Customer Reviews

Escalay: Water Wheel - Oud Music of Nubia

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Hamza el Din is one of the world's greatest musicians. Those familar with music from Africa and the Middle East may have heard similar sounds, but nothing quite approaches the traditional music of Nubia. The Nubians, who played a vital role in Egyptian history from pre-dynastic times into the Christian era, have long inhabited the lands in southern Egypt/northern Sudan for as long as anyone can remember, and cling fiercely to their proud history. Hamza el-Din embodies all that is great and ejoyable about Nubian music. Its lively and exotic, and yet at the same time easily approached. One thing to note here, the oud (on which Hamza is self-taught btw) is not a traditional Nubian instrument. It is an Arab instrument, but Hamza plays it in a uniquely Nubian way.
If you appreciate the music of Africa and/or the Middle East, then check this CD out. Its well worth the buy, and is likely unlike anything you've ever heard.

I have several cd's with oud's (a Middle Eastern lute) and none of them have the rich and gorgeous tone that this cd has. I suspect this rich and beautifully resonant tone is partly due to Hamza's amazing musical skills and partly due to a great recording engineer who just really knew how to capture Hamza's tone.

THE WATER WHEEL is my favorite track on this cd although I don't say that as a way to slight the other two tracks. I'm not going to give anything away here but don't play this cd while doing something else. Really focus on it and listen to it because when Hamza starts singing for the very first time it is incredible. It's one of my favorite vocal moments in all of recorded music. I think most people think of him mainly as a composer and an oud player but his voice is beyond description.

The cd ends with a rhythmically meditative song played on the Tar which is (straight from the liner notes) "the large single-headed hoop drums, much like large tambourines, which are indigenous to Nubia". Don't let that discourage you if you don't like tambourines, I think they make that comparison about the construction of the instruments because the tar doesn't really sound like a tambourine.

All in all, an incredible cd and let me just say that this is "Real Indigenous Music". There are no drum machines or programmed samples on this. This is true musical expression that represents the lands and peoples of Hamza's home and interests (Nubian and Arabic), it's not techno dance music that just happens to be in a "foreign language".

"Escalay: The Water Wheel" was recorded over thirty years ago after Hamza El Din attracted the attention of musicians like Joan Baez and Mickey Hart. There is much more to the story than that. Hamza El Din was born in "Nubia" (Sudan) where the oud, or "Arab lute" is as foreign as it is in America. He decided to become a musician when he was a young man, studying engineering in Cairo. He is the first person to play traditional Nubian music on the oud. The results are stunning. I don't know anything about traditional Nubian music, nor do I know much about the oud, having only a few CDs of Arabic oud music in my collection; I just know I really like this recording. It has three songs: The title track "The Water Wheel" is a musical description of oxen turning a water wheel to irrigate the fields; the combination of Hamza El Din's playing and singing are enchanting. The second selection is a song by Egyptian composer Mohammed Abdul Wahab (or Mohamed Abdel Wahab, see other CDs of his music). The last selection is a tradtional Nubian song featuring the Tar, or Nubian drum. Also worth noting are the excellent notes by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea, author of several books about the Middle East; "Street in Marrakech" and "Guests of the Sheik", for example.

hamza takes you on a journey through a culture that is rich in tradition the nubian culture which most nubian people in the west dont have a clue of . to appreciate the man and his insturment and the feeling in the songs when he plays them hamza is a master of the oud and water wheel all 21:30 of it takes you to a place you never been.i remember is the song that you set back and reflect on whatever , his playing of the oud is masterfull . the song with tar this is what nubian kids in the west need this is where the butt shaking comes from in our culture this makes you dance even if you dont wanna dance . hamud ent hamza i listen to you every day and my son is beign brought up on this music and even at 2 you can tell he enjoys it .

This is a reissue of an old (1971) album, but the quality is excellent and el Din is at the top of his form. If you liked "Lily of the Nile," you'll like this one: it's mostly solo oud and vocal music, although on the final track he presents a sprightly "old style" Nubian love song accompanying himself on the tar (frame drum). The second track is lovely, but the (long) first track is terrific: a mini-drama of life in a village along the Nile, where a little boy is responsible for tending the oxen who turn the water wheel, but falls under the spell of its rhythm and loses himself in it. (Oddly, it reminded me of Matt Molloy's liner notes to "Shadows on Stone," where he recalls, as a child, hearing tunes in the wind in the trees outside his bedroom window.) This is not an album you put on for background music while you're making chicken cacciatore; you have to LISTEN to it to appreciate it properly.

The winding and mysterious River Nile informs both music and musician on this wonderful exploration of sound and image. One can almost hear the Nile as it dictates the pace and rhythm of life as it has existed for a century along the narrow strip of land that sustains life in this part of northern Sudan. Coming from the border area of Wadi Halfa, Hamza el Din necessarily evokes a journey across thresholds, I believe his own included. It would certainly be of no surprise to me to learn that the musician, in making this beautiful music, transcended his own sense of self, and emerged through a liminal state on the other side. This is an album that comes rarely, and should not be ignored. No doubt, it will miss its intended mark - as a measure of musicianship and love - but to some, it will inevitably bring a sense of discovery. This music, like the Nile, and like the need for water, is simply ageless.

Bob Wilkinson

Maybe it's because of the great buildup given it by other reviewers, including Amazon's, but Escalay was a little disappointing to me. The playing is not particularly difficult level, and there are other oud recording that show more virtuosity, like those of Munir Bachir. Hamza's vocalizations are more musically interesting elsewhere also. While the oud does not by design have the dynamic range of the European style classical guitar, what it is capable of is very well produced here. My 4-star rating is for "worthwhile" but not a "must-have."

Wow! This highly rewarding album is likely completely alien to most listeners. I had never heard of the Oud before, but the virtuosity of Hamza El Din shines through even without a strong frame of reference. The highly emotional songs accomplish the great feat of transporting the listener directly to the source, and El Din's voice is pretty awesome too.

If you ever been moved by music in your life, you will find this CD wonderfully familiar as a result. A warning, however--you will not be able to do anything while listing to the twenty minutes of the title song. In conclusion, if you do not enjoy this CD, you either don't enjoy music, or have a short attention span. Hamza's tone is warm and inviting, and his compositions and style 100% original and 100% attentive to tradition. He's one of a kind, and this particular CD will mezmerize you from the first note.

WATER WHEEL describes the experiences of the boy who keeps the water wheel going: the fugue grows and the oud draws on Nubian classical tradition to back its rhythmic melody.
 A specialty item for avid oud enthusiasts.