Arabic music (not elsewhere classified)

a strong voice. I like this style too

I'm usually reticent about posting my stuff on ILX unless I think the piece is so marginal that it might be of interest to certain people. I hope this is one of those pieces.

Remembering Syria: Mark Gergis Of Sublime Frequencies interviewed about dabke, choubi and how the Middle East is viewed in the West

Thanks. Interesting

Haven't heard this, but here's a pr email excerpt

Sound: the Encounter (December 2013 Tour: NYC, Washington DC and Houston TX dates) brings together adventurous musicians from Iran and Syria who seek to reassemble diverse expressions of a shared musical heritage in contemporary forms. The result is a collection of newly-developed and arranged musical pieces inspired by the millennium-old musical legacy of the ancient Silk Route that are rooted in classical and folk traditional musical forms and re-imagined within a new artistic frame.

Ancient instruments (bagpipes, flutes and drums) take on new contemporary identities in the hands of award-winning Syrian composer and saxophonist Basel Rajoub, acclaimed Iranian musician and dancer Saeid Shanbezadeh, and up-and-coming Iranian virtuoso percussionist Naghib Shanbezadeh

Great old brooding Saleh Abdul Gafoor song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP6V88ZEJ58

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aAc7a Can anyone tell me the what the music is in this clip?

Curious about what this was now... can you repost a working link?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm-t5EGkNYM it was this (it was on a video of some kids driving in odd ways, but that seems to have vanished)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQm5BnhTBEQ here it is...

محمد فهد <- Apparently the singer is Mohamed Fahd

I bought this CD a long time ago, but have recently been listening to it in the car. A good, maybe very good, collection of relatively early material, which I think I like more at this point than her later, sprawling songs:

http://resources.wimpmusic.com/images/84cd234a/e429/4baf/a0db/4ac948df3cbb/1280x1280.jpg

On Spotify too.

I like this song in particular:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkpPn2wE0Q4

Her name came up on the Oum Kalthoum thread, but I don't remember if I've ever posted anything much by her. This is fairly representative, from what I've heard. Has that late 60s/early 70s semi-psychedelic sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0aqI0Pz4DY

I assume that is the newly trendy Omar Khorshid on guitar. (He's all over big name Egyptian recordings in this time period.)

Another:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev0FU9e5XA4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCCnz3z4VMU

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/10/08/in-tune-the-psychedelic-roots-nasida-ria.html

Islamic Indonesian band Nasida Ria

The band, which started out as a mixed-gender tambour-playing Islamic choir in 1975, evolved into an all-female band that mixed modern elements of pop music and tunes from the Middle East as performed by legends like Oum Kalthoum and Omar Khorshid.

http://www.npr.org/event/music/472546837/ibrahim-maalouf-plays-umm-kulthum

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/14/arts/music/ibrahim-maalouf-oum-kalthoum-beyonce.html

More stuff I am curious about:

Oumeima El Khalil & Marwan Makhoul are gonna be in W. DC Oct 30th at Gaston hall; and the same night at GW Lisner Aud.

Iraqi singer Kadhim Al-Sahir

Oumenia El Khalil is great! She is Marcel Khalife's cousin. Sang on some of his early albums.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFdEUJOsM7M

Kadhim Al-Sahir is an Iraqi superstar. I tend to write it more like Kazem or Kathem el-Sahier. Can't say I like most his songs but he is a good singers. This is him singing what seems to be something like a standard in the region:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRWgUQWba9c

That first is one of those 80s Marcel Khalife songs, so not necessarily representative of what she'd be singing now. Again, she is a great singer but I don't always like all the material she performs. But it's more of a mixed bag than in the case of Kazem el-Saher (whose own songs I generally am not into at all--but Iraqi music can be a tough nut to crack, very much its own thing).

There's a good chance she'll sing at least one old MK song, though, since those are crowd-pleasers.

(And justifiably so, imo.)

She was in Philadelphia last year (not that I was there):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDlwn9DXRnc

Thanks. Will check those out

I really haven't followed Kazer el Saher and I probably should check back in with what he's doing. I just remembering the production on his 90s and early 00s songs being kind of extremely busy and bizarre, but not in a way I found interesting. This seems a lot different, though I'm still not sure I love the style. I have a feeling a lot rests on the lyrics, in his music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxFuaZL9pRY

Another Naget song. Recommended:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgwZTu-dVgU

I don't think I've mentioned Setrak & Ranin much, but it's pretty good belly dance material (suitable for other listening as well):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI84rnEqPdw

I think this is from the early 90s, although what I was listening to then might have been a collection of older material.

Nice comparatively low-key Samira Toufic song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAJw5HM3IXI

Spotify has a load of Sayed Mekawy recordings. I don't know why I'm still surprised by major figures in Arabic music recording so prolifically; but in this case it may be because I think of him mainly as a composer, even if I have a couple live recordings of his that I like. His vocals can be a stumbling block at time. I definitely rank him more highly as composer than singer, but I'm still curious to hear more. He has a very traditional roots/street nasality. He generally has great accompaniment in the recordings I've heard.

What I've heard of his work generally (always?) has a strong emphasis on rhythm, as well.

Yeah, I don't know. Not really happy with what's available on Spotify. As usual, it's not as good as rarities I have on cheap cassettes.

Any hint on where to start with him?

I still tend to prefer my I-don't-know-what-it-is cassettes of his, that include a bunch of songs I didn't find from skimming through what's available on Spotify.

I'm afraid he's someone who never had an amazing voice to begin with, and then didn't gain anything from getting older.

I did a lot of skimming through these earlier.

This one seems promising, but I don't recognize the songs. Might be from a little earlier than a lot of other things available:

https://open.spotify.com/album/2mQa6EAtdpN77w7jvfH7PB

This has some songs I recognize and think are good songs:

https://open.spotify.com/album/0qOK52vUPmULYN7t3vsAVM

This is Warda singing one of his songs (that I think he wrote for her):

https://open.spotify.com/track/6siVEGFFHtrT4e6EHt0jCX

And he wrote one song for Oum Kalthoum, late in her career:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJbpZHjSgh0&spfreload=10

Try again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJbpZHjSgh0

The Warda song on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwXhK0U_MEU

Looks like Warda is having some kind of problems in that video. Not sure what all her gesturing means after the opening vocal lines. Odd. Looks like it was too hot. Maybe the lights were too intense.

This reminds me more of the type of informal setting that I think some of what I have on tape is from. Very cool:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPMvmMWvrB4

So I would say start with that last one I posted and the Oum Kalthoum and Warda songs are famous, so maybe worth checking out.

This one seems promising, but I don't recognize the songs. Might be from a little earlier than a lot of other things available:

https://open.spotify.com/album/2mQa6EAtdpN77w7jvfH7PB

Now that I've actually listened to this, some of this is sufi ritual music or at least based on it.

This has some songs I recognize and think are good songs:

https://open.spotify.com/album/0qOK52vUPmULYN7t3vsAVM

I should recognize them. I think this is the same set of songs I have on the one Sayed Mekawy CD I own. I decided to dust it off this morning and listen to it in the car. Actually better than I'd remembered. I still don't find his voice ideal, but I was getting pretty caught up in the overall flow of the songs.

And the kanoun on the second track is utterly transporting.

I love this Shadia song, with the effortlessly and maybe unintentionally psychedelic keyboard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wnKLOGAQM0

I am not sure I've ever mentioned Mayada El Hennawy, but I will mention that she exists. Another singer who sings material similar to what Warda and Naget sang.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqXFMOZ17TQ

Still active:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWpkJC9sclU

Another singer who sings material similar to what Warda and Naget sang.

Or late Oum Kalthoum, for that matter.

The problem is there is probably more than enough music in this particular style.

The best song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU0-CMdkgjk

9 views. LMAO.

The first time as guitar, the second time as farce.

Is this her:

Samira Ghastin Karimona, better known by her stage name Samira Tewfik is a Lebanese singer who gained fame in the Arab world for her specializing in singing in the Bedouin dialect of Jordan. She has also acted in a number of Arab films.

Yes. I hadn't know most of what's in that entry. I had no idea her father was Armenian. Thought both her parents were Bedouin. Maybe neither were? Check out that song, it really is great and upbeat.