I’ve just discovered Sufi music and WOW! I want to know more.
Or, to be truthful, I’ve discovered Haale, a young woman who blends Western with Sufi music:
Her music grabbed me when I caught her appearance on NPR a while ago, and I remain intrigued after buying her two extended-play CDs, Morning and Paratrooper, both of which I bought through her website.
The last time I’d paid any attention to music with any roots in the Middle East was Sting’s Desert Rose, which was, to me, an average rock ballad made marvelous by the sinuous vocals of the singer doing the duet with him. A woman, I thought, until this evening when I finally got around to Googling who that was and discovered – HOLY COW! – that it’s a man, Cheb Mami!
Okay, now that I’ve established my vast wasteland of ignorance in all things Middle-Eastern-musical, please allow me to fling myself upon the mercy of those among you who do know a tablah from a daff* and seek knowledge:
How different is Sufi/Persian-Iranian music from Cheb Mami’s Algerian Rai or other genres? What recordings by what artists should I seek out to educate myself and to enjoy? I must confess that the songs by Haale I most like are the ones that sound the most like (what I guess to be) traditional music – dusky sinuous vocals winding through pulsing drumming and wailing – um, woodwinds? stringed instruments? help!
Will I be disappointed if I buy one or more of Cheb Mami’s available CDs? If not, which one should I start with? Are there female vocalists in his tradition, in Sufi, in other genres of the region, who you’d say are must-buys? Such as perhaps Umm Kulthum? Judging by the Wikipedia article on her I linked to from Cheb Mami’s Wiki page, I gather she’s one of the immortals of Middle Eastern music. So – start at the top? Or develop the knowledge and awareness to truly appreciate her by beginning with mere mortals?
I humbly await enlightenment.
[sup]*Quite right; I did Google “Middle East instruments” to come up with those two. ;)[/sup]