Traditional classical music from the East.
Music from the Middle-East & the Maghreb, with: Dudu Tassa & The Kuwaitis | Arya Aramnejad | Al-Qasar. Produced by Cobie Ivens.
1- Dudu Tassa & The Kuwaitis.
In the 1930s and 1940s, Saleh and Daoud Al-Kuwaity were real celebrities in the Arab world. They wrote big hits in Arabic. The fact that the brothers were Jewish was initially not a problem until after 1948 anti-Jewish sentiments in Iraq took over and the brothers fled to Israel with their families. Once there, no one was waiting for the brothers’ Arabic songs. The fact that this story did not end up in oblivion is thanks to Dudu Tassa, rock musician from Tel Aviv and grandson of Daoud Al-Kuwaity. He dusts off the songs of his grandfather and great-uncle. Sometimes by adding spicy rock or electronic accents, but also by playing quiet ballads, with or without an impressive guest singer.
CD. El hajar – Dudu Tassa & The Kuwaitis. LABEL: Membran (2019), code: 270149. VIDEO
2- Arya Aramnejad.
Being sentenced to a year in prison, tortured and publicly humiliated for a protest song, it happened to Iranian pop singer Arya Aramnejad. In his famous song Ali Barkhiz he criticized the brutal police actions in 2009, during the Ashura protests in Iran, only to be arrested as a threat to national security. From Stockholm he recorded the album Touch Of Freedom, a collection of songs with English titles, but sung in Iranian. An album full of sultry swaying Iranian pop songs and ballads played by real instruments. The music is light and exotic in tone, but also militant and pleasant to listen to.
CD. Touch of freedom – Arya Aramnejad. LABEL: Ajabu! Records (2021), code: AJABU035. VIDEO
3- Al-Qasar.
The Parisian group Al-Qasar immediately show their colours on the first notes of the album and give a pessimistic answer to the question who are we? with a dark drone sound and ditto melody on the ud.
The band calls their music Arabian fuzz, in which elements of garage rock, psychedelic rock and Arabic pop are mixed. Members of Sonic Youth and Dead Kennedys can be heard as guest musicians.
Al-Qasar is full of energy, which knows how to translate the psychedelic pop into an international context.
CD. Who are we? – Al-Qasar. LABEL: Glitterbeat Records (2022), code: GBCD130. VIDEO
Thanks to:
