Insan - Twais

Insan (Human, in Arabic) is a great album recorded by Twais, a Syrian quartet belonging to the musical movement that permeated Damascus in the first decade of this century. At the time, every foreign policy wonk and practitioner thought that Bashar Al-Assad would be the guy who'd bring democracy and prosperity to Syria and would influence the rest of the Arab World. Few remember it now, but Barack Obama even tried to broker an Israel-Palestine agreement through Al-Assad. Today, it is clear that we were all wrong (in fairness, it was clear that Obama was wrong on Bashar and Palestine even back in 2008).

Predictably, the band dismembered. Based on the information available online, Essam Rafea (oud) is now touring around the World. It is unclear what happened with Firas Charestan (Qanoon) and with Muslem Rahal (nay). In the case of Rahal, the latest youtube clips date from 2010. There is no presence online of Ragheb Jbel (percussions).

You can still buy the album online on the traditional retail stores, but for all practical purposes, the presence of Twais online has vanished almost completely. This blog lists all the tracks of the album and presents a broken link where the tracks could be download. The website presented on the album's booklet is now full with what I think are Chinese characters. In 2009, shortly after the album went out, some enlightened soul, posted all the tracks on youtube. I can't recommend you enough to take a look at them.

In order to keep the band's memory alive, I can only copy the description available on the booklet:

Twais was the first singer of the Islamic era, and was praised both for the beauty of his voice and his originality, as he introduced Iqaa (beats) into singing in the 7th century. It is Twais' spirit of innovation and originality that the Quartet aspires to and strives to reproduce. The musicians' aim is to create a unique style of music, by investigating the roots of Arab and Oriental Music, with specific focu on instrumental music, and integrating these traditional standards within contemporary forms, by using different musical schools and contemporary compositions. Following the tradition of the classical takht (oriental quartet), the musicians' instruments of choice include the Oud, the Qanoon, the Nay, and percussions.

Created in 2004 by Essam Rafea, the Twais ensemble gathers some of the best musicians of their generation in Syria. It has performed in Syria, the Arab countries, and Europe, and has contributed to records by German accordion player Manfred Leuchter, and the French Baroque music group, Musiques des Lumières XVIII-21, led by Jean-Christophe Frisch.

I sincerely hope the band members haven't been bombed or killed. They are quite good musicians and they are, after all, humans.

This is the last Arabic/Sephardic/Oriental music album I will review in a while. It's time to close the cycle and travel elsewhere...

Les croisades sous le regard de l'Orient - Ensemble al-Kindi & Omar Sarmini

Great album and an even better booklet. I consider this a tribute to the Krak des Chevaliers, partially destroyed in the ongoing Syrian Civil War -the fact that WMD's have been partially removed doesn't mean it's still not over.

The Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch - Choir members of churches Saint-George and Saint-Ephraim, Aleppo

As I write, Syria is in the process of being destroyed. A protracted civil war, weapons of mass destruction, and sectarism will likely result in the death of a country. As a graduate student, I spent one of the happiest periods in my life in Syria. By the end of my period there, I had found four good friends who are likely endangered: a Kurd, a Christian, an Alaouite, and a Jewish Armenian. I haven't heard from them since the "Arab Spring" arrived to Syria and I can only hope that they and their families will eventually escape the terror and will find a safe haven.

If Syria survives as a single country, it will be after years, maybe decades of sectarian conflict. At the end, one group will prevail after killing and subjugating all its rivals. As a tribute to the current diversity of Syria, I would like to invite the readers of this blog to listen to The Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch, a production by the coir members of the churches of Saint-George and Saint-Ephraim from Aleppo, which is probably the most Arab and Christian city of the entire country. The album is available here.

Waiting for Spring - Interzone

Tous les jours, on recoit des nouvelles de Syrie pires que ce qu'on a entendu la veille. Waiting for Spring, la troisième production d'Interzone, est comme un baume, une profession de foi.

Waiting for Spring est, contrairement aux deux premières productions du groupe, un oeuvre calme fait pour faire une pause, écouter, et réflechir sur tout et rien....

***

Interzone, le troisième jour de notre histoire, dans notre Histoire. Entre tristesse et joie, pause et retrouvailles, contemplation et élan. Notre musique ne confirme pas le mode ou l'échelle, mais s'en éloigne pour mieux y revenir. Ice le mode musical se présente comme recherche d'une nouvelle cartographie, imaginaire. Ou, pour un exilé, comme la patrie lointaine, entrevue à travers le brouillard de la mémoire. Enfin les rythmes sont multiples, enlacés, entrecroisés, en une polyrythmie évocatrice de mouvement perpétuel.

1- Sur la route de Homs: polyrythmie

Homs est la première ville Syrienne détruite au début de la révolution. Dans le car transportant les prisonniers, des coups de feu tout proches: enchainé, Khaled imagine les principaux thèmes de ce morceau. La musique surgit sans prévenir, des phrases ouvertes au-delà de l'angoisse et de l'urgence de l'évasion, au-delà de l'errance, des phrases qui guettent la stabilité et ne la trouvent pas.

2- 12644: 7 temps

Khaled et Serge composent un 7 temps, le même jour au même moment, mais â 12,644 km l'un de l'autre, l'un à Damas, l'autre à Mexico. La réunion des deux pièces abolit la distance.

3- Invasion: 3 temps

Maroc, décembre 2010, cette pièce sera pour Serge le poit de départ de 3ème Jour: immersion dans les rythmes impairs. Le rythme oriental et les quarts de ton évoluent vers une improvisation oud/guitare pour finir en un unisson symbolisant un orchestre miniature.

4- In Between: 10/4

Morceau construit sur le rythme du mode Samaï, rythme en 10/4 de plus de mille ans. Sans pour autant contenir de mode précis, les phrases ouvertes suivent une progression semblable au processus d'hypnotisation.

5- Brume du matin: 5 temps

Au petit matin très loin dans le désert, sous une chaleur déjà accablante, les êtres attendent la brume furtive en provenance de la mer lointaine. Chargée de vie, c'est la mémoire de la mer, c'est le rêve du désert.

Ô brume du matin sois généreuse avec nous

Tous les êtres attendent ton passage

Comme un sourir sur un visage séduisant

Ô amant au coeur pur où es-tu?

(Texte Nabatéen, auteur anonyme.)

6- Le temps: polyrythmie

Lorsque se termine la révolution du rythme à 4 temps du oud, la guitare aura fait résonner 24 mesure sur un rythme à 3 temps.

7- Evasion: 9 temps

Shab al-din Yahia as-Sohrawardi a été surnommé "l'Assassiné". Exécuté en l'an 1191 au palais d'Alep, il laisse présager sa mort dans les vers suivants:

Dis à mes compagnons s'ils m'ont vu mort et ont pleuré de tristesse

Ne croyes pas que je suis mort

Dieu, celui que vous voyez mort n'est pas mort

Mon âme est un oiseau, et ce corps et sa cage

Je me suis envolé et sa cage et resté vide

-Khaled Aljaramani (traduit de l'arabe par Naïma Chalour) et Serge Teyssot-Gay