The Aleppo Suites [Box set, Import]

Hassan Haffar | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 14, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 3
• Format: Box set, Import
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Institut Du Monde
• ASIN: B0026JWDM6
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #552,604 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #16 in Music > World Music > Middle East > Syria

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Doubts Put to Rest, August 12, 2009

By 

Dr. Debra Jan Bibel "World Music Explorer" (Oakland, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Aleppo Suites (Audio CD)

When I purchased this 3-disc album, I wondered if I was a tad crazy. After all, these are traditional Arabic poetry sung by one man accompanied by a chorus of 6, two playing frame drums. Forty-three tracks for 143 minutes of one musical sound is a long time. However, having read Jonathan Holt Shannon's book "Among the Jasmin Trees. Music and Modernity in Contempory Syria," I was curious about these Aleppo Suites. Hassan Haffar is an important muezzin, one who calls Muslims to prayer and chant/recite the Qu'ran, who is in residence at the Great Mosque in Aleppo. These poetic songs, which permit ornamental improvisations, are each in 11 different maqams, or scales. As in Hindistani ragas, the unique modes have different emotions. The album would provide an opportunity to experience these different maqams and their respective emotions. But would tedium set in? Thus, in one continuous listening without consulting the lyrics (they were all similar anyway), I discovered that each of the suites was indeed different and they held my interest throughout. With only the modes, the rhythms, and the melodies, I experienced joyful romance; serious pathos and longing; heroic strength; religious devotion; craving; thankfulness and praise; love and encouragement; the suffering of separation; and the power of action. I was amazed. This album, recorded in 1999 in Paris and issued after 10 years, is a major contribution to the musical art of maqam and to the Syrian style of suites.