Album:
Orient Noir
Label:
Piranha Musik
Release Date:
September 18th 2012
I found myself interested in
reviewing this album for two reasons. Firstly, it featured Mahmoud Fadl who
Drumspyder had cited as an influence in his review (in fact “Maqsoum” was
actually a cover of a Fadl piece).
Secondly, the album features more actual world music than our usual
world music/electronica fusions.
The album kicks off with French act the Watcha Clan (who I was already familiar with). The track is really more of a short
intro combining eastern vocals with music I’d associated to the smoky jazz
café’s of times gone by.
The album moves forward from
the jazz vibe through a variety of artists from Israel, Morocco, Pakistan,
Algeria and even New York with the focus mostly on traditional music from Israel and the
Middle East.
Although I find the album an interesting journey and like the rhythms
and wind instruments in the tracks. I must confess to preferring electronica
which utilises world music with either accompanying instruments or samples. This
is probably why I’m drawn most to the Watcha Clan's cover of Ofra Haza's “Im Nin’Alu” by the Watcha Clan, which musically is
not unlike a skankin' Beats Antique with an alluring vocal.
Although, I’m also partial to the
closing track “The Garden” by Efendi’s Garden where in the elongated intro the
emphasis is on the vocal, in the manner of the Islamic call to prayer but then
transcends into Krautrock with an Eastern tinge.
Review by Woodzee
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