Welcome To Orientales Sensations

構成数 : 1
合計収録時間 : 00:00:00
This is the state of the Arabic and Middle Eastern musical art circa 1997, and the album does a pretty fair job covering the overall scene, from the strutting, celebratory rai of Cheb Khaled (who by then was already just Khaled), to the Egyptian je'el (youth pop) of heartthrob Amr Diab, all the way to the very traditional "Sidi H'bibi" from Salim Halali. What's apparent throughout is the influence of Western programmed beats and touches of electronica, whether in Warda's "Harramt Ahebbak" and "Erzulie," the collaboration between Real Life and neo-Middle Eastern diva Natacha Atlas, or the rhythms behind Cheb Hasni's "Mansitha Ma Rahet Men Bali." The great voices are easy to pick out -- Khaled, for example, sounds much more assured and mature than Cheb Mami, who's represented by an early-'90s track. Warda is by far the most confident female vocalist here, a long way ahead of Albina and Yosefa (whose "The Orchestra Replies/Hatizmoret Onah" is one of the more adventurous pieces here). Turkey's Tarkan offers "Hepsi Senin Mi?," a slice of Asia Minor rock meets arabesk, and the duo of Hisham Abbas & Aaliya offers something of a Maghrebi take on R&B. It's all interesting stuff, but the problem is that so little is of standout quality. By trying to sound completely contemporary, the material sounds quickly dated. The Warda and Yosefa tracks have resonance, and Latif El Idrissi's cover of the classic "Ya Rayah" possesses style, but that's as far as it goes. While you can possibly make a case for this album being Oriental (at least by vague associations), for the most part Sensations isn't exactly truth in advertising. ~ Chris Nickson