Hassan's Got Chops: Balkan Beat Box featuring Hassan ben Jaffar and Har'el Shachal with "Hassan's Mimuna"

Our random tune for today is by Balkan Beat Box, founded in 2003 by Tamir Muskat and Ori Kaplan in New York City. An Israeli band, their goal is to take ancient and traditional music and combine it with hip hop to create a more modern sound that would appeal to people in dancehalls and clubs. They cite as influences Boban Marković, Rachid Taha, Fanfare Ciocarlia, Manu Chao, and Charlie Parker. This song, Hassan's Mimuna, features Hassan Ben Jaffar and Har'el Shachal. Hassan ben Jaffar is a Moroccan master of Gnawa music, while Har'el Shachal is an Israeli performer on Middle Eastern G clarinet and saxophone. Hassan's Mimuna is from Balkan Beat Box's 2005 eponymous debut release.

If you'd like to see a video of a live performance of the song, here you go:



Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.