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Nubia (Upper Egypt)
This is an extremely fun album to dance with. Vocals lead the melody, with
support from a horn section, and sometimes keyboard, accordion,
harmonica, oud, and nei. The rhythm section is strongly mixed: doumbek,
tambourine, bass, deff, and some kind of bell. Some tracks are laid-back,
others are loaded with energy and a friendly, cheerful mood. The high energy pieces are
eminently suited for dancing.
Overall: Great
Danceability: Great (fusion)
Drum use: Minimal
There are many catchy songs and song fragments, including several mixes of favorite bollywood
songs. World music afficianados will recognize “Salma Ya Salama” (a song sufficiently popular that it
has its own wikipedia article) in the second mix. The sound is bass and percussion (dhol, set, bells)
heavy. Melodies are carried by the vocals, with only occasional instrumentation, mainly electronic.
The title is accurate: this album is excellent for parties, particularly amongst bhangra and bollywood
fans, due to the frequent appearance of hit songs. Be aware that almost all the tracks are more than
10 minutes long.
Overall: Good
Danceability: Great (once editted for length)
Drum use: Not significant
Whereas I thought the Rough Guide to Bellydance was spotty, I find this compilation solid. (Granted,
I don’t know tremendously much about Sega, Taarab, the music of Seychelles, etc.) Almost every
track is thoroughly enjoyable, and a large number of places are represented with both pop and more
traditional music. Tarika’s “Koba” is a fusion of both; Ala Li La is catchy accordion, conga, and
drum set Sega; Bayoun a traditional vocal and percussion piece. Feo-gasy (with guitarist Rakoto
Frah) represent the strong Malagasy guitar tradition. “Wacha Yakufike”, by the Culture Music Club
(Zanzibar) is a wonderful instrumental Taarab piece of the Arab-influenced style. Tam-Tam Des
Cools present a hip hop song, “Pas Bezoin Zot’ la Per”. All in all, the songs are catchy,
contemporary, well-produced, and strongly represent the enormous variety of cultural influences and
indigenous tradition found in this part of the world.
Overall: Excellent
Danceability: Moderate (fusion)
Drum use: Not significant
This soundtrack contains music following the Romani from India/Pakistan all the way to Eastern
Europe and Spain. The first tracks feature dhol, bagpipe, and a child singing. By track 5 (Bambi
Saidi) we are in Egypt, with a raucous affair of rebab, mizmar, doumbek, and zils, accompanied by a
lot of clapping and shouting. We also visit Istanbul, now with oud, riq, violin, darbouka, and fiddle.
Taksims and vocal and accordion pieces take us farther east, until ultimately we reach Spain with a
pair of flamenco guitar pieces. “Tchavalo Swing”, a guitar and fiddle swing track, is particularly
good. Only a few tracks are suitable for Raks Sharki, though several others are excellent fusion
possibilities. Drums are generally subdued. The album has enormous energy and feeling.
Overall: Great
Danceability: Minimal (a few tracks)
Drum use: Minimal
Music derived but far removed from traditional Malagasy. The instrumental compliment is electronic
drum set, bass, guitar, male vocals, and on several tracks congas, brass, accordion, and female
vocals. The vocal structure and rhythms are ancient, and the guitar and bass reflect strong modern
Malagasy tradition. Songs are loaded with accents and melodic shifts. Always energetic, always
catchy, I have no doubt this album is perfect for safidy and other Malagasy dances. The major
problem is the constancy of the electronic drumset. Nevertheless, the album is definitely fun.
Overall: Good
Danceability: Not raks… Malagasy
Drum use: Not significant
About half of the songs are straight 4/4, the other half are 6/8 with polyrhythmic 4/4. Most of the
songs are cheery-sounding (though the lyrics may be less cheerful, e.g. the bright, upbeat “Disco Be
(Very Wrong)” which decries various governmental policies). Some of the songs are more serious in
tone: “Avelo (Ghost)” and the a capella (with clapping and ululations) “Aza Misy Miteniteny (Don’t
Say Anything).” Instrumentation is mainly acoustic, including valiha, guitar, accordion, and various
drums and shakers as well as electric bass. All tracks have vocals. The melodies are catchy, the
sound well-produced and tasteful. The album bounces with irresistable energy.
Overall: Excellent
Danceability: Malagasy and fusion
Drum use: Not significant
This is my second favorite of Tarika’s albums. See my review of Son Egal with regard to production quality,
instrumentation, and musical taste. The production here is similarly competent, BUT, the production isn’t
quite on the same level: this is a well-produced album by a band which has not yet become internationally
acclaimed. Many of the songs are catchy, the feel ranges from joyful to sentimental, and the musicality is
acceptable to impressive. In the impressive category, “Ragoakia” shows great skill of guitar and valiha
matched with amazing perception of rhythm and time. The last song is one of the best: Salama ‘Iereo, which transitions from
carefully crafted vocal introduction to flying ululated masterwork. Versus the other Tarika albums Soul
Makassar and Son Egal, this album seems to me a touch more traditional Malagasy in so much as virtually all the tracks are 6/8
polyrhthmic. It becomes a matter of taste. For the world music afficianado who likes fusion, well-produced, smooth or self-
aware modern music, buy Soul Makassar. For the ethnomusicologist interested in Madagascar, buy the World Out of Time series
and the early Tarika (D and the single Raitra). For the folks intermediate between these groups, or the adventurous soul looking at
Madagascar on a lark, buy Son Egal or Bibiango. Bibiango harkens more towards the early albums, Son Egal towards Soul
Makassar.
Overall: Excellent
Danceability: Malagasy and fusion
Drum use: Not significant
The easiest to find Tarika album. Soul Makassar has the most produced sound of all Tarika’s cds to
date – miles beyond the production on the early D and Raitra. Valiha, marovana, sombavy, acoustic
guitar, accordion, and various traditional drums (including “talking drums”) are used in addition to
electric bass. Prior to making this album, Tarika travelled to Sulawesi (Celebes) in Indonesia.
(Madagascar was first colonized by Indonesians, later by Africans, and was strongly influenced by
centuries of trade with Arabs, producing an absolutely unique culture. French colonization introduced
the accordion and guitar, which the Malagasy developed into a strong tradition). Roughly half the tracks
have a laid-back feel; the other half ranges from fast and upbeat to intently serious. Polyrhythms occur
in about half the songs. All tracks have vocals.
Overall: Great
Danceability: Malagasy and fusion
Drum use: Not significant
Extremely traditional, rough recordings of artists from all over North Africa. Egypt is represented by a
nei and doumbek piece and a simple, unexciting doumbek solo. A pair of rebab pieces with doumbek
played (deliberately) slightly off-rhythm probably hail from Morocco. The remaining tracks use balafon,
djembe, cowbell, clave, and some kind of zither. The instrumentation, combined with song titles
(“Hausa-Ibo-Yoruba”), indicate that these songs are from Nigeria, Senegal, and other African nations,
about whose musical traditions I am woefully ignorant. So we have here a traditional cocktail, poorly
produced, and not particularly compelling. The eleven minute drum solo “African Mediterranean” has
some good stuff (mostly djembe).
Overall: Mediocre
Danceability: Not significant
Drum use: Minimal (some djembe)
The album consists almost entirely of takisms, sometimes with frame drum. Qanun is the main
instrument; oud has a few songs, and both oud and fiddle occasionally accompany the qanun. Only one
track has vocals. The few non-taksim compositions are great, and the taksims are quite skilled.
Overall: Good
Danceability: Good (mostly for taksims)
Drum use: Not significant
