No Ifs, Ands or Buts: Wael Kfoury and "Ma Fi Law"

Today's song is by Lebanese pop artist Wael Kfoury, considered one of the most popular figures in Arabic music. Known as the "King of Romance," or sometimes as just "The King," Wael Kfoury was born into a Melkite Greek Catholic family and learned music by studying solfeggio at a private Catholic university in Lebanon. He has released at least sixteen albums. You can find this song, Ma Fi Law, on his 2015 album Wael. The song is an person's expression of undying love to another.

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.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wael_Kfoury

Mr. Big Deal: Jannat and "Hadret Elmohem"

Moroccan singer Jannat brings us our random tune for today. She is known to be able to sing in almost all Middle Eastern Arabic dialects. She is also known for her voice and for her love of Arabic classics. As a young singer, she won many contests and eventually found herself singing at the Cairo Congress of Arab Music and on the stage of the Cairo Opera House. She turned to singing professionally in the early 2000s. She has released four solo albums. This song, Hadret Elmohem, can be found on her 2013 album Hob Gamed.

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.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jannat

Peace in Damascus: Gaida and "Salam bin Dimashq"

Syrian singer Gaida, who has been dubbed "The Syrian Nightingale," brings us today's random tune. Born and raised in Damascus where she awoke to the sound of her father's radio and was taught Middle Eastern songs word by word by her mother, she has crafted her songs to combine the elegance of Arab poetry with Middle Eastern vocal techniques and the sensibilities of her home in New York. This song, Salam bin Dimashq, can be found on her 2010 album Levantine Indulgence.

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.

Source: http://www.gaidamusic.com/

Poetry to Our Ears: Rasha and "Azara Alhai"

Today's song is called Azara Alhai and is performed by Rasha, a Sudanese singer who vocalizes everything from Arabic poetry to Sufi music and even underscores with hints of reggae. Rasha worked in theater, television and radio at the start of her career but was always interested in making music her primary vocation. To gain greater opportunities, she moved to Cairo in 1991 and then went to Spain where she began working on her debut album. That album centers around oud and percussion, enhanced by bass and backing guitar, also throwing in at times violins, accordions and a Sudanese big band. Topping it all are Rasha's vocals. The album, Sudaniyat, was subsequently named by Folk Roots magazine as one of the 10 best of 1997, and is where you will find Azara Alhai. You can also find it on the compilation CD Putumayo Presents: Acoustic Arabia (2008)

Telling Stories: Souad Massi and "Raoui"

Today random tune is by Souad Massi. An Algerian singer, songwriter and guitarist of Berber descent, she currently lives in Paris where she relocated after receiving anonymous death threats in her home country. Those threats were apparently related to her participation in the Algerian rock band Atakor in the 1990s. Her musical influences always included Western style, and during her youth she immersed herself in American country and roots music. These styles influenced her later solo work, and her music has been compared favorably to American folk music. She sings in classical and Algerian Arabic, French, Berber and occasionally English and she while she incorporates elements such as rock, country and Portuguese fado into her music, she also has used some interesting instrumentation like the oud and African musical stylings. This song, Raoui, can be found on her 2002 album of the same name, and on the compilation CD Putumayo Presents: Women of Africa. The song's title means "storyteller."

Come off Your High Horse: Jannat and "Hadret Elmohem"

Today's random tune is performed by Moroccan singer Jannat - one of the youngest female artists on the Middle East music scene. She is known to be able to sing in almost all Middle Eastern Arabic dialects. She is also known for her voice and for her love of Arabic classics. As a young singer, she won many contests and eventually found herself singing at the Cairo Congress of Arab Music and on the stage of the Cairo Opera House. She turned to singing professionally in the early 2000s. She has released four solo albums. This song, Hadret Elmohem, can be found on her 2013 album Hob Gamed.

Raise a Goblet: Misirli Ahmet and "Meçhul"

Today's random song, Meçhul, is by Turkish darbuka virtuoso Misirli Ahmet. Ahmet's music is influenced by Indian, Latin American and Arabic music, as well as jazz. First self-taught, he refined his playing style in France and Egypt where he developed a unique split-fingered technique that allowed him to play at very quick tempos. He has worked with many musicians from around the world. Meçhul can be found on the compilation album Homegrown Istanbul, Vol. 1 (2006).

Stormy Weather: Marcel Khalife and "Promises of the Storm"

Our random song today is from Marcel Khalife, a Lebanese singer, composer and oud player. A winner of the Palestine Award for Music and the UNESCO Artist for Peace award, Khalife first created a group in his village in the 1970s to revive Lebanese music and Arab choral singing during the Lebanese civil war. He combines traditional Arab music with western elements such as piano, and recently has concentrated in instrumental works. His music has been controversial in the Arab world - it was banned in Tunisia in 2005 possibly due to his support of imprisoned Arabs in Israel and Arab countries and his support of Tunisian activists. He also faced criminal prosecution in Lebanon for a song using lyrics that quoted the Qu'ran. While Khalife was found innocent of blasphemy, senior Sunni Muslim clerics still maintain that he is guilty. This song, Promises of the Storm, is from his 1997 album of the same name.

On De-Nile: Hisham Abbas and "Intil Waheeda"

Hisham Abbas, the singer of our random tune for the day, is an Egyptian pop singer from Cairo with a background in mechanical engineering. His music career took off with several Egyptian hits in the 1990s, especially Habibi Dah (Nari Narain) which featured Indian singer Jayashri. This song, Intil Waheeda, can be found on the 2001 compilation CD Putumayo Presents: Arabic Groove.

Winds of Hope: Nawal and "Leo ni Leo"

Nawal brings us the random song for today. A musician from Comoros, she takes the traditional music of Comoros and incorporates influences from African and Arabic traditions. She sings in Comorian, French, Arabic and English, and she is a multi-instrumentalist. Nawal is one of the first women from her country to take the international stage and she is known today as "The Voice of Comoros." This song, Leo ni Leo, is from her 2007 album Aman.

A Polyphonic Spree: Chet Nuneta and "Ayazin"

Today's random tune is a haunting song called Ayazin by Chet Nuneta with Michael Fernandez. Chet Nuneta is a French five piece polyphonic group accompanied by percussion. Their music draws from Arabic, Eastern European and Sephardic influences. Started in 2000 as a female vocal trio, they have increased to five members and have always been inspired by the musical traditions of the world. They sing in more than 15 languages and have performed at prestigious venues such as WOMEX and WOMAD. They have released 2 albums. Ayazin can be heard on their 2008 album Ailleurs.

Entrancing: Cheb i Sabbah and "Raja Vedalu"

Question: Is trance music of the nineties roughly similar in its goals and effects to the psychedelic music of the 60s and 70s? From what I've read, the answer would suggest yes. Psychedelic music of the sixties developed out of a culture that was clearly into experimentation and usage of drugs such as LSD, and the music was often played by people who were taking these drugs and translating their experiences into music, and the music was in turn listened to by people who were also using drugs and getting not only a chemical but an aural high all at the same time. The music was also known for bringing in new instrumentation, particularly Indian instruments such as the sitar and tabla, as well as using other techniques such as looping, phasing, backward taping and lots of reverberation.

In turn, in the 1990s as electronica became more popular in music, many of these techniques were also used along with repeating melodies, and usually a fast beat though not always. Trance music was also used to replicate the effects of the drug Ecstasy, or X, by amplifying inner peace, self acceptance, heightened mood and euphoria, intimacy and love for others, insight, introspection and clarity, self confidence, desire, drive, motivation, energy, endurance, alertness, awareness, awakening, empathy, compassion and forgiveness while diminishing aggression, hostility, fear, anger and insecurity. Trance music is supposed to do all of this without the harmful effects of drug usage. Glow sticks are also a big part of the trance music scene.

Despite both psychedelic music and trance music having an association with drug usage, I think that they stand well on their own. I certainly like both, and the fact that they have a similar history doesn't surprise me.

The random tune today is a trancy kind of composition from DJ Cheb i Sabbah called Raja Vedalu. Sabbah, who died in 2013 at age 66, was a DJ, composer and producer that combined Asian, Arabic and African sounds. Born Serge el Beze, he was Algerian of Jewish and Berber descent. Born into a family of musicians, he moved to Paris as a teenager and began DJing in 1964, working primarily in American soul records. In 1984, he moved to San Francisco and took the name Cheb i Sabbah which means "young of the morning." He was nominated in 2006 for the BBC's World Music Award in the Club Global category, and he was known for concerts featuring live musicians, dancers and massive projections that backed up his electronic music. He died of stomach cancer in November of 2013 in San Francisco. Raja Vedalu can be found on the Shiva Rea's compilation CD Nataraja (2006) and other compilations as well. It has also been remixed and mashed up a few times.

The Voice: Nawal and "Musica"

Today's random song is by Nawal, a musician from Comoros. She takes the traditional music of Comoros and incorporates influences from African and Arabic traditions. She sings in Comorian, French, Arabic and English, and she is a multi-instrumentalist. Nawal is one of the first women from her country to take the international stage and she is known today as "The Voice of Comoros." This song, Musica, is from her 2007 album Aman.

Queen of Desert Rock: Khaira Arby and "Khaira"

It's not often that I get to spin a queen, but here I go. Today's song is by Khaira Arby, often called the Queen of Desert Rock and also the Nightingale of the North. An artist from the northern deserts of Mali, she is a cousin to the great Ali Farka Touré. She uses a varied assortment of instrumentation, such as electric guitar, calabash, traditional violin, acoustic guitar and drumming, and she sings in languages such as Sonrai, Arabic and Tamashek. She is the only singer in her family. She started singing when she was eleven years old. Before working with her own band, she performed with the Troupe du Cercle de Tomboctou and later the Troupe Regionale de Gao. This song, Khaira, is from her 2013 release Timbuktu Tarab.

Forgetting: Malika Zarra and "Amnesia"

In this song, Moroccan/French singer Malika Zarra sings about a type of amnesia, one in which you forget what you are.  In this context, it's a cultural and ethnic amnesia.  It is an amnesia when people try to play in to the dominant culture, and perhaps feel accepted when they are really aren't.  "Who the hell do you think you are?" is always just below the surface.  That treatment, especially over generations, wears one down so that in the end, even though they tried to assimilate, they find that their children are playing the djembe (a native African instrument), as Zarra eloquently sings.

To me the lyrics seem to be a damning indictment of cultural assimilation, though I'm not so certain that assimilation can't happen.  The United States has been a place where some groups, Italians and Germans for example, have assimilated even though they faced initial resistance and discrimination.  However, they were white.  Ethnic minorities have had a more difficult time, and assimilation into the dominant culture as sometimes been shaky at best partly because American culture has been notoriously unwelcoming to non-whites - slavery, discrimination, and segregation have been the impediments to those groups who may have wanted nothing more than to assimilate.  And of course, no group wants to completely leave their cultural heritage behind, yet to non-whites, Americans have almost demanded it.  The dominant culture thinks it's quaint to be Irish American or German American and hold onto those old world traditions.  The dominant culture often thinks that non-white traditions are alien, suspicious and perhaps even a bit dangerous despite the fact that we often borrow the cuisines, the festivals and other aspects of the cultures.  In this case, it is impossible to completely amnesiac - if the dominant culture doesn't completely trust you, you seek comfort in what you know.

Just musings brought on from this song, Amnesia. Malika Zarra was born in Morocco and moved to Paris when she was young. She studied clarinet in school, but it was the similarity of the core of improvisation present in both Arabic traditional music and jazz that brought her to jazz music. She studied in jazz conservatories in Tours and Marseilles and began to appear at Paris jazz venues, drawing attention to herself by singing jazz standards in Arabic translation. In 2010 she moved to the New York City area. Her music is influenced by traditional Berber music, Gnawa music, Chaabi, French pop, jazz, house, funk, dance and traditional African music as well as individual artists including Farid al-Atrash, Umm Kulthum, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, and Thelonious Monk. She has released two albums. Amnesia is from her 2011 album Berber Taxi.