Sultan of All Munshidin [Import]

Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tuni | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 10, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Label: Long Distance France
• ASIN: B00004UFC2
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #251,057 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #59 in Music > World Music > Africa > Egypt

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Qulub Al Ashoine/ Les Coeurs des Amants/ The Hearts of Lovers/

2. Al Qalima Al Qadima/ La Parole Originelle/ The Original Word

Disc: 2

1. Allah Mahabba/ Dieu Est Amour/ God Is Love

2. Alam/ Le Nom du Createur/ The Name of the Creator

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ah, the power of ethno-music!, November 20, 2004

By 

Craptacular. (CO) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Sultan of All Munshidin (Audio CD)

4 songs, each on average 30 minutes long. Although the first song is rather stagnant, each of the other tunes follows a call-and-response structure, and runs through various maqamat (middle-eastern "scales"). Although I just started learning Arabic, I'm completely clueless to what 70-year old Ahmed is singing about. But, in enjoying the music for its purity, it is irrelevant. He is the greatest munshid in Egypt, and sings with stifling accuracy for semi-tones. The vocals are accompanied by the Oud (Arabian fretless lute), Ney (Egyptian flute), Daf (large frame drum), tabla/darbukkah (Djembe-shaped drume), and Riq (tamborine). As each song usually goes through a process of picking up the tempo and intensity towards the end, it is easy to see how people succumb to a trance-like state induced by the hypnotic rhythm. I would strongly recommend this to anyone with a curiosity of North Africa/Egypt, and anyone who pursues a kind of music that in its purity and soul defies the commerciality and superficiality of music that is mainstream today.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best sufi music!, July 31, 2011

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ravennamoon (Naples, Italy) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Sultan of All Munshidin (Audio CD)

Sheikh Ahmad Al-Tuni is the great sufi singer of Egypt ~ or the world. I fell in love with sufi music many years ago,
and the Egyptian sufi music is my favorite. I was introduced to the sufi music via Sheikh Ahmad Barrayn - gorgeous music.
It was recently that I found Sheikh Ahmad Al-Tuni~ he was featured in a Spanish film called "Vengo" ~ synchronicity.
I own many sufi music cd's from all over the world~ I bought 2 of these~ one for home, one for car.
This is soul-stirring poetry, sung with passion and love. You will be mesmerized by the gorgeous instruments, the poetry,
the truth, the music. Remember...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant! Powerful! This is såma, April 28, 2009

By 

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

This review is from: Sultan of All Munshidin (Audio CD)

At present, three recordings of Egyptian Sufi music are available and this review will describe commonality and their key differences. Sufism, as other mystical sects of various religions, have different schools or brotherhoods, although they share approaches: chiefly repetiton (like mantras and holotropic breathing) of "Allah", usually accompanied by in-place movement or more vigorous dancing, Qur'anic recition, and inspiring hymns or såma. [The Turkish and Syrian Sufi schools include the dervishes whose stately whirling are well known.] The Sufi gathering is a hadra and dhikrs are the rituals and practices.

The 2-CD alubm of Sheikh Admad al-Tuni, the Sultan of All Munshidin [Wagram] was recorded in Theatre de la Ville in Paris. He is accompanied by nine singers and musicans, who play oud, ney flute, kamanga violin, and drums (riqq, tabaleh, naqrazan). As cantor, al-Tuni has charisma in his voice. Bathing in the enveloping sound of the instruments, his phrasing and repetitions and has power (much like a flamenco singer...a historical offshoot). The songs are slow and meditative with oud improvisations leading to fast, rhythmic dancing. While a concert, there is dhikr spirit, as no doubt the audience must be swaying in their seats. Samå is manifest. These recordings are the best of the lot.

La Chådhiliyya, Sufi Chants from Cairo [Instut de Monde Arabe], features hymnist/munshid Sheikh Mohamed al Helbawy and 14 accompanists as chorus. The recordings are of the series of dhikr, hymns, and liturgies from the calling to prayer to the invocation. No instruments are involved; only clapping sometimes occur. The listener becomes sensitive to the passionate quality of the singer and the gravity of the rite. This is not a field recording and there is no sense of community. I found the album rather arid and was not moved.

Also featuring Mohamed al Helbawy is the recording Egyptian Sufi [ARC]. The recording has more echo, or depth, and is clearer. Also, instruments are included: a kawala flute and drum. Here, the choir consists of four member; two others are musicians. Only hymns are offered; there is no sense of dhikr exercises as suggested in the above album. However, the superior quality of the engineering plus the addition of instruments make the album more inspiring, more effective. al-Helbawy seems stronger, richer in voice, too.