Various Artists - Yemen Tihama: Trance & Dance Music From The Red Sea Coast Of Arabia (Mega Blowout Sale)
SKU
23-Topic 920.2
“The ferocious heat on Tihama, the Red sea coastal plain of Yemen, is matched in its intensity by the tibbal music, an Afro-Arabian amalgam that features lyres, reeds and, particularly, virtuoso drumming. Its practitioners are largely drawn from the akhdam, an outcast group with a reputation for sorcery, who bring passion, skill and stamina to performances which accompany acrobatic dancing and ceremonial trance. This exciting CD captures the traditional music of this region which has retained an edge of intensity and an almost unrestrained energy. Recordings and text by Anderson Bakewell.”
“Trade to and from Egypt to southern Africa, to India, and Persia included routes along the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. At the apex of the elbow turn is Yemen. Its history is ancient and its cultural exchanges are many. These field recordings from 1974 focuse on the Tihama people, who dwell along the Red Sea from Yemen to Mecca in Saudi Arabia and have much in common with people of Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan. The climate is exceedingly hot. Its people follow shafa'i Islam and the veneration of saints. Their music includes work songs and pieces for religious rites and festivals. While reeded, twin-bore mizmar clarinets are present, along with shabbaba and qasaba end-blown flutes, it is the drum that dominates. Or drums. There are the madiff free-standing drum, the marfa and miskhal kettledrums, the two-headed tabla, and the wrist-held sahfa. For strings, the Tihama have the tumbara lyre. The tracks present songs for a wedding, dances, blacksmithing, and saint worship. There is even a popular Indian film song, in Hindi (a language not understood by the singer). The various drum rhythms are mezmerizing. The drummers, in contrast with other musicians, are of a wandering outcast group (an old and ubiquitous story), who have become masters of the art and whose performance was appreciated for healing powers. This album is fascinating. The different drumming is mainly of the Arabian tradition, but the final track of the marisi dance suggests Black African origin. These recordings are part of the Sound Archive of the British Library, a parallel to our Smithsonian and Library of Congress. Warning: listening to some tracks may very likely take you into a trance. Or make you stand up and dance. This album is not for those who seeks melody.”-Dr. Debra Jan Bibel
- LabelTopic
- UPC714822092029