01
- ahmed fakroun - njoom al leyel
02
- tanya - darladi ladada version
03
- antares - arabian dance
04
- orient express - abdullah dollar (jean pierre massiera '83)
05
- les mogol - madimak
06
- baris manco - aheste (baris k edit)
07
- rachid taha - agatha
08
- djamel allam - edit d'algerie (julian horn)
09
- bjork - crystalline (omar souleyman remix)
10
- elias rahbani - dance of maria
11
- abdul hassan orchestra - disco arab
12
- ait mislayene - el fen
13
- ahmed fakroun - yo son (prince language edit 'soleil soleil')
14
- raina rai - hagda
15
- les edits du golem - sumak
I have always liked
the various forms of oriental music from the Middle East. Listening
to my father playing some Mohammed Abdel Wahab (check out the
classic Abdel Halim Hafez song Ya Albi Ya Khali produced by him) or Farid El Atrache
tapes as a child was always deep and fazinating stuff! And the record
covers of some of his Belly Dancing albums never seemed to
disappoint. In recent years, whenever listening to some oriental
music, I found myself mostly listening to music from Nickodemus, Zeb, The Spy From Cairo,
Rachid Taha,
Natacha Atlas - music
which sometimes is summarized/described as global grooves
(whatever that means) - music shared on many great Putumayo, Rough Guide to... or
Turntables on the Hudson compilations and
mixes. Today's compilation is a little different. Kind of Oriental
Disco, Disco Not Disco, No Wave, Leftfield, Edit, Balearic, Italo
Disco with an oriental theme, Pop-Boogie-Electro,
Cosmic...
I have always collected "oriental" songs which fit the above
mentioned description. One of the first songs for this compilation might
have been track #7, Agatha by Rachid Taha. Found it one a nice
Balearic mix, whose name I have forgotten. Another early favourite is track# 10, Dance Of Maria by Lebanese musician and
composer Elias Rahbani. What a stand out track with great drum
breaks, killer organ, flutes... Too beautiful not to cry! Taken from
his 1972 album "Mosaic
of the Orient".
Let
me share what Little
Danny, who is responsible for the great Officenaps blog, writes on soul sides - he did a
great job describing the surroundings of the song: "In 1972 you’d
still come across references to Beirut as "The Paris of the Middle
East" in current issues of National
Geographic; the
city was, after all, the region’s nerve center of television,
cinema, and radio. And Lebanese pop wunderkind Elias Rahbani was
squarely in the middle of it all. His "Song of Maria" works
precisely because of its cosmopolitan soul: it’s Eastern melody
with Western circuitry, experimentalism with a sense of pop humor,
and it’s crammed with flowing Farfisa organ lines, electric bass,
keyboards that aren’t mizmars but sound exactly like them,
bouzoukis, guitars, and even a few choice moments for you breakbeat
aficionados. But, then again, this was 1972, a ravaging decade and a
half of civil war was still a few years away, and, as far as Rahbani
was concerned, there was room for all of it inside the pleasure
dome.“ Read the rest here.
The song that really got this compilation rollin' was track #13, the
Prince Language killer edit of Libyan singer Ahmed Fakroun's 1983 hit "Soleil
Soleil". Find the original here.
John Storm Roberts, of Original Music, wrote that "among rai
singers, the pop-oriented Ahmed Fakroun stands out on two grounds.
First, he is influenced by Euro-pop and French art-rock (...) Second,
he's a multi-instrumentalist in both traditions as well as a singer.
He plays bouzouki-like saz, mandol and darbouka drum, as well as
guitar, bass guitar and keyboards." This is what the jonosaudio
blog had to
say about Ahmed Fakroun, far the best introduction to this fine
musicians I found on the blogsphere: "Multiinstrumentalist Ahmed
Fakroun musical career started already in the early 1970's after
which he had several lenghty recording and performance sejours in
England and France. (In 1974 he recorded "Njoom Al Leyel", which
is the first song featured on this compilation. Produced in England
by famous BBC Radio producer Tommy Vance in 1974, it features some
funky flute workouts over a deep groove. In 1977 he worked together
with famous Greek composer and artist Vangelis resulting in the track "Nisyan". Listen to the Les Edits Du Golem edit of the same song
on youtube.) In 1983 his
Mots D'Amour album
was released including the hit single Soleil
Soleil
to make his mark in world music circles, combining traditional Arab
instruments and melodies with modern electronic music and dance
rhythms. But
then came the US aerial bombing of Libya in April 1986, followed by
years of international sanctions and isolation, ...(which) seriously
impeded its citizens' freedom of movement and Fakroun's international
career plans were effectively put on ice." Here is another lengthy
article about Ahmed Fakroun from the BBC website - well worth
reading. If you want
to further explore Fakroun's musical works, check out his website. Some of his original
recordings can legally be downloaded through CD Baby here and here. Track #8 is another song I
would like to mention. A brilliant edit of Djamel Allam's Fatiha from
his 1974 album "Laissez Moi Rancorter" by Julian Horn. Julian Horn aka. Giulio DJ started his career
DJ'ing in Vienna around ten years ago, bringing his love for
authentic disco, balearic beats and cosmic leftfield sounds to the
plates of many locals. Check out some of his music released on Is it Balearic...? and
Elevator People.
And don't forget to give this amazing song and video on youtube a
listen.
Pure feel-good-music! Educated as a sound engineer in London,
Giulio's musical visions mostly expand on the themes of balearic
disco, fusion jazz, and prog rock. I hope he will soon share another
magical edit of a north african, arabic, oriental delicacy! I would
have loved to include the 1978 song Do You Love Me by the Bendaly
Family from Lebanon on this compilation, but I couldn't find a copy
of it anywhere. So, you gotta watch the youtube version right here:
Amazing raw
footage that leaves me jaw dropping stunned every time I watch it.
And happy! For sure my favourite musical family out there -
together with the Jackson 5... Doyo love me? Doyo Doyo...
Enjoy!
DubMe
PS:
This compilation fits perfectly on one CD - just click "NO PAUSE
BETWEEN TRACKS" when you are going to burn it - and the CD will
be exactly 79:59 minutes long...
