Monday, January 30, 2012

I'Agerie Etertelle



I think this Lp was from the remaindered stall down Cheshire Street from the 80's. Not played it before as it has some dodgy tracks covered in the label which has been aligned badly and bits have come off. So just the first 4 tracks of side two here.
You get a taste of what the LP is like anyway - lovely atmospheric flute and drums mostly recorded in the field by Gerard Kremer on the French Arion label in 1978.

Wikipedia says about Algerian music -

"Algerian music is virtually synonymous with raï among foreigners; the musical genre has achieved great popularity in France, Spain and other parts of Europe. For several centuries, Algerian music was dominated by styles inherited from Al-Andalus, eventually forming a unique North African twist on these poetic forms. Algerian music came to include suites called nuubaat (singular nuuba). Lately derivatives include rabaab and hawzii.
Music in Algeria in general offers a rich diversity of genre, popular music (Shaabi), Arabo-Andalusian music (Malouf San'aa, Gharnati, etc. ..) music classical Arabic, Bedouin, Berber music (Kabyle, Shawi, Tuareg, Etc. ..), Rai ...
Sha-bii is, in North African countries, folk music; in Algeria, however, it refers to a style of recent urban popular music, of which the best known performer was El Hajj Muhammad El Anka considered like the Grand Master of Andalusian classical music. True styles of folk music include hofii, a form of female vocal music, and zindalii, from Constantine.
Biyouna is an Algerian singer whos music is a mixture of pop, rock, raï, jazz and other types of music. Her last record Blonde dans la Casbah has been a great success.
Rai is a creative outlet to express political discontent,this music is a mix between Western music and Bedouin music. "Rai became an important means of cultural expression for a minority struggling to carve out an ethnic identity and a space for itself in an inhospitable, racist environment" Rai is more than simply cultural expression, it morphed into a unique blend of popular "rebel" music. "What makes raï so rebel, so politically charged, is the fact that it goes against the hard-line conservative government, a religiously fundamentalist establishment. Unlike traditional music, with its subtlety, flowery language, and innocuous subject matters, raï is notable for its blunt imagery and willingness to tackle subjects such as sex, booze, lust, and drink - all of which the deeply religious establishment frowns upon."
The Malouf is the Arab-Andalusian music of Constantine and is also well known in Tunisia and Libya, it is a very large number of diversified musical repertoire of Algeria. Nevertheless, malouf can not compete commercially with popular music, much of it Egyptian, and it has only survived because of the efforts of the Tunisian government and a number of private individuals. Malouf is still performed in public, especially at weddings and circumcision ceremonies, though recordings are relatively rare."

Tracks are -

1. Danse De Tiaret
2. Mariage Algerois
3. Danse Des Aures
4. Chant De Biskra

L'Algerie Eternelle - Side Two

No comments: