George Mgrdichian Ensemble
One Man`s Passion (Shanachie)
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Various artists
Y`alla-Hitlist Egypt (Mango) (STAR)(STAR)(STAR)
Since Algerian rai helped open the door, a tiny stream of modern Middle Eastern music is beginning to flow into this country, including these two albums highlighting music from Egypt. The story behind Mgrdichian`s effort must certainly rank as one of the most unusual in the annals of world music. The renowned oud player was approached by a wealthy man from Oman, given a tape of traditional Egyptian songs and asked to create a new recording based on them. Mgrdichian assembled a cast of top-flight players from throughout the Middle East to fulfill the commission, but as the project was completed, its patron, en route to London by Concorde, suffered a heart attack and died. Fortunately, the result of ”One Man`s Passion” was not lost, for the music is as fascinating as the story behind it. Mgrdichian added a strong jazz flavor to these traditional tunes, a brilliant and deliciously exotic (to ears weaned on Western pop) mix, particularly in the hands of such accomplished players. ”Y`alla,” on the other hand, might be called the people`s passion. The album compiles recent hits in two different styles of Egyptian popular music. The hip, urban, techno-pop ”al jeel” (”generation”) style is similar to rai, though a bit faster, lighter and more percussion-driven.
”Shaabi” music is a rootsy backstreet sound more akin, at least in spirit, to folk-based forms like zydeco, forro and conjunto than sleek world dance styles.
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