This beautiful record is another of the treasures sent by Joachim from Germany. Thanks Joachim!
The Comoros islands sit in the Indian Ocean off the North Western coast of Madagascar and have long been an important stop on the trading routes of African and Arabic sailors. The music of the islands reflect the diverse cultural influences of the islands visitors, settlers and colonial powers. Traders, Hadhrami sailors and Malagasy pirates came to the islands and found precious corals, ylang-ylang, spices and gold and among the things they left were rhythms, sounds and songs.
The gabusi is a small lute played in the Comoros isles that has its origins in the Yemen but which can be found (with a variety of names) across East Africa, the Arab peninsula and the islands of the Indian Ocean - a testament to the travels of the Hadhrami traders.
This was a great find at this week's car boot sale. Any info or translations would be greatly appreciated as I'm in the dark as to what exactly this is. I think its from Egypt, the recordings were possibly made in the '70s and its a fantastic listen!
Here's a taster of one of the tracks from the album:
"It all started with a telephone call and a number of new records. The film star, Ahmed Mazar, rang up his friend, Nadia Loutfi, to say 'hello', and it happened that she was listening to some new songs which had just arrived for her from Beirut. He becomes interested and they listen together over the telephone. They like the songs and express their pleasure over them - so why not have a party? This is exactly what happened and they invited all their friends for a big party where the songs formed the major part of the entertainment, and they spent a wonderful evening. We, on our part, wanted you to share this evening with them abd this is where the idea of this L.P. can=me into being. As you listen to the conversation on the telephone and to the songs you will also spend one of the most memorable evenings in Cairo."
I'm dubious about all that party talk. Most of the music on the album, beautiful though it is, does not sound like it would go down too well at any party I've ever been to. Maybe its because I don't understand the language, but these songs sound quite sad to my ears. The sound is full of yearning...longing. The music positively aches out of the speakers, whispering of unrequited love and passions unfulfilled, wailing out nameless sorrows and sighing in resignation.
Tracklist:
01 Sabah – Dahlak Tell Ou Hakina 02 Najat Essaghira – Fakkar Ya Habibi 03 Fahd Bellane* – 12 Youm 04 Randa – Vive L'Amour 05 Sharifa Fadel – Yaeish Al Mouallem 06 Fayza Ahmad – Eteraf 07 Samira Tewfik – Allayina Rayatna 08 Abdel Halim Hafez* – Layali And Maoual
Abdel Halim Hafez was, alongside Oum Kalsoum, one of Egypt and the Arabic speaking world's most popular singers. Here's what the liner notes have to say about his 1967 performance at the Royal Albert Hall:
"For the first time in the long history of the Royal Albert Hall, this great and world famous auditorium was transformed for one evening in November 1967 into something resembling the palace of a great Caliph in the golden age of the Arab empire. It was filled to capacity with an audience of Arabs and thier friends of various nationalities, all of whom have a tremendous affection for the popular singing star of the Middle East - Abdul Halim Hafez"
The audience response on this album is rapturous, Abdel walks on the stage and the crowd go wild, it really is something special to hear. The music is often solemn and gentle in pace but its a beautiful melencholy sound which complements the singer's powerful voice perfectly.
Enjoy.
Tracklist:
Side One - Adda Al-Nahar / Ala Hisb Wihad / Al Tuba
"The most important single element of Morocco's folk culture is its music...the entire history and mythology of the people is clothed in song"
Paul Bowles Their Heads Are Green and Their Hands are Blue
In March this year I spent five perfect days in Marrakech. I had flown into the city full of grand plans - I was to go record hunting in Casablanca, I would catch a bus up the Ourika Valley and spend two days walking in the mountains. Of course I did neither of these things - the chaos and excitement of life in the medina sucked me in and wouldn't let go. I spent my days wandering the narrow streets making a mental map of the labyrinth at the heart of the ancient city. Each night as darkness fell I would wander from my hotel to the Djemaa El Fna - the Assembly of the Dead - to lose myself in the crowds at this unique, permanent festival.
Over the four nights I spent wandering from halqah to halqah I was treated to some incredible music and performances, and what really struck me on this visit was how communal and participatory the performances are. The crowds which gather around the musicians show their appreciation for a good rendition by singing along. The resulting sounds can be electrifying.
Follow the link below and you'll find 50 something minutes of recordings from the square made between March 3rd and March 7th this year. In posting these recordings, my thoughts go out to all those affected by the bomb that went off in the Cafe Argana on Aprl 28th, and to the thousands of Moroccans who attended the pro peace and pro democracy marches over the following weekends. Nights on the Place of Dead Roads
Lemchaheb, or The Torches, were along with Nass El Ghiwane and Jil Jilala, one of the founding groups of Moroccan Chaabi, a popular musical form that sought to blend traditional Moroccan folk music styles with Western pop styles to create an idiosyncratic sound. By the late seventies, Lemchaheb's music was charecterised by their use of the electric guitar, but that's nowhere to be heard on this beautiful early recording which instead features the gorgeous vocals of Saida Birouk, the female band member who was part of the group until 1978.
Lemchaheb's sound on these recordings is very melodic and quite gentle, in contrast to some of the other Moroccan music I've posted in the past, which might make it a good point of entry for the wary. The group are still well loved in Morocco and you may hear some of their songs being played by the groups of musicians that congregate in the Djemaa el Fna.
Here's a track from their 1978 album:
Tracklist:
Side 1: Lkhyala Amana Alwad Attalab
Side 2: Wana A Ommi Lalla Lakbira Kif Nghanni Ya Sah
I picked this up at a boot sale a couple of weeks ago and was initially disappointed that the tape doesn't play 'properly'. The sounds coming from my old walkman were twisted and warped and chunks of sound kept dropping out - suddenly all the bass is gone, or there's a weird flanging effect. It didn't take long for my disappointment to turn to delight and curiosity, I've now played this a few times and suspect that it might sound better now than it did when it was initially released. This is urgent, percussion heavy, bellydance music from somewhere in the Middle East, though I have no idea where. A period of neglect has done some strange things to the cassette, and this music now sounds like time has played at being King Tubby at the controls of some celestial mixing desk. Exciting stuff and I hope you enjoy it. As usual, any information about this music would be greatly appreciated.
This is an awe-inspiring live recording from 1972 of Farid el Atrache, 'the King of the Oud', which captures the fevered atmosphere of one of his concerts. Farid is considered to be one of the greatest oud players in the world and one of the most important Arabic artists. He was born in 1915 in Syria, but moved to Egypt as a child. His musical career started in the 1930s and then in the 1940s he embarked on a career in the movies, acting and composing soundtracks.
Farid was something of a playboy and refused to marry arguing that marraige kills art. There's more info to be found HERE and a bunch more mp3s over HERE.
Here's a great clip from one of his films:
The oud solos on this recording really are something special and I hope you enjoy this as much as I am.
Om Kalsoum (or Umm Kulthum, Om Koultoum, Om Kalthoum, Oumme Kalsoum, or Umm Kolthoum) was Egyptian and recognised as one of the most important Arabic singers of the 20th Century. Rumour has it that more than a million people filled the streets of Cairo on the day of her funeral, a measure of the extent to which her songs touched the hearts of the Egyptian people.
On this album she sings one long, plaintive song that aches and gnashes its teeth and claws at its tear-stained cheeks.
Here's a snippet of the the lady herself performing this very song:
The last batch of Persian pop 45s that I posted here proved very popular, so here's a few more for your listening pleasure. All 3 of these great records feature unknown male vocalists. The first two are kind of urgent and quite hectic, while the last (which has the beautiful label artwork) has a kind of languid, melancholic psychedelic beat sound going on.
As before, I'd really appreciate some help finding out who the artists are because I can't read Farsi. And many thanks to those who took the time to find out about the last lot, all info about them can be found in the comments for that post.
UPDATE (04/03/09):
Many thanks to Iranian blogger, Jadi for the information about these great Persian songs.
These two songs are by Aghasi and side 1 is called Amene:
These two are also by Aghasi and side 1 is called Leily.
Having done a bit of digging, it seems that Aghasi was very popular across Iran and appeared in a number of films. This clip of the man in action is great:
This one is by Artik while the song title is Matrood.
This is the b side of the Artik single and its called Vaghti Del Khosh Nabashe (When you do not feel good in the heart). The label artwork belongs to the Shah's Ministry of Economy and the Empire of Iran's logo is printed at the top...every object has a story to tell, and this record came dancing to the market just like Marx's table.
All the broken links from this previous post have now been fixed so you can listen to and download these fabulous Arabic and Persian pop records. Check them out, and I'd still be really grateful if anyone could identify the mystery music. Thanks.
These pieces of vinyl were picked up over 10 years ago in a dirty old second hand shop. They were in a box, surrounded by knick-knacks, broken furniture and old tins filled with gaudy costume jewellery. I bought them for pennies, took them home and played them a couple of times, since then they've sat in a box in my house, surrounded by knick-knacks and broken furniture. The other day I found them, cleaned them up and played them again, hearing them with new ears. I like these scratchy old records. With the cd we're offered the promise of perfect sound forever, but I don't generally want that. I like the imperfection of old vinyl. Maybe its a fetish on my part, but the crackly sounds of old records serve to remind me that these commodities have TRAVELLED...across borders and through time. They've rested awhile in one place or another and then moved on and in the process they've witnessed a changing world. I sometimes like to think of the stories these objects might tell me, of the places they've been and the people they've met. These particular old records come from the Arabic speaking world...this is Arabic pop music from the '50s and '60s and how they came to end up in a junk shop is anyone's guess.
(Somebody has mentioned that this page is confusing, so just to clarify...the label photographs are followed by the songs from that record, ie this photo is of the label of the Om Kalsoum single and the two songs are side 1 and side 2. Hope this helps.)
Om Kalsoum was one of Egypt's most popular singers and her voice is wonderful on these two moody songs.
Pooran was a popular singer in Iran throughout the '50s, '60s and '70s. I'm loving the two songs on this 7", especially side 1 with its air raid siren and dubby echoes. This stuff feels a bit like its beemed in from another planet...Iran of the 1960s possibly?
(Pouran)
Anonymous wrote: "Just so you know, these songs aren't Arabic, they're Persian. The first song is "Sheytoonak" (شیطونک), and the second is "Ghariba" (قریبه), both from the album "Darya Darya" (دریا دریا). The singer is Ramesh (رامش)." Thanks to him for the info!
I have no idea about these last two singles, who they're by or where they're from is a complete mystery. Please comment if you can enlighten me. In the meantime, enjoy these transmissions from a forgotten world.
Note added 29/11/08:
Still not been able to find out who the mystery records are by, but just read a lovely post about Umm Kalthum (or Om Kalsoum as she appears on this record) over at Babe(b)logue. You can read it here, and there's also a whole album of her best recordings to be downloaded.
The music is, of course, for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear then go out and try and buy stuff...or something, give money to a down on his luck musician, or sponsor a good busker, it may be the start of something beautiful.
If any of the zips die, then post a comment and i'll try to repost. And leave comments, abuse, name calling, any response is welcome.
I think all of the albums posted are currently unavailable, but if this is not the case we'll remove the offending files.
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