December 29, 2008
Some Darbuka sounds
The goblet drum (Darbuka, or tablah) is a goblet shaped hand drum used mostly in Arabic, Assyrian, Persian, Balkan, Greek, Armenian, Azeri and Turkish music. Its thin, responsive drumhead and resonance help it produce a distinctively crisp sound. It is of ancient origin, and is believed by some to have been invented before the chair.
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Some bellydancing
Un-related: Serbia, Belgrade on flickr
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December 29, 2008 in Music from the Middle East | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 04, 2008
Israeli Nostalgia
Lahakat HaNahal (The Nahal Band) was the first, and one of the most successful military choir/music troupes that the Israeli Army fostered. It was known for its canonical “Eretz Israel songs” which have become classics. The band gave birth to many Israeli entertainment talents such as Tuvya Tzafir, Neomy Polani, Gidi Gov and more.
Rika Zarai sings “The Almond Orchard”. (YT). 188 more nostalgic singers, bands & songs from the best Israeli Nostalgia site 1950-1980. (The list is in Hebrew, so if you can’t read Hebrew & you wish to explore it anyway, just start clicking away. Thanks to my sister Dafna for that)
Israeli culture: The sign says: “Ashtray – Do not use for garbage”
Disappearing architecture in Israel. Here is Orot cinema where I saw my first movies. I remember going at 6 to see some western with my younger sister Yael, and it got me so scared, I had to hold her during the chase scenes. Tickets were 37 1/2 “prutot” (About 37 cents?) for a double-bill. In 1959 you could still use a well-worn, tiny paper bill for “half a Grush”
The complete text of Hammurabi's Code of Laws. (From Access the Great Books)
Unrelated: From Black to Blue and Back Again. One of single-purpose Color Field Websites. Missing: Purple. More by Damon Zucconi: Null Event (Tomorrow): 12:00 AM Local Time, Continuously
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May 4, 2008 in Music from the Middle East | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 23, 2008
Good to see you back home
So good to see you back home, played by Shlomo Artzi & Shalom Hanoch. It was originally sung by Arik Einstein
Dikla - a song about prisoners of war that are not coming back home
Eyal Golan on YouTube
Just another day by Ohed Hitman
Re-post: Mohammed El-Bakkar, The Man, The Legend, The Music
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February 23, 2008 in Music from the Middle East | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 19, 2007
The Idan Raichel Project
A few nights ago, we drove to UCLA’s Royce Hall for a concert by The Idan Raichel Project.
Keyboardist & composer Idan Raichel infuses a blend of melodic Israeli songs with traditional Ethiopian folk music, Arabic poetry, Yemenite chants, Biblical psalms and Caribbean rhythms. The Project is an ancient-meets-modern Middle Eastern-Ethiopian fusion and had became one of Israel’s biggest musical success stories of recent years.
Raichel composed and arranged many of the tracks, performs vocals and plays the keyboard, while collaborating with other vocalists and musicians. Hit singles include Boi (בואי / "Come"), Im Telech (אם תלך / "If you go") and M'dab'rim B'sheket (מדברים בשקט / "Speaking Quietly").
While the majority of Raichel's songs are in Hebrew, a few are entirely in Amharic, while others include small passages in Amharic, by male and female voices, setting traditional-sounding tunes to modern music. Love-songs predominate in his Hebrew lyrics, including Hinech Yafah (הינך יפה / "Thou art Fair") based on the Song of Songs.
The show was awesome! Thanks to Cocos, for inviting me to the concert!
More: Press release
Wikipedia
My Space
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November 19, 2007 in Music from the Middle East | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 06, 2007
My first LPs
(Click on any pix to biggify)
A nostalgic flickr set of old Israeli LP covers, mostly from the 50’, 60’s & 70’s. (From Kol Yom)
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November 6, 2007 in Music from the Middle East | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
October 13, 2007
And your forehead is covered with black gold…
Arik Einstein is possibly the most Israeli of all modern Israeli singers. His wonderful voice & nostalgic melodies have defined the Israeli experience since the early sixties. Explore his music below:
Arik Einstein on YouTube and many other snippets of songs on Israeli Music
Biography on wikipedia and a longer one in Hebrew
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October 13, 2007 in Music from the Middle East | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 30, 2007
Poogy
Downloadable Live Israeli bootlegs. (From Whistling in the dark)
A Metafilter thread about Ha-Kaveret
Hani Naser Palestinian percussionist
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September 30, 2007 in Music from the Middle East | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 03, 2007
Yemenite Love
Turkish clarinet player Mustafa Kandirali on YouTube - beautiful after a short introduction
Also, Anat Cohen, Israeli jazz Clarinetist now living in NYC. Listen to “Hofim” and more
Some toothless Iraqi singer
Im Nin'Alu by Yemenite singer Ofra Haza, who died of AIDS in 2000
Assaf Seewi is considered to be one of the most talented drummers in the world. YouTube sample. (From Metafilter)
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July 3, 2007 in Music from the Middle East | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 01, 2007
Daughter of Mesopotamia
Azam Ali, from Tehran to Los Angeles
Shada Hassoun, a 26-year-old Iraqi singer won the Arab version of Pop Idol in Beirut a few days ago. Shada Hassoun wrapped herself with the white, red and black flag of Iraq and broke into tears as fans swarmed the stage after her victory on one of the Arab world's most popular entertainment programs. I like this Shada commercial (YouTube)
Also from that Star Academy show, Haifa Wehbe. (No wonder the Muqtadar may want to ban all western music competitions in Sadr City)
Arash Arash, Iranian-Swedish band. (From Reality Carnival)
In the Path of Rumi, celebrating 800 years of the Anatolian mystic Rumi
Bilaydin kas, 3D animated short created by Natig Aghayev. (Takes some time to load)
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April 1, 2007 in Music from the Middle East | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
December 27, 2006
When we were kids
The Great Songs of Moshe Wilensky: Wilensky (1910 - 1997) was one of the most influential composers of the new Israeli Song. He wrote his melodies to the lyrics of prominent Hebrew poets such as Natan Alterman, Tirza Atar and more. The famous singer Shoshona Dammari, as well as Chava Alberstein, and others, performed his greatest hits.
The site includes musical notes, sound, video clips, pictures and scores of 14 songs (on the right sidebar). Here is a typical, evocative song (In 4 versions on the left side - try No. 4 sung by Yehoram Gaon, first):
When we were just kids,
We played on the dunes of the great sea
We lost an aluminum bucket in the sand
And with it we lost a tear of childhood…
Nothing is left now…
And then when we were teens,
We walked on the sand with girls in curls
We dropped a flower on the sands
And with it we lost a tear of puberty…
Nothing is left now…
(etc.)
Also, Religious popular music from Upper Egypt. (Found on Metafilter)
(No time to blog more tonight. Sorry.)
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December 27, 2006 in Music from the Middle East | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
December 13, 2006
Hava Nagilah
Bienvenue à tous sur le site officiel de Chanteur Marocain Hamid Bouchnak
Never abandon a soldier friend is a recent Israeli song about Ron Arad, a pilot who was taken captive in 1986, when his F-4 Phantom warplane went down over Lebanon. He was held by a Lebanese Shi’ite militia group, and later was sold to Iran. He is probably still alive today somewhere. Other songs & poems for Israelis MIA’s
The song was written by the prolific songwriter Ehud Manor. Here are many audio & video clips of Israeli dances, choreographed for songs with Ehud Manor lyrics
Not Middle Eastern! Solla Solla Enna Perumai, a dance routine from a 1981 Bollywood movie "Ellam Inba Mayam". (From Presurfer)
In Arabic music a maqaam is "a technique of improvisation" that defines the pitches, patterns, and development of a piece of music and which is "unique to Arabian art music." There are over seventy heptatonic tone rows or scales of maqaamat. These are constructed from major, neutral, and minor seconds
Hava Nagilah (= "come let us rejoice") for the holidays, from my cyber-friend, cartoonist Revilo
(No time to blog more tonight. Sorry.)
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December 13, 2006 in Music from the Middle East | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
October 15, 2006
Songs of Babel
Tito, Egypt’s most famous male belly dancer . (GooTube. From MonkeyFilter)
Iraqi songs by Ali Al-Essawi. (Found on this Metafilter thread)
Egyptian Reggae by Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers
A tango between God and Satan - The Ark of Orphaned Land plays Oriental metal
The history of the Jews in America has been spelled out in books and dramatized on the big screen. But it has never been told through LP covers. Until now. Mid-Century Jewish Record Album Covers
Bouzouki played by Hasan Cihat Örter
Roger Landes Irish bouzouki
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October 15, 2006 in Music from the Middle East | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 22, 2006
Peace in our Time
Mike’s Ouds and many oud links
Sami Yusuf Live in the USA Tour
The history behind the song Ya Mustapha
Judaica Sound Archives. 7,000 different sound tracks produced between 1901 and the mid-1950s
Magda, Israeli Ethnic and World Label
Arab Music at El-Bab
Peace songs by Miriam Ahuvatel Iron
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July 22, 2006 in Music from the Middle East | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 10, 2006
Foretold in the Language of Dreams
Natacha Atlas is a Palestinian-Belgian singer known for her fusion of Arabic and North African music. You can hear her new album, Mish Maoul here
I received an email from the record company of Natacha Atlas, and they are holding a contest for people who like her music. Users can email [email protected] with the names of three instruments they hear on Natacha's tracks. The company will pick 10 winners from Grow-a-brain readers to receive a free copy of “Mish Maoul”. If you like the sounds, and would like a shot at a free CD, email them now, and write that you read about the offer here.
Elsewhere: Turkish Music
Passover Music from “Tikun Olam”
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May 10, 2006 in Music from the Middle East | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
December 07, 2005
Jamaica in Babylon
Listen to ”Tamally maak" sung by the Egyptian singer Amr Diab, "the Ricky Martin of the Arab World." (From a Metafilter thread about Arabic Salsa)
Abdel Halim Hafez - king of Arabic Music. (From ”Szanalmas”)
Matisyahu Miller, the Hassidic Jewish reggae artist, sings King Without A Crown. Here’s a video card version. Clips from his Concert in Paris. The lion of Zion
Other Jewish Reggae and Ska artists
Israeli Birdsong, for Creative Home Recordings
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December 7, 2005 in Music from the Middle East | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack