Middle East & India Music

  Hicham Chami may be young (he was born in 1977) but his approach to his music is classical all the way: any dancing to this music would be very subdued indeed.

 The qanum (sometimes spelled kanoom) is a string instrument held flat on the player's lap or on a small table. It has many strings that resemble the inside of a miniature piano, of which the qanum is the great-granddaddy. The strings of the qanum are plucked, often with both hands.

 Although Hicham Chami's homeland Morocco is in Africa, it's primarily the home to Arab and Berber peoples.  The  music is generally what Americans could call Middle Eastern. 

 Hicham's only accompanist on PROMISES is Catherine Alexander, who plays small frame drums which resemble tambourines (again, related instruments). Her playing is much more precise and studied than what we are used to hearing from tambourine players.

 The overall mood of PROMISES is of a gentle but serious nature - but not so serious that only a few could appreciate it.

 Two virtuosos sitting down to make great music without trying to show off or upstage each other: the music comes first, not the ego, making PROMISES great indeed.

 Rim Banna is a beautiful Palestinian singer now living in Norway (at least, that's where this recording was done), who writes songs lamenting the plight of her people under Israeli occupation. 

 The tone of THE MIRRORS OF MY SOUL is closer to sad melancholy than angry; the style of her music more Euro-American than Middle Eastern. The musicians all appear to be Europeans, including Rim Banna's chief collaborator Leonid Alexeinko, who I believe is also her husband.  Trap drums, bass, guitar, keyboard and perhaps an occasional flute keep mostly to the background:  Rim Banna's voice is the star here.

 None of the lyrics are in English, though English translations are provided in the liner note's booklet. I presume the singing is in either Aramaic or Palestinian Arabic: it doesn't sound as harsh as most Arabic I've heard. Strangely, it occasionally reminds me of the Joik music of the Sami people from Northern Norway, Finland, and Sweden. The Sami are other people suppressed for many years by their neighbors.

 Reading the English translation of the lyrics lets the reader see another side of the problem, which we don't usually get here in America.

 The first cut with any noticeable Middle Eastern-sounding instruments is Cut 7, 'The Moon Glowed', yet this is a gently rocking tune. Oddly, cut 10, 'The Grandma with a Limp', is the hardest rocking tune on MIRRORS OF MY SOUL.  Rim Banna nearly shouts the lyrics, while a funky electric guitar adds punch. No English translation is provided for this Palestinian folk verse.  Even though Rim Banna is punching her voice more here, she also shows off more vocal tricks on this tune.

 The last cut is a gentle tune with lyrics by Palastinian poet Tawfik Zyaad.

  Near the turn of the millennium Algerian singer and musician Souad Massi left North Africa for France and then the world: a bittersweet moment for her, a lucky moment for the rest of us.

 As a child from a poor family Souad dreamed of seeing the rest of the world, but her heart is in Africa - not just the Arab and Berber Africa of Algiers, but the Africa of the Touregs (Southern Sahara desert) and black Africa further south.

 HONEYSUCKLE, her third album is her most realized effort yet. Algerian Chaabi mixed with the morna of Cape Verdi (popular in Paris), the orchestral sounds associated  with the greats of Egyptian music, the Manding music of Mali, the fado music of Portugal, with touches of flamenco, hints of jazz and pop - this is sophisticated international music very rooted in Northern Africa and the western Mediterranean.

 Along with long-time guitarist Jean-Franchoise Kellner, HONEYSUCKLE features guitarist Djely Moussa Kouyate from Salif Keita's band. Souad adds to the African flavor, singing a duet with Daby Toure: her voice is so soft and gentle you'd never guess she had been the singer in an Algerian metal band.

 Acoustic guitar with cello reminds this listener of the ex-folky singer/songwriters of the early 70s, but not American - more like Morna and fado.   Listen to cut 8, 'Tell Me Why' (Sung in English): if this tune doesn't remind you of George Harrison's Indian period, nothing will.

 Things are not so good in Algeria today, particularly if you're not a fundamentalist Muslim - so there is much sadness in the lyrics of HONEYSUCKLE, yet the music is moving and beautiful, much as the artist herself.

   For decades the Indian movie industry known as Bollywood has turned out hundreds of romantic musicals starring a succession of fresh-faced young stars, all of whom pretend to sing while in actuality seasoned veterans like Asha Bhosle (now a grandmother) do the actual singing. it amazes me as well as others that Asha can still sing the role of a young maiden and sound wonderfully convincing doing it -  Asha has been doing this work since the age of ten. Recording artists around the world line up to record with her.

 LOVE SUPREME consists of two discs and is all Ghazals: that unique musical form so popular in India and Pakistan. Ghazals can be spiritual or earthly romantic or a combination: this concept is hard for Westerners to understand, but once they hear them, they learn to love them.  The arrangements for these Ghazals are surprisingly modern: electric guitars, synthesizers, drum effects, the whole bit - blended with occasional traditional Indian instruments.

 Listen to Asha's baby doll voice play with the melody lines - wow! Frank Sinatra was never that good at 73 years old - before Asha, who was?

 Disc Two consists of romantic duets between Asha and a succession of male vocalists. These songs are taken from Bollywood films so sometimes the sound is not the best, as the traditional way of recording in 'Bollywood' is to turn the sliders or pots on the recording equipment all the way up, creating a fuzzy sound that sounds exciting on the cheap portable stereo so popular throughout India and neighboring lands, but sounds somewhat irritating to Western ears used to listening to music on better equipment in their homes.  But no matter: whenever Asha's angelic voice comes in, the listener is transported to heaven.

 I've loved Asha Bhosle's voice for well over thirty years: to have so much of it in one package is most welcome to say the least.

 If Asha Bhosle is still recording at age 90, her voice will probably still have the power to tear your heart out.

  "What part of Africa is this music from?" someone asked as we played DRUMMING AND CHANTING IN GOD'S OWN COUNTRY: THE TEMPLE MUSIC OF KERALA IN SOUTH INDIA. "It's not from Africa, it's from India," we replied. "India!!? It doesn't' sound like any Indian music I've ever heard before!"  was the reply - and indeed, the temple music of the state of Kerala in South India is different from most other Indian music.

 Listeners will be reminded of the sounds of Northern and Western Africa: no sitars, no tablas, but plenty of percussion drums that look and sound more African or Middle Eastern than our idea of Indian music.

 The state of Kerala borders on the Arabian sea facing west towards Africa and Arabia: it's somewhat cut off from the rest of India by the Western Ghats mountain range, so for many centuries the music changes going in in most of India did not affect the music of Kerala - or at least, the music in the Hindu temples, which retain an early, less complex form.

 This is particularly noticable in the woodwinds such as the Kuzhal, an oboe-like instrument, and in the gongs, which remind this listener of ancient Buddhist temple music - so much so that when the music isn't reminding you of Africa, you might think of Tibet.

 The massive urbanization and homoginization changing the rest of India hasn't hit Kerala yet, but it's only a matter of time - and thanks to the folks at the British Library Sound Archive and Rolf Killius, some of it will live on forever in this cd.

  Pure Arabic vocal at its best, simply presented, supplemented in its opening moments by guitar - then segueing into unexpected directions of pop, organ rock influences: this is modern Arabic music at its best, lacking only detailed liner notes to reveal more of the background and history of SOUT EL LEIL.

 The recording represents the joined forces of a remix engineer Greg Hunter with Egyptian musician Amir Abdel Magid, a producer and arranger. They joined forces: the name 'Fifth Sun' actually derives from the Aztec Mayans who believed in different suns ruling our celestial hemispheres.

 Blend classical Arabic music with modern influences and you have a solid presentation. 

  THE MUSIC OF ISLAM is a representational sampling of the music heard on all fifteen volumes of an incredible series: music from so many countries form so large an area (Africa, Asia, Europe, the islands of the Western Pacific) featuring both instrumentals and vocals from the sacred to the (nearly) profane.

 When I mention music in the Islamic countries to people, they either mention the music known as belly dance or some high-pitched vocal they describe as wailing - a rather negative term.

 Some music in MUSIC OF ISLAM leans in this direction, but many eyes and ears will be opened by listening to this collection: many Westerners have already fallen in love with the Gnawa music of Morocco represented on Cut 3, 'Youbati', for example; or the lovely flute music of Egypt or Pakistan. How about the deep, resonating sound of the oud, the granddaddy of the guitar still played in dozens of countries throughout the Islamic Diaspora, heard here on many different cuts (but none better than cut 5, 'Ya Rabbat El-Hussen', from Yemen).

 Sometimes in light of recent developments Westerners (particularly Americans) think of Muslims as backward, strange, and a little bit crazy and of course a few are - but they aren't the majority. Listen to THE MUSIC OF ISLAM: some of these traditions go back over a thousand years, but they never froze in time - innovations have always appeared.

 Innovations in traditional cultures may not be as immediate and frantically accepted as in the USA, but they do happen. Hopefully here is an opportunity many will take to open up to music they never knew existed.