| Deep End |
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| As part of my company's quest for geographical expansion in sales, we visited a trade fair in Dubai, and then returned to follow up new and old contacts in the Emirates and Saudi Arabia just one month later. Yet another business trip perhaps, but this one was special, since it gave me a glimpse inside the elusive Saudi kingdom, and (especially in Dubai) once again filled my head with Arabic music as I sucked at shishas. And this time I knew where to go to find it. I had my first real introduction to "oriental" style music in Paris and Brussels, through the mainly North African Rai artists and the fusion of Anglo-Egyptian-Belgian Natacha Atlas. This was a basic preparation for the real education that came with my visit to Beirut in 2001 that resulted in the disc Dream Park. While the rythms and phrasings are instantly beautiful and mysterious to (at least my) European ears, the tonality and common refrain-chorus reply structure aren't always. Like "Japanese Pops", at first it's difficult to even tell the songs (or artists) apart. |
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| The modified picture is from the swimming pool at the Emirates Towers hotel in Dubai. The Palms are by the Red Sea in Jeddah. |
| The modified picture (Note the "Red" Sea) is from the in-flight screen as our Saudi plane headed in towards Jeddah. I could see the lights of Mecca (Makkah) in the distance - as close as I'll ever get. |
| Another view taken from the pool of the Emirates Towers Hotel in Dubai - looking up! |
| Songs from the Arab world as heard in Saudi Arabia and Dubai in October 2003 |
| For Dream Park I ended up not using much of what I heard and purchased locally simply because I found it too inaccessible, and focused instead on the most "European-friendly" artists. What a surprise to come back to the region just two years later, but to find a real shift in the mainly Egyptian and Lebanese music that seems to dominate the Arabic-speaking world. Either my perception has changed, or the beats and arrangements have become much more European, making them easily appreciable even to someone who's never heard oriental music before. The number of "dance versions" available and the stylish videos produced mainly in quickly reviving Beirut show influences that are clearly European, but with a beautifully Middle Eastern result. |
| It is a difficult time in the Arab world, not least because the perception in many countries, especially the US, has changed so much in the past few years. This region gets a bum rap that is not deserved. I like to think of myself as being relatively open and aware of the world, but I was surprised at the sheer beauty and contrasts of some of the places I saw and the people who inhabited them. I was surprised and impressed by the peaceful, elegant, deeply spiritual and family-oriented religion that is Islam. And of course, there's the fantastic music, largely in classic Lebanese and softer more informal Egyptian accents. |