Middle Eastern Sounding Music
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URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=47364
Printed Date: July 16 2025 at 10:24
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Topic: Middle Eastern Sounding Music
Posted By: Novalis
Subject: Middle Eastern Sounding Music
Date Posted: March 24 2008 at 22:29
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Any recommendations on Middle Eastern sounding music? It doesn't have to be world/folk music or authentic Middle Eastern music, but it must have that Middle Eastern feel. |
Replies:
Posted By: BroSpence
Date Posted: March 25 2008 at 01:34
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For some sweet mid-east/fusion check out Anour Brahem's first few albums. They're very good. He plays a variety of instruments I believe but mostly Oud. Jan Garbarek plays on his second album. Good stuff. Also check out Hamza El Din for some more Oud music. He is absolutely amazing. Great player and singer. His early recordings are more traditional in sound, while his last album has more of a western influence, but still deeply rooted in his Egyptian classical training. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was from Pakistan, so mid-east-ish. He's got the flavor you're looking for though. Great singer. You probably won't find a bad recording of his. If you want something of his that has a western touch check out the Mustt Mustt album. Michael Brook adds his interesting guitar work to them. Also search for Setar and Dutar music. A lot of it come from Iran and is very cool. Richard Thompson experimented with mid-east sounds as did Jeff Buckley (on occasion: Dream Brother, What Will You Say). Anyways try those for now. |
Posted By: Novalis
Date Posted: March 25 2008 at 01:43
 You know your stuff. I'll check those out, thanks. |
BroSpence wrote:Posted By: Novalis
Date Posted: March 25 2008 at 06:39
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I really dig that mysterious, mystical sound that Middle Eastern music has. Even the generic movie soundtrack stuff has always struck a chord with me, the imagery it evokes is quite powerful and with all the turmoil in that region it almost gives the music a dangerous feel. Edit: Peter Gabriel's Passion is a great movie soundtrack with a Middle Eastern flavour; tracks like Cantara and The Lotus Eaters by Dead Can Dance; the aforementioned Dream Brother by Jeff Buckley; Pink Floyd's Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun; Kashmir by Zep; Opeth's Atonement, all have a definite Middle Eastern flavour. |
Posted By: BroSpence
Date Posted: March 25 2008 at 18:10
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Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is featured on parts of the Passion soundtrack I believe. He and Gabriel were buddies (and Nusrat was on his label). You should check out the Lawrence of Arabia soundtrack. Great score, some arabesque flavors. Great film too. |
Posted By: ClemofNazareth
Date Posted: March 25 2008 at 18:50
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Check out Voice of the Seven Woods, In the Labyrinth, Arabesque, Aktuala or Broselmaschine.
------------- "Peace is the only battle worth waging." Albert Camus |
Posted By: Angelo
Date Posted: March 25 2008 at 19:20
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Maybe a bit different cup of tea, but Marcus Miller got inspiration from a Turkish, clarinet like instrument on his last album. It sounds fun, have a listen if you get a chance.
------------- http://www.iskcrocks.com" rel="nofollow - ISKC Rock Radio I stopped blogging and reviewing - so won't be handling requests. Promo's for ariplay can be sent to [email protected] |
Posted By: BaldJean
Date Posted: March 25 2008 at 19:23
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check out Rabih Abou-Khalil. fantastic oud and flute player (although lately he has concentrated on the oud alone). here some videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHmnjJJ_5No - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHmnjJJ_5No http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysxv8dc4ru4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysxv8dc4ru4 -------------  A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta |
Posted By: zappaholic
Date Posted: March 25 2008 at 20:41
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Secret Chiefs 3. Although they mix it up with other styles, it's mainly based in Middle Eastern musics.
------------- "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." -- H.L. Mencken |
Posted By: Easy Money
Date Posted: March 26 2008 at 00:02
If you are looking for that mix of progressive rock and middle eastern type influences you might enjoy Ozric Tentacles. Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between Indian and middle eastern influences when the music has been altered by rock instruments and other contemporary modifications. ------------- Help the victims of the russian invasion: http://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=28523&PID=130446&title=various-ways-you-can-help-ukraine#130446 |
Posted By: BaldJean
Date Posted: March 26 2008 at 06:23
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Embryo are of course to be mentioned too. try "Embryo's Reise" for a start; also the solo albums of Roman Bunka, their guitar and oud player
------------- A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta |
Posted By: Novalis
Date Posted: March 26 2008 at 07:48
| All great suggestions, thanks. |
Posted By: Angelo
Date Posted: March 26 2008 at 10:18
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For completeness: the Marcus Miller album is called Free, and the song that is (most) influenced by the Turkish instrument is called Blast.
------------- http://www.iskcrocks.com" rel="nofollow - ISKC Rock Radio I stopped blogging and reviewing - so won't be handling requests. Promo's for ariplay can be sent to [email protected] |
Posted By: BaldFriede
Date Posted: March 26 2008 at 15:14
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The album "Dervish Kiss" by Amon Düül 2 guitar, sax and violin player Chris Karrer. He mostly plays oud on it.
-------------  BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue. |
Posted By: sean
Date Posted: March 26 2008 at 18:24
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in terms of progressive music, ozric tentacles include a lot of middle eastern influence in their music. it's not exactly middle eastern, but there is a genre of music that originated in Algeria called Rai that I really enjoy. The more modern stuff is kind of a mixture of Algerian folk, French, and rock music. Some good artists would be Rachid Taha, Khaled, and Faudel. |
Posted By: Leningrad
Date Posted: March 26 2008 at 21:23
| For instant gratification, check out the PA sample for Amon Düül II's 'Cerberus'. |
Posted By: Jim Garten
Date Posted: March 27 2008 at 04:51
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For old school prog with eastern tinges, you could do worse than try Rennaisance's 'Shehezerade' (especially live at Carnegie Hall) or even Robert Plant & Jimmy Page's album 'No Quarter' (classic Zeppelin songs backed by a Moroccan orchestra).
Sean mentioned the great Rachid Taha - quite a hard album, but I'd recommend 'Made In Medina': 
Steve Hillage works with Taha a lot & this is the album which fuses both their styles very well. Also from Algeria, check out Claud Chalhoub's self titled album: 
A fusion of eastern influenced classical music with modern production & beats - great chillout album 
How about eastern influenced dance music? It may be a bit of a search to get this one (well worth it though), but check out Max Pashm's 'Weddings Bar Mitzhavs & Funerals': 
I kid you not - Hassidic Jewish Trance - a blinding album! Going further east (and he's been mentioned here a couple of times before), you need to hear the late, lamented Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, one of the qawwali (Sufi devotional vocalising) performers/teachers...  don't be put off by the description, his albums are haunting; problem is, there are so many of them, so just choose one at random.
------------- 
Jon Lord 1941 - 2012 |
Posted By: superprog
Date Posted: March 27 2008 at 06:34
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Radiohead - Pyramid Song (off the wonderful woozy Amnesiac)
whole song including its v ME style strings and ooo-ooo-oooohs inspired by some painting depicting the Egyptian Book of the Dead
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Posted By: Man Erg
Date Posted: March 27 2008 at 07:15
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Agitation Free -Malesch is worth checking out.'Krautrock' goes middle-east.
Popol Vuh's 1970's (especially) material took it's influence from both the Middle and Far East. Magic Carpet - s/t. The band fronted by guitar/sitar player,Clem Alford Quintessence. Any of their albums but my favourite is 'In Blissful Company.Fantastic prog/psych/eastern vibes.Some amazing guitar work on all of the albums.The even had a minor hit with a single called,'Notting Hill Gate.' ------------- 
Do 'The Stanley' otherwise I'll thrash you with some rhubarb. |
Posted By: Dick Heath
Date Posted: March 27 2008 at 07:19
I think a lot of my Anglo-Pakistani friends would cringe at the thought of the Khan's family music, based on Qawwali, being located in the Middle East - instead 'Middle Eastern' strictly refers to Arabic and/or Western Muslim music, so also take in Turkish and some eastern European - and indeed Israeli - musics. Rachid Taha has alos been mentioned but the great diva of Rai singers, who only died died last summer in her mid -80's, was Rimitti - her album Sidi Mansour, with Flea and Robert Fripp along with former members of Zappa's brass section is an ear opener - and there is a remix album version of this too! Check out the Algerian/French group Duode - a great pun on what they play and there being two of them. Jonas Hellborg in one of his many excursions into many musical territories, recorded Aram of Two Rivers, with Syrian traditional musicians. And Plant & Page's No Quarter has a very strong Middle Eastern flavour from Morocco to Egypt. BTW did Brian Jones' recording of Moroccan traditional musicians ever get a CD issue - reminded that Plant & Page apparently used the said same musicians some 20 years later? ------------- The best eclectic music on the Web,8-11pm BST/GMT THURS. CLICK ON: http://www.lborosu.org.uk/media/lcr/live.php - http://www.lborosu.org.uk/media/lcr/live.php Host by PA's Dick Heath. |
Posted By: Easy Money
Date Posted: March 27 2008 at 08:21
I haven't heard any one mention Brian Jones' field recording in a long time, back in the day it was the number one hip obscure hard to find record out there. It was a real "name dropper" when you wanted to show underground your tastes were. I forget the name of it, but I do remember it had field recordings that were processed through phase shifters in an attempt to sound more "psychedelic". I would imagine by today's standards it would be fairly "kitsch", but I may be wrong on that. ------------- Help the victims of the russian invasion: http://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=28523&PID=130446&title=various-ways-you-can-help-ukraine#130446 |
Posted By: Guzzman
Date Posted: March 27 2008 at 11:45
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The album was called "Brian Jones Presents The Pipes Of Pan At Jajouka". You still can get it via Amazon or CDUniverse, to name but two internet stores that seem to have it. ------------- "We've got to get in to get out" |
Posted By: BroSpence
Date Posted: March 27 2008 at 16:08
As I had stated in my first post of the thread, I don't consider him middle eastern since he is from Pakistan, but he would be satisfying for what is being sought after. |
Posted By: Novalis
Date Posted: April 01 2008 at 07:09
Digging these guys.  |
Posted By: aapatsos
Date Posted: April 01 2008 at 12:41
Check Orphaned Land from Turkey (if I remember correctly) PS: I am sure you know what your sig means...  |
Posted By: BaldJean
Date Posted: April 01 2008 at 13:41
I already mentioned the meaning of Novalis' signature quote in another post. but I believe he knows himself, if I may be allowed that pun ------------- A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta |