Sounds of Shaitan
They do have to live refugees. NYT reports on Iraqi heavy metal band Acrassicauda’s odyssey to Elizabeth, N.J., with extended stops in Damascus and Istanbul, after jihadis chased them out of Baghdad for playing the western devil music.
The music (with interviews at YouTube), what I listened to, seems to be all western-style heavy metal in English. War-themed, but anyone hoping for Arabic influenced heavy metal appears to be out of luck. (If Google happens to land any band members here, allow me to suggest … )
Been hunting around for good Derka-fusion or traditional that rocks, and if anyone wants to suggest any, please advise in comments. The best I’ve found so far is a Berber band, Argan. Stop whatever you’re doing, listen to this sample from “Assoumr“ now. Loud. Whole album here: South Moroccan Motor Berber. Amp up your desert. It’s industrial Berber. Thrash oudh. Review:
In contrast to the debut album “Berberism”, where the traditional Berber roots were the starting point to develop the songs, “South Moroccan Motor Berber” musically focuses on what happened in the village between 1969 and 1976. At that time, the first hippies came to Morocco to search their Karma, the sun and mind-expanding substances. In a village without electricity and running water, the population used to live nearly like they did a hundred years ago, from fishing and farming. After the Spanish and French “invasion”, the strangely dressed and sometimes respectless creatures with long hair played guitar, drove around on motorcycles and listened to Velvet Underground, Hendrix and the Doors on ghetto blasters, working on batteries, while the indigenous population was wondering what was going on on the beaches, in the caves and in some of the houses. Everybody can imagine the side effects this had on the local youth as on the whole of the social village structure.
Now 30 years later all that seems quite ridiculous and not so dramatic anymore. What remains, however, are some unbelievable stories, legends and the rockish guitar riffs, combined with a certain identification through nature, which is the main subject in traditional Berber songs. The same nature that most of the Hippies missed completly. So this album shall not be a tribute to the past, but much more a parody of it.
It’s all Berber to me. They could be singing “Death to all Infidels” for all I care, though that doesn’t appear to be their thing. More desert noise like this, please. Here’s Argan’s earlier album, Berberism.
Meanwhile, from the other end of Greater Derkaderkastan, a friend is recommending the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack, great Bollywood fusion. More from comments below, thanks Baby M:
Rachid Taha’s Arabic version of Rock El Casbah from the Best of album.
Tinariwen’s Aman Iman: Water is Life, Live in London, Amassakoul and Radio Tisdas Sessions.
Azam Ali’s Elysium for the Brave and Portals of Grace
Tomer Yosef’s Laughing Underground and Say Something
A friend just back from Israel is promising the IDF’s fave playlist, so stay tuned.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:16 pm on Wednesday, February 4, 2009
One Response to “Sounds of Shaitan”
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February 5th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Want Middle Eastern rock? I’d recommend:
– Rashid Taha (who did an excellent Arabic-language cover version of “Rock the Casbah”)
– anything by the band Tinariwen, which is made up of ethnic Tuaregs (the folks shooting at the Legionnaires in Beau Geste) from Libya
– Azam Ali, an Iranian immigrant who sings in English and Farsi (and she can sing in whatever language she likes, her voice is that good)
– Tomer Yosef