A Dip In The Ocean

Disc: 1

1. First session

2. Quran Recitation

Disc: 2

1. Second Session

2. Quaran Recitation

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Classical Andalusi singing and instrumental music at its most ecstatic. These unrehearsed live recordings were made in the summer of 2001 in Larache , a small sea-side holiday resort and fishing port on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. Sidi Mustafa Mesamri, a native of Larache and himself a singer invited some friends and acquaintances to a private celebration at his house. He tempted the best Moroccan singers and musicians he could find to a few days beside the ocean to relax and unwind. What you hear on these two CDs is part of the final night with some of the Andalusi Orchestra of Tetouan, accompanying a large group of singers from Larache, Tetouan, Casablanca and Fez. The orchestra normally performs in formal concerts around Morocco and further afield in Europe but this was a night off for private entertainment. The first CD presents the unique combination of voices, two violins and viola (played traditionally on the lap), qanun , rebab , oud , darbugha (hand drum) and tarr (small tambourine) accompanying the hadra, the dance of invocation well known in the zawiyyas of sufi orders in North Africa but also common at public events and weddings. The second CD is predominantly singing, hadra and percussion, finishing as on the first CD with the recitation of Quran by Abu Bakr Siddiq, Imam and Hafiz from Ksa Kebir, a town nearby and is in a traditional unique Andalusi style not heard outside North Africa. This style of recitation, singing and instrumental music has come down to us through an oral tradition dating back a thousand years to the royal courts of Cordoba. Even if the meaning of the words is inaccessible to the western listener the s! inging and music is universally understood. What is unusual on these recordings is the exuberant blend of pure Anadalusans Gnawa rythms of Saharan Africa. The qasidas (a poetic form) that are sung here are drawn from the huge corpus of classical poetry famous throughout the Arab speaking world and include excerpts from the beautiful Burda ans Hamziyya of Busiri and qasidas by Shushatari, Haraq and other lesser known poets. They are poems in ecstatic praise of God and the Prophet Muhammad and are famous throughout North Africa and the rest of the Muslim world. The price for recording live in Morocco is the occasional dropped tea tray, the patter of private conversation and the ever-present wedding celebration two blocks away – and of course the mobile phone which mercifully only features once on these recording. To the fastidious perfectionist this is irritating but for those who wish to participate in the spirit of the event they are indispensable.

Tracks:

First session
Quran Recitation

Tracks:

Second Session
Quaran Recitation

Album Description

Classical Andalusi singing and instrumental music at its most ecstatic. These unrehearsed live recordings were made in the summer of 2001 in Larache , a small sea-side holiday resort and fishing port on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. Sidi Mustafa Mesamri, a native of Larache and himself a singer invited some friends and acquaintances to a private celebration at his house. He tempted the best Moroccan singers and musicians he could find to a few days beside the ocean to relax and unwind. What you hear on these two CDs is part of the final night with some of the Andalusi Orchestra of Tetouan, accompanying a large group of singers from Larache, Tetouan, Casablanca and Fez. The orchestra normally performs in formal concerts around Morocco and further afield in Europe but this was a night off for private entertainment. The first CD presents the unique combination of voices, two violins and viola (played traditionally on the lap), qanun , rebab , oud , darbugha (hand drum) and tarr (small tambourine) accompanying the hadra, the dance of invocation well known in the zawiyyas of sufi orders in North Africa but also common at public events and weddings. The second CD is predominantly singing, hadra and percussion, finishing as on the first CD with the recitation of Quran by Abu Bakr Siddiq, Imam and Hafiz from Ksa Kebir, a town nearby and is in a traditional unique Andalusi style not heard outside North Africa. This style of recitation, singing and instrumental music has come down to us through an oral tradition dating back a thousand years to the royal courts of Cordoba. Even if the meaning of the words is inaccessible to the western listener the s! inging and music is universally understood. What is unusual on these recordings is the exuberant blend of pure Anadalusans Gnawa rythms of Saharan Africa. The qasidas (a poetic form) that are sung here are drawn from the huge corpus of classical poetry famous throughout the Arab speaking world and include excerpts from the beautiful Burda ans Hamziyya of Busiri and qasidas by Shushatari, Haraq and other lesser known poets. They are poems in ecstatic praise of God and the Prophet Muhammad and are famous throughout North Africa and the rest of the Muslim world. The price for recording live in Morocco is the occasional dropped tea tray, the patter of private conversation and the ever-present wedding celebration two blocks away - and of course the mobile phone which mercifully only features once on these recording. To the fastidious perfectionist this is irritating but for those who wish to participate in the spirit of the event they are indispensable.

Pop Music:

Pop Music