Customer Reviews

Andalusian Music From Tangier

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Facing Spain is the port city of Tangier, Morocco. It is the home of one of the styles of medieval Andalusian music brought back from Moorish Spain, which is a prescribed suite of instrumentals and sung poems, often referred to as Arabo-Andalusian music. Performed here in concert, the ensemble includes artists who participated in flamenco vocalist Juan Peña Lebrijano's brilliant interaction, Encuentros, and differs from many such groups in including women vocalists, in addition to cellos. Indeed, the enlarged orchestra has two oudists, a player of the rebab, two violins, and a viola, along with percussion. The particular suite, or nuba, one of eleven in the tradition, is in mode hijaz al-kabir. There is joy in this performance and a particularly lighter, smoother style than found on other recordings from Fes and other regions. Improvisations are subtle in the form of vocal ornamations and tempo changes. My only caveat is that in this large ensemble spread across the stage there is a tendency to lose synchronicity, the groove. On the other hand, it is a live performance and we sense the community of artists and appreciative audience sharing in the delightful music.

This album is not at all what I expected in that I did not detect much of a Sephardic influence in the music. Also, it was quite monotonous.