What did Coleman contribute? It just all sounds like Dudley's work to me.
― You're the Wish You Are I Almanac (Autumn Almanac), Sunday, 23 May 2004 23:04 (nineteen years ago) link
― Rockist Scientist (rockistscientist), Sunday, 23 May 2004 23:05 (nineteen years ago) link
RAHIM ALHAJ Iraqi Music in a Time of War (Voxlox)
Last February, mild-mannered Iraqi matinee idol Kazem al-Sahir played a sparsely populated Beacon. His 17-piece orchestra was exotically anodyne to me, painfully nostalgic to the attendant Iraqis. But either way it was steeped in denial. Recorded April 5 at Manhattan's Sufi Books, with Baghdad under attack, this solo oud recital is the opposite. The conservatory-trained AlHaj is a Saddam torture victim who escaped in 1991. Yet he is appalled by the destruction of his homeland. And yet again he betrays no rage: however uninspired as "concepts," the "compassion, love, and peace" he preaches are courageous as music. With little knowledge of oud or taste for classical guitar, I'm struck by how unexotic he seems—how his sound, melodicism, and note values bridge East and West while remaining Iraqi. I'm impressed by how modest virtuosity can be in a classical tradition that honors simplicity. And I'm drawn in by the historical context, which implicates me in that tradition. B PLUS
― Rockist Scientist, Tuesday, 25 May 2004 18:53 (nineteen years ago) link
The audio quality is poor, but it's good enough for me. I like the sound of the instrumentalists accompanying him. This music avoids some of the excesses of the old Egyptian popular music arrangments. I like the fact that there is practically always a guttering ney playing along the lines he is singing. (As I typed that, the ney and just about everything else dropped away to make room for a kanun solo. I like that too.)
― Rockist Scientist (rockistscientist), Thursday, 27 May 2004 23:00 (nineteen years ago) link
― Rockist Scientist, Monday, 7 June 2004 18:15 (nineteen years ago) link
― Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 23 June 2004 19:04 (nineteen years ago) link
Yousra Dhahbi: Rhapsody for Lute [Female oudist--and there aren't many around, or at least not many who make it onto a CD--from Tunisia.]Ensemble Al-Umayri: The Sawt of KuwaitEnsemble Muhammad Faris: The Sawt of BahrainVarious: Treasures of Algerian Music [2 CDs worth of older, archival, material.]
― Rockist_Scientist (rockist_scientist), Friday, 30 July 2004 23:45 (nineteen years ago) link
Mohamed Ali Ensemble: Al Hawanem also looks good.
(These are listed on the new releases section at www.rashid.com.)
― Rockist_Scientist (rockist_scientist), Tuesday, 17 August 2004 13:36 (nineteen years ago) link
I think it's interesting that while falsetto is traditionally frowned upon in Egyptian, and I think Lebanese and Syrian music, it seems pretty common in music from the Gulf states. At the very least, I think I've heard a couple Kuwaiti stars sing in falsetto.
― Rockist_Scientist (rockist_scientist), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 23:44 (nineteen years ago) link
It might not even be really good. There's some pretty cheesy stuff going on, but there's still something really great about it.
― Rockist_Scientist (rockist_scientist), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 23:57 (nineteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (rockist_scientist), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 21:24 (nineteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (rockist_scientist), Thursday, 7 October 2004 19:25 (nineteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (rockist_scientist), Thursday, 7 October 2004 19:27 (nineteen years ago) link
― ken taylrr (ken taylrr), Thursday, 7 October 2004 19:30 (nineteen years ago) link
At the very least, they seem to be more about a musique concrete/cut-up approach than simply a presentation of recordings of Arabic music (as though they are simply using Arabic music as raw material).
But then again, maybe I will like them. Maybe they really are making a statement about the aural world that exists in the Arab world. (Call to prayer, Qur'anic recitation, clash of everything else music?)
― Rockist_Scientist (rockist_scientist), Thursday, 7 October 2004 19:38 (nineteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (rockist_scientist), Saturday, 6 November 2004 15:18 (nineteen years ago) link
― RS, Saturday, 6 November 2004 16:50 (nineteen years ago) link
The CD itself is a totally unprofessional piece of work, with two or three more songs than there are tracks (and I mean songs that are completely unrelated to what came before on the same track). Plus, sometimes there will be a pause after one song and then another one will begin, then the track will end, then that song will resume with the next track. It's made in Houston, TX.
― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Friday, 11 February 2005 12:50 (nineteen years ago) link
― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Friday, 18 February 2005 12:48 (nineteen years ago) link
― The Obligatory Sourpuss (Begs2Differ), Friday, 18 February 2005 14:57 (nineteen years ago) link
― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Thursday, 24 February 2005 12:36 (nineteen years ago) link
― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Thursday, 24 February 2005 12:37 (nineteen years ago) link
― DV (dirtyvicar), Thursday, 24 February 2005 13:09 (nineteen years ago) link
― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Thursday, 24 February 2005 13:20 (nineteen years ago) link
― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Thursday, 31 March 2005 23:46 (nineteen years ago) link
― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Thursday, 31 March 2005 23:48 (nineteen years ago) link
Accompanied Nazem al-Gazali in Iraq. That's about as prestigious as you can get for that time and place.
― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Thursday, 31 March 2005 23:57 (nineteen years ago) link
― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Saturday, 2 April 2005 23:51 (nineteen years ago) link
― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 01:53 (nineteen years ago) link
― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 01:54 (nineteen years ago) link
― m0stly clean (m0stly clean), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 03:07 (nineteen years ago) link
― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 11:18 (nineteen years ago) link
― RS, Thursday, 14 April 2005 02:21 (nineteen years ago) link
http://www.negrophonic.com/words/
"saturday, the Arabesk throwdown in Bruxelles. I´ll DJ with an eastward lean and do a brief collabo with Chronomad (who´ll play Persian percussion thru guitar amps over my beats). My Istanbul point man Serhat Köksal aka 2/5 BZ is gonna blast us with a live audio-visual set. No turistik - No egzotik! Turkish lo-fi punk sampler saz psychedelia never sounded/looked so good!"
― steve-k, Friday, 22 April 2005 13:43 (nineteen years ago) link
― steve-k, Friday, 22 April 2005 13:46 (nineteen years ago) link
― steve-k, Friday, 22 April 2005 20:15 (nineteen years ago) link
― RS_LaRue (RSLaRue), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 10:50 (eighteen years ago) link
― RS_LaRue (RSLaRue), Friday, 29 April 2005 02:11 (eighteen years ago) link
http://www.shahrokhmusic.com/oldmusic.htm
there are samples here. his album "ghoroob" ("dusk") is particularly amazing for the classic psychedelic instrumentation. his "dance mix" album has fantastic irangeles beats.
― vahid (vahid), Friday, 29 April 2005 03:14 (eighteen years ago) link
bombastic = defining characteristic of persian music!
OTOH if some of it sounds saccharine, i'd venture that it's because of cultural distance. same way asian music might sound harsh to westernized ears.
― vahid (vahid), Friday, 29 April 2005 03:20 (eighteen years ago) link
― vahid (vahid), Friday, 29 April 2005 03:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― RS_LaRue (RSLaRue), Friday, 29 April 2005 03:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― steve-k, Friday, 29 April 2005 12:43 (eighteen years ago) link
― RS_LaRue (RSLaRue), Friday, 29 April 2005 12:45 (eighteen years ago) link
On the other hand, I've been extremely happen with some of the trad. pop Syrian things I've been buying, and I really like that (mostly solo) kanun CD by Abrahama Salman, and I definitely am going to look into a couple recent Gulfen releases. (See above.)
― RS_LaRue (RSLaRue), Monday, 2 May 2005 22:33 (eighteen years ago) link
― RS_LaRue (RSLaRue), Monday, 2 May 2005 22:38 (eighteen years ago) link
http://f1.pg.briefcase.yahoo.com/bc/askthegirl/lst?.dir=/Party+from+Damascus!
― RS_LaRue (RSLaRue), Sunday, 8 May 2005 12:40 (eighteen years ago) link
― RS_LaRue (RSLaRue), Sunday, 8 May 2005 12:41 (eighteen years ago) link
― RS_LaRue (RSLaRue), Sunday, 8 May 2005 12:46 (eighteen years ago) link
― RS_LaRue (RSLaRue), Sunday, 8 May 2005 12:52 (eighteen years ago) link
"Please stop comparing Nadeh El Shazly female singers to Bjork."― Doran, Sunday, December 24, 2017 2:23 PM (two years ago) bookmarkflaglink
How about Leila Arab, then? I know I'm late to the party, but Ahwar is a knockout.
― Deflatormouse, Friday, 7 February 2020 23:03 (four years ago) link
How one song got an entire music genre banned in Egypt- https://www.aljazeera.com/podcasts/thetake/2020/03/song-entire-music-genre-banned-egypt-200327190236398.html
Sadly, it wasn't "Shape of You":
"Egypt's low-tech, high-energy mahraganat music blasted out of the shantytowns to top the global charts on SoundCloud and rack up hundreds of millions of views on YouTube. But one slip-up at a massive concert in Cairo threw the entire genre's future into question.
"In this episode, we hear from Mina Girgis, an Egyptian ethnomusicologist based in the United States."– (Al Jazeera, 28 Mar 2020)
― sbahnhof, Sunday, 5 April 2020 22:53 (four years ago) link
As mentioned in that podcast
WARNING: may contain references to the illegal and delicious hashish
Hassan Shakosh feat. Omar Kamal - "Bent El Geran" (The neighbour's girl)مهرجان بنت الجيران " بهوايا انتي قاعده معايا " حسن شاكوش و عمر كمال - توزيع اسلام ساسوhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHBaHQau8b4
― sbahnhof, Sunday, 5 April 2020 22:54 (four years ago) link
I need to listen to that podcast. Thanks for posting
― curmudgeon, Monday, 6 April 2020 03:58 (four years ago) link