Burning Dervish

I cannot remember for the life of me why I downloaded this album from emusic...I cannot find any information about it - or the performers - anywhere online.

It is sort of a confection of a record...fun Middle Eastern pop music..

If you know anything about it, leave me a comment.

Thanks.

Nebdou from Naila & Zaheir

I posted about Muslimgauze earlier this year so I won't get into his background again. If you want to know a little about him reference the earlier post...In fact, the comment in response to that post is even better and does him more justice than I did.

I've been slowly downloading the portions of his catalog that I do not already have from emusic. They have about 34 titles but if you want to go completest you will be looking at upwards of 200...

Iran is only three tracks long but packs in about 35 minutes of music across those tracks. The two strongest tracks are the "epics": "Lion of Kandahar" and "Intifadah" (included below for download). The first clocks in at over 10 minutes and the second at 17-plus.

It's not just quantity, though. Each track has a really simple, kick-drum-driven beat with a variety of percussion loops, drones and what seem like found sounds. There is a real exhilarating, improvised feeling to both of these mixes which make it hard to believe they are the work of one guy armed with some percussion instruments and synthesizers...

Muslimgauze: Intifadah
from Iran

Browse the Muslimgauze catalog on emusic.

What a bad ass record cover, no?

Damn...

So what do you know about this record? Probably more than I do, which is only a wee bit more than I did when I started writing this piece...from the image I found of the back cover it is clear the album was recorded at King Tubby's in or around 1974, with Tubby himself at the dials...another snippet I found described the record as, "Collection of rare mid 70’s DJ singles"...ok...then I came across an obituary of Jah Lloyd, whose real name was Pat Francis...I could only access this preview of the obit without a registration, which I did not want to enter a credit card for...

"PAT FRANCIS was a fine singer and DJ who recorded under various aliases - Jah Lloyd, Jah Lion and Jah Ali - which reflected his Rastafarian beliefs. The original vinyl version of Colombia Colly, the album he cut as Jah Lion in 1976 for the producer Lee Perry, changes hands for pounds 70 and is a steady seller on CD, while his 1970s Jah Lloyd dub collections (Herb Dub, Final Judgement) are sought after by aficionados the world over...Born in 1947 in St Catherine, Jamaica, Francis had a rather unhappy childhood. His mother died when he was eight and he was subsequently brought up by his farming..."

And that is where the free preview trails off...

Can't say it isn't intriguing.

Then I remembered to throw my two Hail Mary's...wikipedia (nothin') and All Music Guide - score!

"Jamaica's Pat Francis recorded under a lot of names during the 1970s, including Jah Lion, Jah Lloyd and Black Lion of Judah, and given that his musical creations frequently centered on drug-related themes, he was sort of an early character blueprint for the flamboyant urban rappers of the late 1990s. In the mid-1960s he was a member of the Mediators, and he later scored hits with topical material like "Soldier Round the Corner," "Know Yourself Blackman" and "Killer Flour" for producer Rupie Edwards. Never afraid to reinvent himself, Francis turned toaster and DJ for tracks like "Black Snowfall" and "World Class." He tasted critical success as Jah Lion when he recorded the marvelous Columbia Colly album with producer Lee "Scratch" Perry at Perry's legendary Black Ark studio, including a striking version of the Little Willie John classic, "Fever." He became Jah Lloyd in 1978, signing a record deal with Front Line, and although songs like "Jah Lion" and "Cocaine" tried hard, they stirred up little public interest. Francis turned to production work as the 1970s ended, becoming Jah Lion again as the 1980s beckoned, and although he stayed active behind the scenes, his major recording work was behind him. Pat Francis was only 52 when he was killed in Kingston on June 12, 1999."

But of course none of this has anything to do with the record itself, which has a nice roots feel, plenty of toasting and even a couple of decent dubs.

Going with what I love best, that is what I will post today, a couple of the dubs...Enjoy.

Jah Lloyd: Rock Dub and London Dub
from Final Judgement

I have real mixed feelings about this record, and not on puritanical grounds like the official reviewer at Amazon does, I am just not sure I like it!

It is hard not to be entranced by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's voice or to be impressed by how well his vocals seem to mesh with the electronic and dub musical pieces...my issue is that a lot of it just seems sort of...lightweight.

That said, there are a couple of deep tracks and since it is my preference to focus on the positive, especially concerning a record that attempts to accomplish so much, those are the tracks I am making available today...

Anyway, see for yourself and let me know what you think.

Gaudi & Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: Jab Teri Dhun Main Raha Karte and Dil Da Rog Muka Ja Mahi
from Dub Qawwali

Here is a record that I cannot seem to find much info on...Maybe if I was more familiar with Earl Sixteen beyond just some basic biographic info I could piece it together...It is definitely a compilation...possible containing some Roots Radics backing tracks and Mikey Dread productions...?

All in all, seventeen tracks, ranging from most of Earl's early hits like "Malcolm X" and "Freedom", various dubs and other tracks.

If you know anything about this record, please share...I can't seem to find it commercially available anywhere but I will hold back from posting the whole thing here and instead focus on a few dubs...

Earl Sixteen: Malcolm X Dub, Rastaman Dub, and If Life Is Dub
from Soldier of Jah Army

Dennis Bovell is someone I only recently learned about but whose musical contributions I have probably been hearing for years. He has collaborated (as a producer, re-mixer, songwriter or musician) with artists as diverse as the Thompson Twins, the Slits, Steel Pulse, Bananarama, Dexy's Midnight Runners, Edwin Collins, Fela Kuti and others.

Dub Master is a very satisfying record. The worst I can say about it is that at times it is a little jarring to hear Bovell's lover's rock-style tracks next to some of his dub excursions...but to his credit that stuff is more often than not segued by jams like "Audio Active", jazzy, well-produced tracks that bridge the disparate styles.

In general I am partial to dub over lover's rock and since this is my blog that's what I am going to post today! Search this one out, though, it merits some heavy rotation.

Dennis Bovell: Cut After Cut, Strictly Dub, Mint Ah Music, Zombie Zomez, and Ah Weh
from Dub Master

Cheikha Remitti was one of the most famous singers of the Algerian folk music style known as raï.

She began performing in the raï style in the late-30s but her renown spread more rapidly after WWII when she began recording professionally and singing about a more hedonistic, sexually liberated lifestyle. This caused much controversy and led to her being criticized by both the country's Muslim leaders and the Algerian Nationalists fighting for independence against France. The former group denouncing her on moral grounds and the latter on nationalistic ones: they claimed her music expressed a distinctly French perspective.

Remitti remained popular with the Algerian people, despite being banned from the airwaves after the country gained independence. She performed frequently at private events in the country and for Algerian ex-pats in France, where she lived and ultimately died, of a heart attack at age 83, in May 2006.

A lot of this music is really ecstatic and exciting to listen to. Here are a couple of tracks I really enjoy:

Cheikha Remitti: Anta Rabhi Ou Ras Mali and Ouchta Dani Naachak
from Les Racines Du Rai (The Roots of Rai)

Download Les Racines Du Rai from eMusic.

A little over a year ago I was given a hard drive packed full of rare and out-of-print reggae records, 45s, 7-inches, etc. Most of the stuff was encoded from vinyl and many included cover art scans.

I am still making my way through it all.

It has taken me so long that not all of the items remain commercially unavailable. Many I have only seen as expensive imports. Even those readily available through a site like Amazon show little-to-no sales history.

This record seems to be available both as a pricey import but also for about half the import price through some specialty sites. I don't know how that works...Anyway, here are segments of what the label, Aurlux, has to say about the record:

"Towards the end of the 1970s, Jamaican music was changing dramatically -- the roots reggae era had seen the rise of dreadlocked harmony trios singing of sufferation, but by the start of 1979 a different sound transfixed the island as a whole new legion of fresh talent began rising out of Kingston's dancehalls...The most important and best admired vocalist to emerge from the dancehall movement was Barrington Levy, a cool crooner who sang of love, life, enjoyment and hardship in equal measure, and once Barrington hooked up with political 'enforcer' turned record producer Henry 'Junjo' Lawes, the dancehall style reached international prominence. Junjo had been working at Channel One studio with the Roots Radics...about two dozen of their fresh rhythms were voiced by Barrington at King Tubby's legendary studio in Waterhouse...The first dub album to surface from the Barrington Levy sessions was The Big Showdown,, released in 1980 by Greensleeves in the UK; The album has rightly been hailed as a classic, seen in retrospect as one of the last great dub albums of all time. What few realize is that Junjo issued a totally different companion album in Jamaica on Jah Guidance...It used the same sleeve and track listing as the Greensleeves disc but featured ten totally different Barrington Levy dubs, again mixed at King Tubby's studio. Although both discs featured dubs of the tracks 'Reggae Music,' 'Looking My Love' and 'Black Heart Man,' each mix on the Jah Guidance release is distinctly different from that of any other release ever issued; the mixes here are much sparser and rawer, aimed as they were at the Jamaican market. The original Jamaican dub mixes that appeared on the Jah Guidance album have remained an obscure and long sought after dub rarity, unavailable since its original Jamaican release, until now."

Enjoy.

Download
Barrington Levy: In Dub - The Lost Mixes From King Tubby's Studio
or Buy the import from Amazon

I find that a lot of the attempts at "East meets West", world-dance music falls flat. Instead of sounding like some hot global dance club it often sounds like Eastern music with bad drum loops and over-production.

Sometimes it is completely inspired.

This record is a bit of a mixed bag, with a couple of definite duds (if you make it through the first track "A Muey A Muey" you will be in good shape), but on balance its worth seeking out through your favorite purveyor...

Some background from the label's catalog:

"Under the direction of their Arabic-speaking Swiss leader and co-producer Patrick Jabbar El Shaheed, the seven members of AKJE recorded the initial sessions for SHABEESATION in 1991 and 1992 in Casablanca. A shabee (Morrocan dance-pop) band at its core, the group's Indian and Arab melodies and rhythms were embellished in the initial mixing process with "found sounds" recorded to DAT by Jabbar El Shaheed. These atmospheric snippets of life in Marrakech include the thud of a knife being slapped across the back of a neck (on "Dunya"), samples of Soussi Berber musicians (also on "Dunya"), and the blasts of a gunshot (on "Nbrik"). Throughout the album's nine tracks, electric guitars and synthesizers mix with traditional Moroccan instruments including the kmenja, a violin instrument played vertically, the guimbri, a West African bass-stringed instrument, and aouuda, a small wooden flute.

The band's already complex sound was further transformed at Bill Laswell's Brooklyn studio in 1993. As co-producer, he invited Umar Bin Hassan of the Last Poets to lend his booming vocals to "Fin Roh," while Laswell himself picked up his fabled bass for several tracks. P-Funk keyboardist Bernie Worrell and rest of the groove-heavy Greenpoint Posse round out the funk. The already hypnotic fusion of Moroccan dance-pop and modern sampling technology were taken to a higher plane under Laswell's direction, and the resulting trancelike melange is positively rapturous."

I love Umar's voice so his track, "Fin Roh", is included below as is "Nbrik Dub", featuring Bernie Worrell. My favorite track is the very bizarre "El Harb"...

Aisha Kandisha's Jarring Effects: Fin Roh, Nbrik Dub, Lahbab, and El Harb -
from Shabeesation

Another interesting recording from McCoy's early sessions as a leader...this record is memorable for a few reasons, first and foremost is the line-up: McCoy, teamed with Henry Grimes and Roy Haynes, perhaps the only rhythm section at the time more interesting than the various combinations of bass players Ron Carter, Jimmy Garrison or Art Davis and drummers Elvin Jones and Al Foster. Grimes and Haynes were the right men at the right time for McCoy, as his original compositions were already starting to display that real forcefulness, or sense of propulsion, that his best tracks exhibit.

Memorable also for the appearance of the title track, available here for download. A fine, hard-driving rave-up with some great group interplay and even greater solos from all three.

Although originally released in late 1963, the session for this album was in late '62, only McCoy's second date as a band leader. That fact makes the sound of this record even more impressive.

Reaching Fourth from Reaching Fourth

Soul Summit originally appeared as two releases, Soul Summit and Soul Summit, Volume 2. Tenor Gene Ammons is not on all of the tracks, including Scram, the one featured below, but all of the songs have a nice swing to them.

There are a lot of records in this Bop/Swing style from the late 50s/early 60s but given the presence of Jack McDuff, this one is a standout.

Scram
on CD from Amazon: Soul Summit
or as download from eMusic: Soul Summit