Arabic music (not elsewhere classified)

Her religious sincerity and fashion prowess are a cancerous combination. Those pants? …Are basically the future.

I have to agree her outfits look great.

I'm not really into the song overall, but it's okay.

There are some incredible Asmahan photos on this flickr account that I've never seen before:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/amir_sisi/with/2942216611/

Hi Rudipherous (and everybody else not posting on this thread) do you know this artist at all:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4130/4981882562_c88880dd1c.jpg

Recent late night listening for me. Seems to be a mix of live & studio stuff, possibly Assyrian artist but google is not helping. Any ideas??

Abdel Halim Hafez. Egyptian.

I think that's Abdel Halim Hafez anyway! Youngish Abdel Halim Hafez?

Yeah:

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&source=imghp&biw=922&bih=544&q=young+%22abdel+halim+hafez&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2

I thought I had seen that photo before, but then I was like wait maybe not.

Some of his videos are linked to on this thread. Of course, you could just go to youtube, but there's a little discussion of him here too.

Thanks man! Knew I could count on ya. Thought might be Assyrian cause guy I got the tape off was. I have two tapes with that photo on the front cover, one seems to be totally live and the other is a mixture and has a bunch of talking jive with the audience (who clearly worship him).
So did he arrange all his own stuff? Some of the tracks on these trapes are pretty out there...

err tapes

I don't think he arranged his own songs. A lot of his songs were written by Mohammed Abdel Wahab and Baligh Hamdi, both very prolific. Some of the music does get pretty crazy. This is a song about a man going to a fortune teller and being told that he has the saddest fortune the fortune teller has ever seen, etc.

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

FWIW, this is one of Robert Plant's favorite singers. This of course is also the singer of the Baligh Hamdi song ripped off by Jay-Z's "Big Pimpin."

Apologies for repeating the/my usual talking points.

Oh wait, I forgot to cut that description. I changed my mind about what to post since I couldn't find the instrumental intro to "Kariat Al Fengan," the song I was describing there. Man, I always screw these threads up.

Haha it's fine... yeah the Jay Z was the first thing that came up when I googled... I need to go through youtube and try and identify the tracks I have so I can start from there.
Off to watch that vid you posted first... thanks again!

I keep forgetting there's already a separate thread for this singer:

Abdel Halim Hafez: S/D & so on

I was just checking the latest releases on maqam.com and I'm seeing more new khaleeji, more new debka compilations, and more shaabi than usual (well, some sort of multi-volume/various artist compilation, which seems a bit unusual to me). I wonder if mainstream Egyptian pop is losing some of its dominance.

The two-volume Rashed Al Majed release, in particular, is one I'm likely to get.

arabic music is the most beautifull don't u think?

a modern-sounding take on classic Persian pop which features some deliciously undulating background vocals bathed in reverb. If it sounds ever so slightly too robotic in the contemporary Auto-Tune style, it’s still fairly intoxicating stuff.

SWM09.31 - THE BEHISTUN TRANSMISSION @1:40

(merry christmas to homeland security)

I don't know if I've posted this before, but the percussion is incredible and Samira Toufic really goes out there, imo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFmw37eZV5E

She deserves a freakin' box set more than a lot of people who have them.

this is wonderfull,,,

Maqam.com now offers a free streaming radio site!

http://radio.maqam.com/

Some ultra-slick, but I like it, belly dance music from Setrak playing right now.

Not into Fadl Shaker though. Still, if I were in a more receptive mood, just leaving this stream might be a good way to expose myself to more recent music (like this).

But as I'm not in the mood, I am turning this off. Bye bye Marwan Khoury.

Marcel Khalife and Oumayma Al-Khalil performing a song from At the Border. She's really spectacular. I'm not sure why she hasn't recorded more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hcy7v8WL2uQ

& not in a flashy way but in a chills-producing way.

This Sabah Fakhri song I'm listening to would be so much better without the droney choral accompaniment. Why do they do that?!

http://www.npr.org/2011/02/11/133691055/Music-Inspires-Egyptian-Protests

http://hotarabicmusic.blogspot.com/

Perhaps the most popular song of the Egyptian revolution is by Mohamed Mounir, a singer so revered, he's known as "The Voice of Egypt."

The song is called "Ezzay," which means "How come

I like this one and the video

The youtube video's on that npr link

And I like it

I'm really enjoying the two albums by Al-Yaman, a Prague band fronted by Yemeni expat Ashwaq Abdulla Kulaib. Discovered them via an "Electric Arabia" user list on emusic, and they really hit the spot occupied by Natacha Atlas (or her collaborations with Transglobal Underground, who are pals of Al-Yaman) of Arabic folk dressed up with a electronic gloss. Authenticity fetishists probably need not apply.

Al-Yaman - Hurriya
Al-Yaman - Saraab

I guess this will fit the image of "authenticity fetishist," but it makes me said when people do Arab music with the Arab rhythms replaced by something else, when there are such amazing Arab rhythms to work with.

http://www.negrophonic.com/2011/maroc-pt-1/

DJ Rupture in Morocco talking about music he saw and bought and listened to on the radio

I'm increasingly sick of the chaabi infatuation with mind-swirling synth trumpets and strings, it's fun for a little while and then just becomes indistinct. Of course these songs aren't really intended for youtube or stereo listening.

Recently I haven't been able to get the song Crossroads مفترق الطرق, as performed by Majida al-Roumi, out of my head.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNSyy_BKwPA

For the most part I've never been able to get into Majida al-Roumi.

I have yet to get any response to this, so I'm posting it again, because I think it's some premium stuff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKVa9FR5q30

http://blogs.voanews.com/african-music-treasures/2011/02/24/khadija/

from Morocco

http://www.negrophonic.com/2011/beyond-digital-old-vinyl-and-new-pop-in-casablanca/

Thanks, that last track has some freshness to it (I like the backing vocals in particular), to my ears anyway. I don't keep up with North Africa. Also, that accompanying photo is great. Most of the vinyl on the look looks to be Warda albums.

I am expecting changes in the popular music in the Arab world proper in the next decade. Something has to shift with so much social and political upheaval, I think, especially since Egypt is part of that political change (since Egypt tends to set musical trends for the Arab world in general).

The Afropop Worldwide website and podcast folks (writer Banning Eyre and others) are heading off to Egypt shortly to research and do a focus on Egyptian sounds. While his background is more in Malian and other African countries that are not quite North African, hopefully they will prepare some interesting coverage

The NY Times and this Seattle paper (see below) love the new ECM label album Arco Irisfrom Moroccan vocalist Amina Alaoui who performs old Andalusian compositions here. I haven't heard it but I am intrigued. Ilxer Sanpaku liked the Jon Balke & Amina Alaoui album Siwan that came out on ECM a year or 2 back.

http://www.seattlepi.com/lifestyle/blogcritics/article/Music-Review-Amina-Alaoui-Arco-Iris-1444673.php

I see from her world music central dot org bio that she is a prominent exponent of the ancient music style gharnati and has worked with musicians from medieval, Persian, and flamenco musical backgrounds. Gharnati (Arabic for Granada), the bio says, is one of the major Andalusian musical styles, migrated from Granada, Spain, to Morocco in the 15th century.

Still need to listen to her.

Briefly listened to Amina Alaoui. Wow, what a voice. Interestingly, it kind of reminds me in its somber voice-only mode on the first cut of some Jewish cantors and vocalists I have heard over the years. Other songs feature oud and flamenco guitar and more. Woefully few reviews online of the album so far.

I wonder if Rudiph likes her or would if he heard her?

Met a guy who plays in some Arabic orchestra in NYC. May try to go to free show in Damrosch Park.

x-post

Some of the Amina Alaoui album is a little too samey--melancholy nearly fado-like vocals and minimalist flamenco guitar strumming, but on other cuts her voice is exquisite and the instrumental work just lively enough.