Around the World, (09)

Hello, around the world we go, today we present an artist who in his day was called the arab elvis, ironically it was not as much about his hips but his fingerpicking..his outstanding (surf)guitarplay and subsequently- like the king he ended up starring in movies, to which he sometimes even wrote the music score aswell. I speak here of the seventies , when the arab world stood for mystery, sensuality and oil sheiks. His music was used for many a bellydancing album... move them hips baby.. So what happened ? Amazon or AMG have no record of the guy who died under suspicious circumstances in a carcrash in 1981.

That disastrous year saw the pearl of the middle east , Beirut, destroyed by zionist Israel, it hasn't settled to this day. Saddam was happily gassing the Iranians, supplied by Demon Donald and with the best wishes of the Reagan Admin. But then when 10 years later he streched out his hand to Koeweit, a sheikdom created by the British, as a snub to Iraq, for its easily controllable oil pickings..he was no longer a friend, better said other friends had more money to hire the US army to bomb Iraq into submission. Why 12 years later this was done again, and this time with an occupation force still makes no sense, the grounds covered with radioactive fall out from the massive use of uranium tipped bombs and ammunition, free whom ? The Shia, sure but those were in league with Iran. No, bringing freedom had absolutely nothing to do with it. In ways the most liberal islamic country was torn to shreds, meanwhile the talk is of a million deaths and for what ? For whom ? Fanatics have taken over on all sides and westerners are supposed to fear only those on the arab side, well i'd say fear is useless, and ousting those mongerers back home is a much more sensible respons.

Ok i drifted away from the music, still, todays post is a reminder of how 30 years ago, there was a cultural dialogue and exchange, Omar Khorsid was part of that, his surfguitar touch and adaptations of western music brought western music to arab radiostations and vice versa he brought arab music using organ, moog synth and accordion besides his virtuose guitar play to western radio and recordshops, seen in this light it's almost conspiritory to see his name generate a mere 19,000 hits at google. To make up for this somewhat i combined two jewels from his crown here to enjoy.


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Omar Khorshid - Rhythms of the Orient and Tribute to Farid el Atrache (^ 187mb )

Star of the cinema and leading guitarist of the Orient, Omar Khorshid has also composed the music for thirteen films, and is renowned as the greatest guitarist of the whole Arab world and has accompanied all it's leading singers.

Fabulous surf-guitar meets moog meets belly dancing groove, while Rhythms from the Orient might sound like a "solo guitar" album with gimmick percussion, Omar gave generous room for organ, Moog synth, accordion, along with percussion. Basically, the average listener will find an album with great guitar playing, and kick-ass keyboard/percussion interaction. Omar's style of guitar somehow mixes traditional Oud-like melodies with occasional 50s surf guitar(Dick Dale is of Lebanese ancestry, of course) and 60s psychedelia. The music is based entirely on traditional popular Arabic music, yet the influence of psychedelia, virtuoso organ playing, and Moog synth shows a noticeable western influence. The interaction between organ player and percussionists, though, really does it for me, and it will make the even the dullest Anglo-saxon dance to the rhythms. Try to imagine an organist playing bouncy syncopated Middle Eastern scales to percussionists who swing fast Arabic interlocking rhythms. And to top things off, Omar adds spacy Oud-like melodies with a guitar that's either clean sounding or hooked up to a vintage Swirl-producing pedal.

In 1981 gorgeous guitarist Omar Khorshid delivered his best cinema performance opposite Madiha Kamel in El-Arrafa (The Fortuneteller). He played a police officer who sympathizes with a student arrested for her political opinions. Two months after the critical acclaim and box-office success of the film, Khorshid died in a car accident. It was rumored that he was having an affair with a married woman whose powerful husband violently settled the score.



Omar Khorshid - Rhythms Of The Orient (74, 39:39 ^ 89mb)

01 - Raqsed el Fadaa (7:52)
02 - Guitar el Chark (4:54)
03 - Takkissim Sanat Elfeyn (6:53)
04 - Laylet Hob (8:09)
05 - Lama Bada Yatasana (2:31)
06 - Teletya Mala Nourha(4:59)
07 - Ah Ya Zein (4:18)



Omar Khorshid - Tribute to Farid el Atrache (76, 39:31 ^ 98mb)

08 - Arrabiah (6:08)
09 - Ya Gamill (4:04)
10 - Dikkoul Mazaher (3:07)
11 - Yalla Sawa (4:51)
12 - Ya zahratan fi khayali (2:43)
13 - Awal hamsa (7:32)
14 - Nora; Ally ou eltillo; Ya helewa (7:35)
15 - Nougoum el leyl ( 3:31)

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All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !