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The term "World Music" is starting to get old. It was cute when
we didn't know the Swiss from the Swedish, and when we called Africa
"The Dark Continent," and thought everyone in Asia wore those
conical hats, but I think most of us are a little savvier by now.
To see Rachid Taha filed at the record store next to these dorky looking,
cartoonishly-Arab guys in striped, poofy pants on display for their gullible
Western market was kind of depressing. If you picked five albums at random
from the "North Africa" section at the hip Amoeba Records, you'd
wonder why none of the albums were in the same genre (once you were done
wondering what in the hell the singers were saying). Maybe we haven't figured
it out yet, but not only has American-style music infiltrated the radio waves
around the world, but it's caught on and bred new types of music we haven't
bothered to import.
Which sucks.
Granted, in certain hands, these combinations crash and burn like an
unlucky blimp transporting a load of kerosene over an active volcano, the
same goes for any genre's handlers here in the US. Don't get me started. But
to us, many of the bad handlers from other parts of the world are at the very
least amusing. See also: Japanese glam rock. I get a kick out of it, even
the headachy kinds.
Anyway, I'll take this opportunity to pique your interest (hello? Anyone
home?) with a pair of quickie-reviews of Middle Eastern-Euro fusion.
RACHID TAHA: "TÉKITOI"
Sometimes when I'm listening to this album, I feel like I'm in a
particularly funkalicious Middle Eastern jail cell, underground, with angry
jailers yelling at me while bellydancing, and meanwhile I'm feeling kind of
groovy, so it's not really bad at all.
Taha is an Algerian via France; he immigrated when he was just a wee
child, and it shows on this album, as the language switches between French
and Arabic, and, I've heard, Berber. I can neither confirm nor deny the
Berber part, though, because even if I heard the two juxtaposed, I wouldn't
be able to guess which is which. What was I saying?
Oh, yes. The combination of sounds on this album is shockingly cool.
There's definitely a heavy Arab motif in his songs, especially in the form of
strings, but he pulls a lot of influence from Western rock and techno. So it
ends up sounding like rubber sitars, over which is the heavy grinding of
guitars.
One of my favorite details about Taha I learned from his review on the
Pitchfork site:
The second track on "Tékitoi" is called "Rock El
Casbah," and is in fact an Arabic translation of the Clash's similarly
named work, which, it is conjectured, was, ah, shall we say, borrowed, from
"Taha himself [who] passed the Clash a tape of Carte de
Sejour while they were touring France, and less than a year later found
himself listening to a very familiar sound coming from the radio in the form
of "Rock the Casbah". It's possible to view "Rock el
Casbah" as a reclamation as much as a cover, and listening
back..."
As for his decidedly original material, the intensity of the Arabic
language combined with the gruffness of his voice gives the impression of
paint-stripping sandpaper, only somehow sexier. On the track,
"H'asbu-hum," for instance, the muffled beat and periodic bursts of
noise, the crescendos and warbling instrumentation makes one feel shaken,
jerked about. The harsh consonants of Arabic add to the feel. It's a
fascinating experience, and strangely physical. But, as
granpappy-ol'-reliable used to say, when the funk within is roused, there's
no sense in silencing it. If you feel like being violently forced to react to
music, Taha is the quick cure.
ZEBDA: "L'arène Des Rumeurs" "Le Bruit et l'Odeur"
"Essence Ordinaire" "Utopie d'Occase"
Zebda is composed of bald men.
Their sound is much less traditionally Arabic than Taha's, but definitely
a thorough melange of styles. From one song to the next on each of their
three albums (that I've heard) the changes in tone and instrumental
composition fluctuate wildly, but with the same base, a sort of roux of
long-simmered reggae and something sort of spicy. Delectable, truly!
Analyzing the sound in our lab, our crack team concludes that the sound is
distinctly not American, despite the influences, and that they have a sound
all their own. And that's a fact, not a generic review statement. There is
nothing else like them in my collection; their talent and innovative habits
have surprised me. Their sound is reminiscent of French rock, which maintains
in large part, its cultural roots. Their use of accordion in the
background of their songs serves to highlight their melodies and produce a
peculiar, almost Maanouche flavor in their music.
"World Music" is a lame excuse for record stores who don't
listen to their stock. It comes in all flavors, my friend, and is just as
valid as any other.
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