Skip to main content

Middle Eastern music


I realized it’s been a long time since I’ve featured Middle Eastern music on Al compás del mundo. The remedy is found herein, and it’s not only Arab music but the playlist includes tunes from Kurds, Nubians, Iranians and Amazight (formerly referred to as “Berbers”). It’s fair to say everything here is rooted in traditional music, though at least one piece, by Amina Aloui and the Ahmed Ensemble, refers back to a classical Arab-Andalusian music that evolved from 9th century Spain to 21st century Algeria. Another Algerian, Abdelli, sings in the Amazight language and is probably the example that strays most beyond its folk origins. Some stand-outs, in my mind, are the anonymous Tunisian number – slow, evocative, powerful and earthy via a dreadnaught drum, flute and women’s chorus and the first tune of the program by Yemeni Mohammad al-Masuri, marked by the same pure and unadorned substance that defines the very essence of “folk” music.  [continues below]  

Al compás del mundo - programa #166, 2-6-25, the Middle East
RUN LIST


01 Mohammad al-Masuri - يييييي قلبي (Yemen)

02 al-Bilabil - al-Bysel ma bituoh (Sudan)

03 Ali Hassan Kuban - Gammal (Nubia, Egypt)

04 el-Tanbura - Nahnu al-Bamboubiya (Egypt)

05 Amina Alaoui and the Ahmed Ensemble - Andalusian Music of the Gharnati Tradition (Algeria)

06 anónimo - titulo desconocido (Kurdish, Iran-Iraq)

07 Majid Derakhshani Mahbanoo Ensemble - Ma Ra Bas (Khorasan, Iran)

08 anónimo – título desconocido (Tunisia) 

09 Jil Jilala - Baba aadi (Morrocco)

Mmm, donuts Musa, Mahmoud

10 Manal Musa and Mahmoud Badawiya - Gafra wa zareef (Palestine)

11 Manar - Adare (Shloun) (Iraq)

12 Abdelli - Ayafrouk (Amazigh, Algeria)

13 Yasser Habeeb - Elama (United Arab Emirates)

[continued] There are other noteworthy examples, quite possibly foreign to your ears:  el-Tanbura from the Egyptian port city of Ismailiya plays an idiosyncratic regional style of music (on the tanbura) not found elsewhere in that country. al-Bilabil (The Nightingales) from Sudan, performing here a 1960s hit, were sometimes referred to as the Sudanese Supremes.” And Jil Jilala’s banjo-led music was influential in a Morroccan folk renaissance of the 1970s. Finally, the dabke, a Levantine dance for times of joy and celebration, shakes the rafters in this Palestinian version by Manal Musa and Mahmoud Badawiya. One can only hope for a multitude of dabke-worthy events looking forward for the long-suffering people of that land.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

British Invasion - 1960s

I wanted to declare “Kick out the jams, mo’fos!” as a signpost towards the message in this week’s Al compás del mundo radio show, but that actually came about a little later. As humanity descended ever deeper into the Cro-Magnon state, Iggy Pop and the punks claimed that honor. What we have here instead, is a post-WWII let’s shake up the political order a bit, and no, not everyone has signed up to be an unconscious consumer attitude. There’s something afoot with these lads. Not exactly revolutionary fervor, but most certainly promoting a change in the general way of things. Recalling Che Guevara’s famous quote “Do Wah Diddy Diddy”, the Animals, Yardbirds, Rolling Stones et. al. pouted and preened – some more than others – in a way that hadn’t quite been done before. Youthful vigor ensued. These groups pushed the evolutionary chain of popular music a step further and we’re all better off for it.  Set list Al compás del mundo programa #183, 6-5-25 - The British Invasion, 1960s 01 Yar...

Funk and Soul

  Al compás del mundo - programa #169, 2-27-25, Funk and Soul   01 The Commodores - Brick House 02 Tower of Power - Drop It In The Slot 03 Parliament - Ride On 04 Sly & The Family Stone – Frisky 05 The Webb People – I’m Sending Vibrations 06 Ruby Delicious - Rock Steady 07 Mandrill - Git It All 08 The San Francisco TKOS – Herm 09 Ohio Players - Fire 10 Parliament - Mothership Connection (Star Child) 11 Kool & The Gang - Jungle Boogie 12 Chico and Buddy - A Thing Call the Jones 13 Little Ann – Possession 14 Lafayette Afro-Rock Band - Time Will Tell 15 Parliament - Ain't Nuthin' But a Jam Y'all   What did James Brown mean when he said “we’re gonna have a funky good time”? This “funky” of which he spoke, was it strictly musical (and danceable), or maybe sexual, sociable, or even political? Or maybe a little bit of each? Funk, funky, funkify, funkadelic, funkalicious…all pointing at the pleasure principle…a new dialect for the “blue...

Nuyorican boogaloo cha-cha-cha

 I’m labelling this week’s playlist as “Nuyorican” music, the lion’s share of the players from Puerto Rico or of Puerto Rican ancestry.  Two notable exceptions are Joe Bataan, a Filipino-African American, and Mongo Santamaria born in Cuba. What they all have in common, however, was centered around the music scene of New York City where African American and Latino musicians forged a common ground in creating “boogaloo” dance music, mixing elements of R&B, Soul, and Latin dance rhythms. The boogaloo genre was fairly short-lived, enjoying popularity during the 1960’s before giving way to salsa, in what was largely an East Coast and Caribbean impulse. “Watermelon Man” and ”El Watusi” were early and major boogaloo hits, but truly, most of the titles included in the program were popular recordings in their day, whether cha-cha-chas like Tito Puente’s “Oye Como Va”, or GFyEN’s guajira. I’ve gathered them here for an hour’s worth of revelation for those too young to have heard thi...