of interest. even members can find Arabic singles and love for free.
http://www.myarabplace.com/

I don't remember which Milhem Baraket songs I've linked to in the past, so I'm trying again. I really like this one, and these rhythms are fantastic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D_NRKTvcRc&feature=PlayList&p=F863B8EA1D855A07&index=4

His recorded output isn't very well-documented on CD, but I think it deserves to be.

Also, I ought to infiltrate that myarabplace.com

To me he's pretty uneven, but some of his songs are fantastic. These are a mixed bag. I particularly like "Kel Elli Beshofak" and "Lamma Habibak" from these:

http://en.hibamusic.com/Liban/melhem-barakat/melhem-barakat-244.htm

Some day I need to obtain copies of more than 2% of Mohammed Abdo's recorded output.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4okeJ9oyEYc

That song is really good by the way.

I've got a killer version of this on cassette, but this is good too. Great song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trm6iaD6xkk&NR=1

Amazing twist-turny melodies and rhythms that periodically re-collect the songs momentum. (Music theory.)

Those "twisty-turny" melodies are based off of different "maqamat" or arabic modes. These are then played in usually a heterophonic texture ornamented to invoke "tarab," which roughly translates to "extacy." Oum Kulthum, Farid al-Trach, Asmahan, Abd al Halim Hafez, etc--however you want to spell their names--were masters of manifesting such bliss for their audiences.

- apologies if this has already been explained in this thread -

Well, it's been discussed elsewhere if not, but that's okay. I think it's unfortuante that a lot of Arab popular music, especially in Egypt, has become less heterophonic, because that to me is one of the things that gives Arab music its charm.

A.J. Racy's Making Music in the Arab World is a good discussion of the themes you are bringing up, for anyone interested.

Ali Jihad Racy actually is exactly who I am referring to. Good call.

If we've both read A.J. Racy, that makes us the Arab music "experts" here!

I'm still not sure that the melodic arabesques are strictly a result of the maqam system though. I hear other music I consider has what I would call twisty-turny melodies. Part of it, I think, is the length of the vocal line. It's like when you listen to passages from the Qur'an that have really long lines: they go on in this elaborate way, because the qari has to keep doing something. So I mean, I think it's partly a byproduct of the length of the vocal lines.

I would say that specific melodic patterns (specific scale degrees, ornamentations, and so on) trigger tarab as well, but I see what you are saying.

“Frequently voiced is the opinion that maqamat with such ‘neutral’ steps [referring to microtones], embody ecstatic qualities that are extraordinarily potent (Racy pg98).”

I've mostly grown out of listening to Warda, but there are some great songs and moments in her output. This might be my favorite song of hers (by way of composer Baligh Hamdi):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv1zYjre7hk&feature=related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtbJPUF2M20&feature=related

(Ignore the moronic comment saying Warda is overrated but still better than Oum Kalthoum. Oum Kalthoum is the gold standard.)

I've mostly grown out of listening to Warda

Sorry, I should have found a less obnoxious way of putting this.

don't worry about it

Lots of performers from Yemen I know nothing about. Seems very 70s with the electric guitar and saxophone (which only show up briefly):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSBk-1LOgc4&feature=related

(Mohammed Abdo is originally from Yemen, I'm pretty sure.)

This is pretty great (maybe more for the "band" than the singer):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUMpScd4ppw&feature=related

Crazy late 60s (or early 70s?) Abdel Halim Hafez song, music by Mohamed Abdel Wahab. Shockingly shlocky at times, but frequently brilliant and beautiful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RboUg9cW6s

I like the way it skips along at 4:14 here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBwJA2RMH3Y&feature=PlayList&p=21B7E0CC0892DA0C&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=39

And that flute (of whatever sort) sounds like what I imagine Blake's "piping down the valleys wild" would sound like.

The audiences were totally bonkers by this point in time though. I think maybe too bonkers.

I don't know what to say about this except that it's such a slice of Arab (Syrian) life sort of thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-Dj_MOxh7M&feature=related

I saw this guy in Atlantic City (as I've probably mentioned a few times already).

The Sublime Frequencies Iraq disc is great fun.

Some of this early George Wassouf stuff was pretty killer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBYeqp8UICA&feature=related

DV, I don't know, I find a lot of that Choubi Choubi compilation to be filler.

Okay, wait this is seriously one my favorite George Wassouf songs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZVRgHqpOf4&feature=player_profilepage

I think this one is something of an Arab standard. Kazem El Saher also does a version of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQTeU3VzzaU&feature=related

Great tune.

Those keyboards that come in a little before two minutes in!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc0mQFqf7B8

I had totally forgotten that I once started a thread just for this purpose:

George Wassouf, the gateway drug. (Now the truth can be told, via youtube.)

This was one of my favorites too and I suppose I am liking this quasi-early GW stuff again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48U_AQHllhA