Songs from Aleppo

The vocal improvisations are what Tarab is all about. Listening to this CD is addictive so it should come with a warning :-)


Sabri Moudallal : pure joy, profane & sacred   August 31, 2000
 8 out of 8 found this review helpful

Sabri Moudallal is undoubtedly one of the greatest renown Arab classical singers of the second half of the XXth century. Born in 1918 in Aleppo, he was still recording two years ago, at the venerable age of 80 ! I had the immense pleasure of attending a live performance of his in Cairo in 1997 and he sang with the power and conviction of eternal youth !

This new release of Sabri Moudallal's Aleppian ensemble, recorded live in Paris in 1994, offers the best of his art, both profane and sacred. Two long tracks feature beautiful suites of cheerful profane songs : three dawr-s on track 6 and three Aleppian qudud on track 10. These are reminiscent of some of the material of the 1998 Aleppian Music Room album. But here the live recording and the kamandja violin add something lacking on the Music Room album. Real fans of classical Arab music will also be glad to have the opportunity to compare two very different versions of the "same" song (Ya sakinina bi-qalbi), featured on both albums. Worth noticing among the 3 dawr-s featured here is the title "Ya mama shufi awam", which is simply delightful.

As for the sacred singing and music found on the last four tracks of the album, it compares to an earlier release by Ocora (Muezzins d'Alep): it is both as intense and moving. The song "Ahmad ya habibi", composed by Moudallal, is simply a dazzling explosion of joyful love and devotion.

Once again, the Institut du Monde Arabe has done a splendid job for which I am truly grateful. I strongly recommend this CD to all lovers of the great classical Arab musical tradition. Many music lovers less familiar with the Oriental tradition will also find delight in this CD. Those who know no other Arab music than the kind of Belly-dance music popular in the West will probably experience quite a cultural shock, comparable to the discovery of one of Beethoven's string-quartet by a kid raised on radio-friendly North American pop music...


Pure tarab and ya salaam   August 31, 2000
 4 out of 4 found this review helpful

Relax and listen to the traditional tarab and enjoy the sophisticated music of old days....The style is pure...uncontaminated and truly simple... It is pleasing to the mind and senses....This CD is the best i've ever heard while experiencing and enjoying the originality of Middle Eastern tarab....Much obliged to the artist for the enchantment and the ecstasy.