5.0 out of 5 stars
Religious Music from the Land of Cedars, June 5, 2008
This review is from: Anthology of World Music: Lebanon I (Audio CD)
Ah, Lebanon. Such a beautiful country, so full of history, culture and faith. And so much sorrow and tragedy to... This CD, another release from Rounder's 'Anthology of World Music' series, attempts to give an ethnographic overview of this diverse Middle Eastern country's musical heritage. No easy task, given the various cultural and religious groups. I'm not quite sure on my feelings here... While the recordings are certainly well documented and authentic, they also wind up cutting out the country's sizable Maronite population due to constraints of space. As a result, we are given prayers from both Sunni and Shi'a Muslims, as well as a prayer from the Druze minority. A casual observer might come away with the impression that Lebanon is a Muslim and Druze country, not knowing about the rich cultural heritage of the Maronites, who can trace their liturgical influences back to both their own Phoenician ancestors and the Byzantine Greeks (as well as the ever present Arabic influences throughout the region).
With that said, mind you, this is still a magnificent CD. As I said before, the emphasis is on religious music - all of the songs presented here are devotional in nature, including the muezzin's adhan (or call to prayer). Certainly one gets the sense of a great deal of faith and tradition behind all of these recordings. Those familiar with the classical and folk traditions of Middle Eastern music will be able to recognize the strong Arabic influences here (understandable as Lebanon is one of the major Arab states, even if certain segments of the population might choose not to self-identify as 'Arab'). The tense vocal quality, melissmatic singing, all of the traits typical to Middle Eastern music. This is a great ethnographic recording for those seeking to learn more about the Middle East's heritage, and as usual the liner notes are quite informative. My only comment is that Lebanon is much more diverse. Fortunately, Lebanese pop music is VERY easy to find (names like Fairouz, Wadi al-Safi, Nancy Ajram and Marcel Khalife spring to mind), while Maronite sacred music has been popularized by the wonderful Sister Marie Keyrouz. So this is best thought of as perhaps a starting point in learning about Levant music more than anything else. Certainly you will see why Beirut has long been an intellectual and cultural center for the Arabic-speaking world, easily on par with Cairo.
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