![]() If you can get into it, you’ll find yourself starting to move like the Gnawans do when they play – a kind of circular, swaying motion. Try tapping along with the karkabous groove and singing the theme melody. I could listen (and have listened) to this all day. Note that it’s a much shorter “made for TV” version of “El Bouhala” than what is typical of normal Gnawan performance practice. This clip is a performance by his ensemble for the Moroccan TV station 2M Monde. One of the biggest stars of Gnawan music is Maâlem Hamid El Kasri. Repetition, verse-refrains, tonic-dominant emphasis, melody lines with varying pitch around the 3 rd and 5 th scale degrees, incredibly DEEP feel… sounds like blues language to me. This music is definitely of the Arabic world – devotional poetry, connection to Islam, nasal and melismatic singing style – but it also has roots in sub-Saharan music like the swing and tension-release of the 2 vs 3 rhythm (listen to the unique North African swing of the karkabous rhythm – one of the great grooves of the planet!), the call-response structure, and the vocal quality of the pentatonic guimbri lines. Trance, ecstasy, and communal connection to the divine are central to the performance practice. Led by a maâlem (“music master”) who sings and plays the guimbri, a three-stringed lute-type instrument, the Gnawan ensemble consists of dancers and accompanying singers who articulate the groove with large metal castanets ( karkabous). One of the most captivating and influential discoveries for me has been the music of the Gnawa in Morocco. Samuel Torjman Thomas, a good friend and long-time musical collaborator, has connected me to a lot of North African music over the years. ![]() They’re on the recorded track you hear, though.Įthnomusicologist Dr. *That’s NOT Phil and Pino in the video for this song. I can’t remember any of the names of the gear I couldn’t afford, but I do remember having one of the more intense sonic experiences listening to “Woman In Chains” in a sound-isolated room while partially reclined in a leather barcalounger positioned at the precise location where ear drum-to-speaker cone distances and angles were aligned to perfection. I remember bringing Seeds of Love to a high-end stereo store in Providence, Rhode Island, to check out… high-end stereos. It’s a beautiful balance of huge warm organic sound, killer performances, and an obsessive attention to structure, arrangement and sonic detail. Production aesthetics are always changing, but this track hits the sweet spot for me. The arc and build of the song’s arrangement (!) The masterful performances, especially singer Oleta Adams, Pino Palladino on fretless bass, and Phil Collins on drums* (king of the grandiose, orchestral-like drum fill entrance… recall “In The Air Tonight” on Phil’s first solo record) (!!) The meticulous sound-crafting by Roland Orzabal, Curt Smith, and engineer Dave Bascombe (!!!) All pretty remarkable, and of a different (pre-mp3) era. Listen to this with a good set of headphones, not shitty computer speakers. Has there been a more exquisitely produced pop song than “Woman in Chains” by Tears for Fears ( The Seeds of Love, 1989)? I’ll throw that question out there.
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