Taqasim [Single]

Marcel Khalife | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 6, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Single
• Label: Nagam Records, Inc.
• ASIN: B000JLSRH8
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #115,142 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #68 in Music > World Music > Middle East > Arabic

Editorial Reviews

From the Artist

I specifically intended this set of Taqasim as a tribute and an expression of fidelity from Marcel Khalifé to Mahmoud Darwish. Some may wonder, as they listen to Taqasim, about the meaning of this dedication, for no part can be found in the score for the poetry of Darwish or for my own voice. Yet, nowhere have his poetry and my voice been as intensely present as in this work.

In Taqasim I shall entrust to the broad range of the lower registers of the oud and double bass the task of communicating those tremendous but obscure dimensions that are often ignored by the listeners' ears - the task of expressing the profound consonance between the poet and the musician.

In Taqasim my music will not "portray" anything or "refer" to anything. Rather than attempt to reconcile two systems of expression, it will re-create what the poetry of Darwish has created in me, in a manner analogous to the way digital systems process information, with analog material faithfully reproduced after being digitally encoded.

In Taqasim I will try to reproduce, only as music can, the esthetical, spiritual, emotional, and intellectual resonance of Darwish's poetry. Through a purely musical idiom, I will attempt to communicate what my singing voice has never been able to communicate in any setting of Darwish's poems.

I will "encode" his poetry in a system of rhythm, melody, and harmony. To the listener's sensitivity, I shall entrust the task of decoding, which I sincerely hope will be truly faithful to the source.

Product Description

Taqasim

1. Part one - 19:33
2. Part two - 20:28
3. Part three - 20:47

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Universal Oud Virtuoso for the 21st Century, December 22, 2006

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: Taqasim (Audio CD)

This recording is something different. . . and wonderful. I am late in hearing the compositions and dazzling oud of Marcel Khalife. [Kudos to Amazon for leading me to him.] Largely in the 1980s and early 1990s, the then novel jazzlike, world music explorations of fellow Lebanese oud player Rabih Abou-Khalil reached American ears via ECM and Enja recordings (which I had collected), but Khalife's works are in another, more universal class. While certainly rooted in Arabic tarab art-music, they are close in spirit and form to classical Western chamber compositions or even modern free jazz (like the group Oregon or Keith Jarrett's solo piano improvisations). This recording is not fusion nor Europop-influenced music; rather it is truly modern Arabic music. Khalife's music, however, is unique and original; it defies precise categorization. Much appreciated in North Africa and the Middle East, Kahlife's audience will sure expand, and this booklike album will help. I especially recommend his earlier 2-CD 2-oud quartet release, "Jadal", which will astonish you and which I rate *****.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Kind of Blue" for fans of the Oud, October 7, 2010

By 

Mrs.Beeton (Kingston, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Taqasim (Audio CD)

Picked this up on a chance at Beirut airport in 2006, not knowing much then about Khalife.

This is an astonishing recording. Haunting - a great, unforced, blend between the traditional music, atmospheric or symphonic stylings, and the jazz phrasing of the double bass which is as evocative as Scott LaFaro's work on Evan's "Live at the Village Vanguard".

It's one of those freakish "perfect moment" recordings, like "Kind of Blue" that draw you back again and again and again. This is all I play in my car right now, and has been for the last six months...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Awesome, February 11, 2009

By 

E. Hanna (TX, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Taqasim (Audio CD)

This is one of Khlaife's best productions in comparison to others he has done. I am not a big fan of Marcel, nor of poetry, but the mature, oriental, and explicit Oud and double bass mix is spiritual beyond any intellectual resonance.