Suez Canal Social Club: El Tanbura

El Tanbura are a collective of veteran Egyptian master musicians, singers, fishermen and philosophers. For the past seventeen years they've been custodians of some of Egypt's oldest folk melodies at their home in Port Said, the Mediterranean gateway to the Suez Canal. 

No one knows the exact origins of the Simsimiyya. One Egyptian legend tells how the first instrument was fashioned from the shell of an unfortunate turtle that had swum too far along the Nile and ended up as dinner for a hungry musician. Other stories say the Simsimiyya has existed for centuries in the Arabian Gulf, and her music (the lyre is always referred to as feminine and her players as lovers) has the ability to calm the waters of the Red Sea. Another folk tale attributes her origins to a mysterious enchanting Siren who slowly seduces both the lover and the audience with mesmerising melodies derived from ancient exorcism rituals.

We do know that the instrument only arrived in Port Said during the 1930s; much to the frustration of the local Suhbagiyya (musicians) who had previously enjoyed the undivided attention of local audiences with Damma songs - a fusion of Sufi inspired vocal chants and frenzied drumming. It was only after the Suez Crisis of 1956 that Dama and Simsimiyya musicians embraced both repertoires. The War drew the former rivaling musicians together as the Simsimiyya provided a voice for the resistance movement through protest songs; a tradition that continued in the subsequent War of 1967 and exile of the people of Port Said during the Israeli occupation of Sinai. In exile, the diaspora communities would gather and sing the old songs reminding them of home.

In the 1950s Zakaria Ibrahim, El Tanbura's founder, first heard the Suhbagiyya in Port Said as a young boy. The music he heard as a child haunted him all of his adult life and, on returning to Port Said in 1980, and seeing the desperate musical conditions, he spent nine years seeking out the old masters and building friendships, trying to convince the musicians to perform once again. And El Tanboura group was born.

At first, news of the group's rehearsals drew scorn and ridicule from the commercial musicians; however the infectious atmosphere of the initial performances convinced others with an interest in Sufi philosophy and the pre-War traditions of Port Said to join the floating collective of El Tanbura's members.

Over time, the band grew to include not only folk musicians and percussionists, but dancers and singers drawn from local fishermen, market traders and builders, alongside the unlikely addition of master instrumentalists from some of the State-approved music troupes who were desperate to perform with others who had a vibrancy of spirit and to play long-forgotten songs from antiquity - praising something other than the government approved subjects.

Band members dress in an eclectic mix of gallibiyas and Levis with Gucci sunglasses, fez and Nike caps.  Their music is driven by the seductive call of the Simsimiyya. They perform regularly in Port Said and at Masrah El Damma in downtown Cairo. (http://www.el-mastaba.org/el-tanbura.html)

This is great music. Sometimes sacred sometimes frolicking always pleasurable.  A real Suez Canal Social Club!

Track Listing:

01 Ghosen el Habib

02 Friends of Bamboute

03 Noh el Hamam

04 Khaly anka al yhom

05 Song for the Prophet

06 Lally

07 Heela Heela

08 Afra

09 Badr Arid

10 El Madad

here

EID UL FITR MUBARAK: Mixtape from Muslim lands

On this happy and auspicious day I wish all Muslim readers of the Washerman’s Dog a hearty Eid Mubarak.  May the next 12 months be filled with Peace, Joy and Excellent Health.

To celebrate I’ve put together a 2.5 hour collection of music from across the world of Islam.  Egypt, Algeria, Lebanon, India, Pakistan, South Africa, Tunisia, Sudan, Turkey and Iraq.

I hope you can enjoy it.

            Track Listing:

            01 Call To Prayer (Al-Adhan) EGYPT

02 Ya Bunaya [Ilham Al Madhfai] IRAQ

03 Barra Barra [Rachid Taha] ALGERIA

04 Arabian Waltz [Rabih Abou Khalil] LEBANON

05 Jise Chaha Dar Pe [Qurban Farid Shahi Qawwal and Group] INDIA

06 Haye O Rabba [Reshma] PAKISTAN

07 Chabrassi [Cheb Khaled] ALGERIA

08 Al Ghazal [Ali Hassan Kuban] SUDAN

09 Balad El Mahboub [Oum Kalthoum] EGYPT

10 Palestinian [Ja'afar Hassan] IRAQ

11 Jugni/Alif Allah [Arif Lohar and Meesha] PAKISTAN

12 Heer Te Ranjhe Di Mulaqaat [Alam Lohar] PAKISTAN

13 Zikr [Abdullah Ibrahim] SOUTH AFRICA

14 Ghoonghat Chak Ve Sajna [Wadali Brothers] INDIA

15 Wagdi ae ravi [Samar Iqbal] PAKISTAN

16 Duma Dum [Dayam Khan] INDIA

17 Khari Neem Khe Neeche [Mai Bhagi] PAKISTAN

18 Ayrilik Gunu [Goksel] TURKEY

19 Taqasim [Fawzi Chekili] TUNISIA

20 Shikwa [Zia Mohiyeddin] PAKISTAN

21 Way Too Qarar Mera [Noor Jehan]  PAKISTAN

22 Ek Dil Ke Tukde Hazar Huye [Mohammad Rafi] INDIA

23 Dil Mein Meethe Meethe [Ustad Amanat Ali Khan] PAKISTAN

24 Mendha Ishq Wi Too [Pathane Khan] PAKISTAN

here

Oceans of the Divine: Sufi Chants

People often ask me, what is it about the Islamic world that you love?  Well, I could name any number of things but one of the most beautiful, and right near the top of the list, would be al adhan or azaan. The 5 times-a-day reminder to the Faithful to remember God and come to prayer.  The mad clatter and clack of the day inevitably disguises the mid-morning, midday calls but to wake to the melodic incantation of God’s Greatness and the Finality of His Prophet Muhammad is one of the most sublime moments of any day.

While not generally classified as ‘music’, the azaan has always struck me as the quintessential song. Because it’s intent and subject digs into the deepest part of the human spirit. Because in the hands of a skilled muezzin (the one who calls the Faithful to prayer) it is a 2-3 minute opportunity for musical improvisation and vocal artistry.  One of the experiences I will cherish forever is waiting in anticipation  in the month of Ramadhan for the sun to set (and the day’s fast to break) while listening to an extended a cappella recitation to the Glory of God by an impassioned disciple of Allah.  Even Mullah Omar would not object to this purest and most beautiful music.

The keynote of Sufism is the union, the identification of God and man. The highest good to which Sufis can attain is the annihilation of the actual—to forget that they have a separate existence, and lose themselves in the Divinity as a drop of water is lost in the ocean. The Sufi masters throughout the years explain this concept is many poetic ways.  Here are but two:

There came one and knocked at the door of the Beloved. And a voice answered and said, “Who is there?’

The lover replied, “It is I.”

“Go hence,” returned the voice; “there is no room within for thee and me.”

Then came the lover a second time and knocked, and again the voice demanded, “Who is there?”          

He answered, “It is Thou.”

“Enter,” said the voice. “for I am within.”

            Jalaludin Rumi

There was a frog which sat upon the shores of the ocean and ceaselessly day and night sang its praise. “As far as mine eyes can see,” he said, “I behold nothing but thy boundless surface.”

Some fish swimming in the shallow water heard the frog’s song, and were filled with a desire to find that wonderful ocean of which he spoke, but go where they would they could not discover it.  At last, in the course of their search, they fell into a fisherman’s net, and as soon as they were drawn out of the water they saw beneath them the ocean for which they had been seeking. With a leap they returned to it.

            Jami

Here is a collection of Islamic chants and sufi music from Egypt.

Start and end your day with this and listen as often as possible.

            Track Listing:

            01 Call To Prayer (Al-Adhan)

02 Koranic Cantiallation (Tajwid al-Quran Al-Karim)

03 O Lord There Is No one Save You (Ma Li Fi L-Wujudi Siwaka)

04 The Hearts Of The Initiated ((Qulubu L-'arifin

05 Hadrat Zikr

06 Beautiful Names Of God (Asma'u Hahi L'husna)

07 Be Mindful Of God's Majesty (Udhkurha Wa-Nta Mashi, La Tulhika Amthalaha)

08 Guide Us To The Prophet In Purity (bi-l-Mustafa Balligh Magasidana)

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The Mathematician of Nishapur: Oum Kulthum

Look not above, there is no answer there

Pray not, for no one listens to your prayer


Near is as near to God as any Far

And Here is just the same deceit as There.

Did God set grapes a-growing, do you think

And at the same time make it sin to drink?


Give thanks to Him who foreordained it thus


Surely He loves to hear the glasses clink!

The quatrains attributed to the medieval scholar from Nishapur in Persia, Omar Khayyam, are some of the most widely translated and revered in world literature.  Whether he wrote them all or just a few and what he meant as well as whether he was a mystic or a hedonist are all matters of debate.

But as you read them it is hard not to hear the music within.   

Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough

A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse--and Thou

Beside me singing in the Wilderness--

And Wilderness is Paradise enow.

Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai

Whose Doorways are alternate Night and Day,

 How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp

 Abode his Hour or two, and went his way.

And this delightful Herb whose tender Green

Fledges the River's Lip on which we lean--

Ah, lean upon it lightly! for who knows

From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen!

Oh, come with old Khayyam, and leave the Wise

To talk; one thing is certain, that Life flies;

One thing is certain, and the Rest is Lies;

The Flower that once has blown for ever dies.

There was a Door to which I found no Key:

There was a Veil past which I could not see:

Some little Talk awhile of ME and THEE

There seemed--and then no more of THEE and ME.

Then to this earthen Bowl did I adjourn

 My Lip the secret Well of Life to learn:

 And Lip to Lip it murmur'd--While you live,

 Drink!--for once dead you never shall return.

Alike for those who for TO-DAY prepare,

And those that after a TO-MORROW stare,

A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries

Fools! your Reward is neither Here nor There.

Oum Kulthum

Ahmed Rami an Egyptian poet translated Khayyam’s epic into Arabic and Oum Kulthum sang it.

Here it is. 

Enjoy (with a glass of wine!)

Track Listing:

01.  Robaiyet el Khayyam

02.  Hadith el Rouh

Listen here.