Arabic Groove offers listeners cultural variety, spice
By Michael Trammell
With all the upheaval in the Arab world, it's good to know that their music is upbeat and progressing.
Putumayo World Music, a music company that records CDs packed with artists from all over the globe, has put together an especially funky blend in the compilation titled Arabic Groove. These contemporary musicians range across many Arab cultures, from Lebanese to Moroccan and from Algerian to Egyptian.
The first track by Abdel Ali Slimani, titled "Moi Et Toi," sets the tone for the collection's mix. All these songs in the collection use the tunes, vocalizations, beats, and instruments from the Arab musical tradition and juxtapose them with Western pop forms. In Slimani's piece, a danceable percussion and base line vibrantly push the groove as Algerian-style singing hauntingly carries the melody. This magical and hypnotic sound gives the music its edge.
An emotional edge is captured by Dania Khatib in her song "Leiley," the third track on the disk. She repeats an Arabic phrase throughout, "Leiley ya einy ya lei," which means "My night, my eye / Oh night." In Lebanese, and other Middle East cultures, this expression hints at the pain one suffers when a loved one is away and connects with the songs of the Bedouins, the nomads who live in the region's deserts.
Dania's voice sings with the soulful style that many listeners may connect with the Flamenco tradition of the Andalusia in southern Spain. Flamenco, influenced by Moorish traditions when Muslims governed the Iberian peninsula 900 years ago, fires its high-powered musical passion through many pieces on the CD.
Flamenco guitar riffs punctuate the soundtrack of Mar Diab's "Amarain." These riffs blend tightly with the Brazilian style percussion that drives the beat. All the cuts on this disk offer dance floor rhythms that would spark any party, but Diab's piece especially kicks a groove that gyrates down to the toes.
Another part of Arabic Groove 's appeal is the traditional instruments sprinkled through many of the songs. Hisham Abbas on his tune "Intel Waheeda" skillfully incorporates playful riffs and chords on the buzok, an Arabic mandolin, to give the piece moments of indie rock twang. "Hely Meli," a piece by Hamid El Shaeri, uses driving strumming patterns on the qanun, a Middle Eastern zither, to add further complexity to an already multi-faceted rhythm.
Interestingly, a cut with a slightly moderate tempo offers one of the album's most unique arrangements. Samples from Kool & The Gang's "Let's Go Dancin'" makes Cheb Tarik's "L'histoire" burst with an infectious sound. A surprising rap break in English splices the two halves of the song together, and a fat-toned synthesizer solo adds another bit of unexpected spice.
Some listeners might criticize the sameness of the eleven tracks on this disk. All the songs are up-tempo danceable numbers with similar hypnotic vocal stylings out of the Arabic tradition. However, a careful listener will be rewarded with the subtleties in rhythm and instrumentation, as well as the varying cultural influences that tinge each singer's voice.
Besides, this album does pack a funky groove.
And as the liner notes state, after listening to this album "one could not be faulted for thinking that the word 'funky' must be of Arabic derivation."
Putumayo CDs can be purchased at Tallahassee's fair trade shops, 10,000 Villages in Market Square and Living Wage in the Tallahassee Progressive Center. Putumayo, on selected CDs, donates a portion of proceeds from sales to organizations such as Mercy Corps, Oxfam America, and Oxfam Novib.
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