Artist: Various
Label: Unexplained Sounds Group
Catalogue no: USG055
Tracklist:
1. Ahmed
Saleh – Feryal
2. Naujawanan
Baidar – Asir-e Jangi
3. Bloom
Tribe – Desendence
4. Cenk
Ergün – Bir
5. Hasan
Hujairi – Prelude for Orpheus
6. Nilüfer
Ormanli – Art of Dying
7. Pharaoh
Chromium – Gaza Requiem
8. Ahmed
Saleh – Khitam
9. Guy
Gelem – Parallels
10. Tony
Elieh – The Dark that Matters
11. Farouk
Adil – Surface Crack
12. Mazen
Kerbaj – The Acoustic Synthesiser
13. Yusef
Kawar – Nerves
14. Dimitris
Savva – Thalassa
15. Nyctalliz
– The Humanity Demise
16. Cenk
Ergün – Amsterdam
We tend to forget that music is an international and intercultural language, a means of communication that crosses boundaries and barriers. We also forget that maverick musicians exist in all countries, and that an underground scene thrives in places that often surprise us, but shouldn’t. Take Iran as an example: Western-style pop music is banned in that country because it’s considered unIslamic but, as Unexplained Sounds Group and Cold Spring’s co-release Visions of Darkness compilation CD of experimental music from Iran released some years back proved, there are those who will circumvent restrictions in whatever way they can. Human inventiveness refuses to be suppressed.
Joining that compilation
is Unexplained Sounds Group’s Anthology
of Contemporary Music from Middle East, but with a broader remit and scope.
Musicians and projects from Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iran,
Israel, Iraq, Palestine, Jordan, Afghanistan, and Cyprus are represented here,
covering a wide spectrum of styles and genres. It’s an eye-opening selection,
conjuring up phantasmagorical visions of exotic worlds and faraway places that
are normally only seen in the corner of one’s eye.
Apart from anything else,
the cultural streams and markers extant within each country are still keenly
felt and expressed within each individual piece, even if the concepts and
frameworks are uniquely transmogrified into warps and wefts of fractal
complexity and technicolour saturation. More than that this musical freedom, without
the constraints imposed by strict definitions of genre, means that the
musicians are free to explore fresh avenues and panoramas that perhaps in other
countries and cultures has been concretised to a much greater extent.
The appeal of the exotic
is alluring, to be sure, but I can honestly say that every composition on this
compilation held my attention, a rarity for any anthology I think. It’s the
sheer spectrum of expression that impresses me, ranging from pieces that are
heavily tinged with traditional modes right up to noise and experimentalism. Ahmed
Saleh’s ‘Feryal’ voice-loop opening on the first track is lulling, because it
feels like the beginning of some dance track but it never quite breaks, instead
piling on more voice loops describing distant, fabulous architectures of the
mind and imagination. Naujawanan Baidar’s piece is eminently reminiscent of
Philip Glass with its minimalist repetition of a two-note horn-blast, over
which writhe interjections and punctuations. Overall its atmosphere conjures up
visions of vast armies marching across dusty desert sands and impenetrable
mountain ranges.
Bloom Tribe bring us
shimmering sirens and alarms hitched up to jerky rhythms on ‘Desendence’,
before descending strings fall and disintegrate into the dust of ages. Cenk
Ergün’s ‘Bir’ is the most experimental so far, its stacked rhythms all competing
against each for dominance, a fractured canvas perhaps indicative of the
fractious history of the region. Hasan Hujairi’s ‘Prelude for Orpheus’ is the
most obviously eastern in flavour, a melody played on a traditional stringed
instrument built upon a carpet of minor drones, before descending into
atonality and chaos in exactly the same way that Orpheus’ decent into the
Underworld did. Nilüfer Ormali’s harmonic voice refrain of ‘Art of Dying’ soon
breaks into sub-bass drones and ringing gong, a fine depiction of the
mysterious east, and is at once exotic yet unsettling, occult yet open and
inviting.
Pharaoh Chromium’s
‘Requiem for Palestine’ is perhaps one of my favourite tracks on here so far, a
juggernaut of sirens, voices, and drones, set against a magnificent rhythmic
helicoptering backdrop. Given its title and that chopping sound, it’s
ultimately difficult to avoid the political overtones inherent in this piece: I
won’t dwell on the whys and wherefores, instead restricting myself by saying
that this is a very powerful piece that stays long in the mind and hits home.
In complete contrast is Ahmed Saleh’s second piece, ‘Khitam’, a lilting ambient
composition based around a flowing keyboard phrase and rhythmical drone notes,
resulting in an uplifting and soaring instrumental that somehow reminds me of
Cluster’s work.
‘Parallels’ by Guy Gelem
is again a composition utilising a traditional bowed instrument wailing
mournfully over a drone and percussion backbone. An incensed-filled room,
guests leaning on cushions around its perimeter, and a dancer with musicians
entertaining them. This is about as exotic and traditional as you get on this
album, unlike the following track, Tony Elieh’s juddery, staccato ‘The Dark
that Matters’, which jumps and glitches, stutters and sputters, creating a
fragmented picture of the region and its insecurities. ‘Surface Crack’ starts
off traditionally enough, a reverberant flute solo, but then it almost enters
noise/drone territory, the sounds curling in upon themselves and producing
disturbed currents, like airflow over a slabby structure. A sound akin to water
flooding through a constricted pipe introduces Mazen Kerbaj’s ‘The Acoustic
Synthesiser’ and yes, it does sound
electronic but is indisputably acoustic in origin – a very clever piece.
On the final stretch now,
with four more entries to go. The first of those is Yusef Kawar’s ‘Nerves’, a
teeth- and bone-grinding two minutes of mechanical/electronic noise. Just the
thing to clear those brain cobwebs away. Dimitris Savva’s soothing dronescape,
accompanied by lapping waves, tubular bells, and ringing tones, restores
equilibrium and balance, bringing with it fabled oases and storied minarets to
mind: but it also delineates its counterpart, the dark, smoky temples, and
secret grottoes in hidden valleys beyond the reach of most. Then again, you may
be in need of some nihilistic, misanthropic noise, and Nyctalliz will be only
too happy to oblige you. ‘The Humanity Demise’ is just that, a concatenation of
high-pitched noises and deep bass rumblings, essaying a crumbling and tumbling
landscape in which humanity is crushed. Cenk Ergün’s closer ‘Amsterdam’ is an
odd one, atonal, jumpy, unfocused, freeform but somehow still exuberant, and
probably very descriptive of the Dutch city itself.
If, like me, your
knowledge of experimental music is restricted to Western-based outfits and
projects (with maybe a few Chinese and Japanese acts thrown in) then this
compilation will help to introduce you to some cultural mavericks that are
breaking boundaries in their own areas of the Middle Eastern world. This
selection is more fluid in some respects, because the artists are to some
extent still finding their way, and the scenes are still evolving and
developing. In time, even more startling revelations will emerge from countries
whose music we normally slot conveniently into the ‘world music’ pigeonhole,
and show us that music is far more vital and vibrant all over the world than we
think.
Available as a CD
(limited to 200) + download via Bandcamp at the link below:
Psymon Marshall 2019.
1 comment:
A lot of good analysis and superb ideas here. It is fascinating as the music it talks about
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