Naïssam Jalal - Om Al Aagayeb (2019)

 

Grabado en El Cairo con 13 músicos egipcios, esta séptima obra de Naïssam Jalal es un paseo por el Egipto musical de ayer y de hoy, una historia personal e introspectiva, una pequeña joya de vida y poesía.
Egipto es Om al donia, la madre del mundo. También es, para citar a Sayed Darwish, Om al Aaagayzb, la madre de las maravillas. Aagayeb significa maravillas, maravillas pero también extrañeza, rarezas. Madre de maravillas e improbabilidades, madre paradójica de la dignidad y la humillación, tierras cálidas como el amor que uno le tiene y libre como la risa de los que lleva. Madre tierna y brutal, que muere de hambre y duele, da la bienvenida y oprime a un pueblo que camina sobre el hilo de la vacilación, entre la realidad cruda y los sueños llenos de representaciones, como un drama que se convierte en vida, como lágrimas dormidas, en el hueco de la corazón, esperando mejores días. Y, sin embargo, su historia continúa su curso. Como el Nilo incansablemente, desde los albores del tiempo.
https://www.francemusique.fr/jazz/jazz-bonus-naissam-jalal-om-al-aagayeb-79414

 

 

Abdo Dagher (violon)
Hazem Shaheen (oud)
Om Sameh (voix)
Adel Mikha (voix, daf)
Cheikh Mohamed Mohammadi (voix)
Fady Badr (claviers)
Wael Al Sayed (accordéon)
Shadi Al Jundi (qanun)
Mohamed Salah (violoncelle)
Mohamed Sami (violon)
Ahmed Amin (contrebasse)
Hany Bdeir (daf, req)
Mohamed Zatona (daf)
Naïssam Jalal (flûte, nay, voix, composition)

01. Am Ahmad (0:09)
02. Al Maadiya (5:40)
03. Bint Al Balad (11:15)
04. Ya Roh (5:11)
05. Am Abdo (6:03)
06. Ahl Al Nuba (4:04)
07. Shagan (7:57)
08. Soq Al Tnen (4:53)
09. Om Al Aagayeb (6:27)

Read More

Nadah El Shazly - Ahwar

Nawa Recordings present Ahwar, the debut album by Nadah El Shazly. Starting out singing Misfits covers in a local punk band, then moving on to producing her own electronic tracks and making a name for herself in Cairo's underground scene, Nadah El Shazly's backstory is not that unusual. Her debut album on the other hand, is an entirely unexpected story. Two years in the making, Ahwar (Arabic for "marshlands") is an otherworldly record, not unlike an abstract mythological story-tale.

Opening with the mangled and filtered vocals of "Afqid Adh-Dhakira (I Lose Memory)", like an alien dream, the drones of a bowed double bass lead the listener into a drum groove that lays the groundwork for El Shazly's sultry and captivating presence. The Arabic prose lingers over interjections of slap-back delayed guitar twangs and an avant-garde arrangement of dissonant winds, horns, and seemingly random drum fills, ending with an eerie soundscape that wouldn't feel out of place in a giallo classic. Composed, written, and produced by El Shazly herself in collaboration with The Dwarfs Of East Agouza's Maurice Louca and Sam Shalabi on co-composition and arrangement duties, the album was crafted across two continents, between Canada and Egypt, and features the crème of Montreal's contemporary-classical and improvised music scene, most of whom are members of Shalabi's own Land Of Kush ensemble.

In between El Shazly's five original tracks, the listener is treated to an abstract conversion of Sayyid Darwish's classic "Ana 'Ishiqt (I Once Loved)". El Shazly's haunting vocal floats over broken kalimba and harp arpeggios which slowly intertwine with a free, bowed double bass improv to nestle within the breaks between Younes Al-Qadhi's early 20th century verses of love and betrayal. More than that, it is difficult to really describe, but imagine the worlds of Nico, Björk, and Annette Peacock with the Arabic language as their mother tongue, re-approached through acoustic avant-jazz harmony and re-constructed with a dash of Kamilya Jubran's modern styling of Arabic maqam and you may be somewhere close. Recorded and delicately mixed through miles of analog cabling by Thierry Amar and mastered by Harris Newman, the album is adorned with the surrealist artwork of Egyptian artist Marwan El-Gamal and designed with custom typography by Egyptian designer Valerie Arif.

https://nadahelshazly.bandcamp.com/album/ahwar
 




1. Afqid Adh-Dhakira (I Lose Memory) 04:39
2. Barzakh (Limen) 08:19
3. Palmyra 05:09
4. Ana 'Ishiqt (I Once Loved) 06:34
5. Koala 07:04
6. Mahmiya (Protectorate) 06:08

Read More

Maryam Saleh | Maurice Louca | Tamer Abu Ghazaleh - Lekhfa الإخفاء

Lekhfa is the creation of Maryam Saleh, Maurice Louca and Tamer Abu Ghazaleh, three legendary musicians who came of age in 1990s Cairo. Decades later, the three trailblazing musicians, each having paved their way through the alternative Arabic music scene, have united to create a stunning new album. A rapturous combination of extraordinary musical talent and creativity, Lekhfa gives birth to an off kilter sound where layers of grit and beauty intertwine in and around the dystopian poems of their contemporary Mido Zoheir, whom they’ve dubbed the fourth ‘member’ in this creation, and one of the most talented Egyptian poets of their generation.






1. Kont Rayeh
2. Nefsif Akli
3. Ekaa Maksour
4. Mathaf Fonoun El Ghesh
5. Mazzikaw Khof
6. El Shahwa Wel Soaar
7. Teskar Tebki
8. Woshoush El Leil
9. Makonsh Wakoun
10. Ayez Awsal

Read More