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Hermana de la Luna
Samai Rast [6:18]
Moaxaja Al Azar - Las doncellas [3:58]
Moaxaja Mala Al Kassat - Lleno las copas [8:35]
Taqsim 'ud [2:22]
Moaxaja Hobbi Malak - Su amor posee mi Corazon [4:04]
Moaxaha Yaman Laibat - A quien el vino embriaga [2:34]
Dulab Rast [0:48]
Taqsim Qanun [2:54]
Mawwal - Tu, bella y amorosa [4:21]
Qadd Yaman Tounadini - Tu eres quien me llama [5:19]
Qadd Malek Ya Helwa - Que te pasa Hermosa [4:41]
Qasida - Mis ojos no ven [6:36]
Qadd Zatoul Jamal - Esta belleza es hermana de la luna [3:48]
Qadd Yom Al Wissal - El dia del encuentro [3:33]
Ali Anjirini, Dya’a Kabbani, Ahmad Shokri, Malek Zayat (voices); Abdul Rahim Ajim (Laud); Tofik Al Ramadan (Nay); Imad Molki (Qanun); Ossama Sakka, Zohair Skef, Mohamed Dosh (Violins); Abdul Rahman Miri (Darbuku); Salah Eddin Dabbagh (Riqq); Mohamed Hammadye (Director)
rec. Alepo, Siria, 20 November 2000. DDD
PNEUMA PN330 [60:11]

The Moaxaja is a form of Arabic song – the word referring to both the music and the text. The programme notes for this disc, Hermana de la Luna, tell us that the word actually means “hair accessory with pearls and precious stones”! The Moaxaja poetry is a very free form – it broke away from the strict classical metres to enable a closer and freer alliance between the rhythms of the words and the music. The Moaxaja form comes from Al Andalus but it was so popular that it spread to the Orient. Collections of Moaxaja were compiled as early as the twelfth century, and the form underwent a revival in the nineteenth century – interest in it has continued ever since.

The wasla – programme, or series of musical pieces (such as forms a disc, as here) - opens with a samai – an Ottoman instrumental ‘overture’, which is followed by several Moaxaja. On the disc also, we also find examples of taqsim, where an instrumental soloist improvises within a set of musical rules and a mawwal – a song in Arabic dialect, while the qasida is the focal point of the disc - a long metric poem in classical Arabic, which includes vocal improvisations. The second half of the wasla is comprised of qadds (and in fact, the disc ends with a quad). The Qadd is a form of simple and light song based on the Moaxaja, but in the Aleppo dialect. Aleppo was one of the stages on the Silk Road route and on the way to Mecca. Moaxaja flourishes there to this day.

The works are performed with verve, understanding, knowledge and pizzazz by Al Turath – a very traditional and important group of Syrian musicians – under the confident direction of Mohamed Hammadye. The group includes some good, strong voices, and gives proficient, sometimes quite virtuosic performances. The disc itself is attractively presented, particularly the cover with its beautiful Arabic paintings. The notes are informative, though slightly on the brief side, and the words and translations of the songs are most welcome. Overall, an excellent and most interesting disc.

Em Marshall

 

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