middle east

Collaboration between Ozgur Uckan and me, in honour of Claude Lévi-Strauss who passed away recently aged 101. Features music from Brasil, Angola, Hawaii, Egypt & Cuba, more or less around the tropics, and almost exclusively sad.

On his latest output The Freak of Araby, Sun City Girls guitar hero Sir Richard Bishop pays homage to the Middle East.

.. Yet bearing the droning tamboura of Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe aka Lichens enough that holy day, the opener Thebes became a most rewarding song, turning day into night in Egypt where dervishes summon higher spirits…

A comment thread on our sisterblog Etrafta resulted in this exquisite 30 minute Persian Funk Mix by one of our reader/contributers Kabus Kerim. 11 tracks of golden funk from Iran feat. stalwarts like Googoosh, Homeyra, Ramesh etc. You won’t believe your ears!

The last two centuries in the world has seen a rise of nationalism and conflicts, an imposed war between different cultures, different religions, the east and the west, modernity and tradition. The memories of different cultures and ethnicities living together in relative peace has faded out and it seems like a surreal fantasy. Thankfully it hasn’t been totally destroyed and there are some Honest Jon’s around to prove it.

Found this out thanks to our friend Gokhan. Nevruz (Nowruz/Newruz) iz an ancient Iranian holiday to celebrate the coming of the spring. That theoretically marks the end of winter! Good Riddance!

Back in form this weekend was Error101, with her trademark cuckoo sounds, including hard to find stuff from far out genres like Anatolian Rock, Arabic dancehall, Indian disco, Sumatra Rock, Afrobeat & Something like Calypso! Check it out if you’re brave enough not to conform to the norms of Western Society!

Just taking a break from stoner rock for a bit to announce the Yemenese oud master Abdulatif Yagoub is in town for a gig tonight. I’ve written about them a few times and I’ve also helped secure a show here, Yagoub is a true artist and it’d be a pleasure to watch him perform with Smadj & Mehdi from Duoud