Chicago Classical Oriental Ensemble: The Songs of Sheikh Sayyed Darweesh
Chicago Cultural Center; Sun 26

The classical Arabic music that has touched everything from Bollywood to Britney Spears's "Toxic" is the result of fusions that Sayyed Darweesh, one of the genre's most pivotal figures, helped bring about in the early 20th century.

As a tribute, the Chicago Classical Oriental Ensemble performs an authentic re-creation of the visionary's music Sunday 26, replete with the period tuxedos and tarboosh hats of 1920s Egypt. Calling himself the "Egyptian Verdi," Darweesh stood out in the Arab world by being intimately familiar with both the contemporary opera that played the Cairo Opera House and more traditional Arabic forms, like the melodic modes of maqamat or the grooves of rajaz. He was also familiar with the excesses that would soon consume the American jazz world; in 1923, Darweesh died at the age of 31 from a cocaine overdose.

Over the propulsive jangle of the tambourine like riqq. the CCOE's interpretations focus on languorous melodies that spool out and resolve in unexpected ways. And in place of harmony, the vertical building block of Western music, the orchestra plays most of its lines in daunting unison, mimicking the inevitable consonance and dissonance of a large congregation of worshippers.

While the record the Arab- American ensemble is promoting, The Songs of Sayyed Darweesh: Soul of People (Xauen Music), employs a full orchestra, musical director and 'ud player Kareem Roustom has stripped down the group to a seven-piece takkt (or chamber ensemble) for the tour. After the harplike qanun, riqq, flute, violin and cello, the spotlight will focus on the two vocalists: 73-year-old Boston virtuoso Youssef Kassab and his twentysometbing female Palestinian counterpart, Rozann Khoury.  Both were sought out by Roustom for their international a fitting tribute to a legacy that spans a century.  

Matthew Lurie