Arabic music (not elsewhere classified)

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

And here's Roh el Roh, for old time's sake:

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

Needs more discourse. :(

There's a middle eastern restaurant near my work and I go there once in a while. They generally have on an Arab music channel, and the trend seems to be for videos that have pointlessly long credits at the end, like half as long as the main portion of the video itself. And there's nothing particularly impressive about most of the videos. Very peculiar. I still think Arab pop/popular music is in pretty sad shape at them moment, overall, especially the Egyptian or imitation-Egyptian stuff. I do find more to like in current khaleeji music.

EMBASSY OF BAHRAIN
3502 International Drive NW Washington DC
Friday, November 13, 2009, 7:30 PM

Join us for a wonderful celebration of Bahraini music with outstanding artists from Bahrain. A lavish buffet follows. This is our first Arabian Gulf State. Come celebrate with us. $100/BUFFET

With: ten year veteran on acoustic and electric guitar, Mr. Mohammed has played with several artists and groups from Bahrain such as alshimoo band, ikhuwa band, latin jazz and the Lumavida Band. He collaborated with the Maestro Khalifa Zeman in a song composed and produced by Mr. Khalifa Zeman, of the Bahraini Music Group, and was part of the National Festival of Bahrain.

Zeyad Khalifa bin Zaiman

A Bahraini artist, musician and pianist since age 2, Mr. Zaiman has participated in festivals, local and international competitions, and television and Radio programs. Mr. Zaiman plays the clarinet, guitar, piano and many other instruments on his own compositions. At this event he will be performing mostly on clarinet and piano. He is working now towards earning his degree in Music at the Higher Institute for Music in Kuwait.

Banning Eyre from the new afropop blog:

Flew into Vegas on Tuesday night for the big Sahra spectacle at the MGM Grand. Khaled from Algeria, Assala Nasri from Syria, and Rida Al Abdulla from Iraq will headline an extravagant stage show featuring 100 musicians and dancers. All to raise money for children's causes in N. Africa and the Middle East. This is a rare one. Very few non-English music shows ever play on the big stages here, and this will be in the Garden Arena, set up to seat some 8,000. (Its full capacity is twice that!) http://www.afropop.org/banningsblog/"> http://www.afropop.org/banningsblog/

When I was considering interviewing for a job in Las Vegas, the prospect of seeing Arab performers perform there occasionally was definitely a plus. In fact, I think it's a little more common for big-name Arab performers to perform there than in most other cities in the U.S., possibly even NYC. (I decided Albuquerque is already a little too dry for me, so Vegas was out, not to mention the more extreme heat as well.)

http://afropop.org/multi/feature/ID/919/Sahra:%20Arab%20Stars%20in%20Vegas,%20review%20by%20Banning%20Eyre

More on the big show in Vegas

I really wish Baligh Hamdi had done some all-instrumental recordings:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G05ooMSOj5E&feature=related

These are fantastic.

Thanks, not that I can take a lot of credit for them.

Samira Tewfic (Toufic, Toufiq, Tawfik):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H-lam4SkEY

Sounds like Lebanese band behind here (I think she lives there), but looks like concert is in a Gulf state.

I could just completely bullshit here. "That style of ney playing is obviously Jordanian." Nobody would know the difference.

Shadia:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etx7_4AL-kI

I think that's a really good song, it's not so much about her own contribution. I guess I will have to pick up the 2 CD best of that came out a couple years back.