|
|
 |
CD Review
|
| Click Here to go back. |
Sing Out! Vol.48 #2, CD Review >>
If you like drumming, then this is definitely a disc for you. Master percussionist Fadl and his drummers give rhythms a workout. As the title implies, it’s urban music, of the kind Fadl used to hear in Cairo after moving there from Nubia. The wedding tune “Halo Aleina” is a cheeky little piece, where the clarinet strikes out from the melody, played by a brass and drum ensemble that offers slightly more Westernized take on music – well, more Mediterranean – that is both unusual (brass music is a rarity in Egypt) and effective. Indeed, several cuts on the disc have more of a pan-Mediterranean feel, although their pulse is definitely based in Cairo. For an album so rhythmically based, it offers plenty of surprises, like the solo played by a 13 year-old on “El Nakrazan,” or the luscious “Ya Beer Zamzam,” spare and circular. It all closes with a remix of “Bellah Ament,” which first appeared on The Drummers of the Nile album. The track undulates lullingly – a reminder that ancient rhythms are still powerful in the modern world. –CN 06/01/04
|
| Click Here to go back. |
|
 |
|
|
|
