Khaleeji Music

Maybe this will inspire me to investigate more. Khaleeji deserves its own thread, instead of just being stuck on my generic Arab music thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reiIlhXB_2g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofZrpPQQRac

There are some really pleasantly weird vocal timbres in some of it, but I need to keep digging.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ekf2LSz8GtE&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKaoFB7qCis

The person who posted this says this is the best Khaleeji singer. I don't even know who it is. :(

Check out the fast oud work on that last one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnh6jodwcTQ

(My only method here is posting links to things that sound good to me.)

This was pretty good from a couple years back, Ahlam - Nawilak [that's how it was spelled on the CD]. The very beginning is cut off, which is unfortunate, since that is my favorite part of the song because of the way the sounds start off as foreground and then fall into the background as part of the rhythm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRtvXQA3Qf0&feature=PlayList&p=783EA5384533AFAF&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=27

This is a good song too, but I know it in another version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7J757wuVCs

thanks for all these links. what makes khaleeji khaleeji?

Khaleeji just means "Gulf," I think, so it's a regional thing, but it's the particular traditional music styles from the Arab Persian Gulf states.

To my ears, the biggest difference is in the rhythms. There are specific rhythms in khaleeji music that are distinct from Egyptian or Syrian and Lebanese or Iraqi rhythms. I've read that khaleeji music is drawn partly from African and Indian sources (and in the relatively recent past, I think, rather than thousands of years ago or something like that).

(Keep in mind that sometimes artists from the Gulf states will perform in styles from other countries, and to a lesser extent, vice versa. Egypt tends to be the dominant popular musical model in the Arab world.)

This is a good tune from this decade (I think) that I have on a compilation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXDtvYxnMG0&feature=related

Aseel Abu Baker - Asebk

(I will come back eventually and add some Mohammed Abdo videos, but I have posted so many links to his videos on the generic Arab thread lately that I thought I would wait a bit.)

On a good copy, the female chorus in this song sounds much better than it does youtube style. There's some sort of studio treatment happening.

This gives some (very little, actually) background on Khaleeji. I had posted this on the whirled thread:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12178346

Kuwaiti singer Nabil Shu’eil has an extremely high-pitched voice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5L3DjaaqTY&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W78_Kjfh6fk&feature=related

Talal Salamah:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ1DIiWWav4

A couple obligatory Mohammed Abdo songs (with more to follow at some point). This first song is a particular favorite of mine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trm6iaD6xkk&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eilxor%2Ecom%2FILX%2FThreadSelectedControllerServlet%3Faction%3Dshowall%26boardid%3D41%26threadid%3D19009&feature=player_embedded

When these rhythms are slow they often make me think of paddles going through water:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4okeJ9oyEYc&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eilxor%2Ecom%2FILX%2FThreadSelectedControllerServlet%3Faction%3Dshowall%26boardid%3D41%26threadid%3D19009&feature=player_embedded

One of his biggest hits (a bit bombastic, even among some other bombastic tracks):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLcB1pozNsQ&feature=related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DlZOmjzs8Q

Very 70s looking:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_L_GZBcRJE

(I'm not even 100% I hear that as khaleeji. Seems very Egyptian-influenced to me, but that may just be the orchestration.)

Are two of those videos not showing up at all for anyone else?

(Like anyone else is looking at this thread.)

Trying again with those Mohammed Abdo videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trm6iaD6xkk&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4okeJ9oyEYc

And another for good measure:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gXPha_my-8

Seems very Egyptian-influenced to me

And then there are the claves.

I don't think I posted this Mohammed Abdo song (another of my favorites) before:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPXwnTlbCn8&feature=related

This is great too, especially for the variety and attention to detail in the instrumentation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd9V-nnjGHY&feature=related

registered specifically to contribute on this thread, (re-registered?)
it's taken about a fortnight and i forgot what i wanted to say exactly except yes indeed

More, please. I would be happy to turn this thread over to a real expert, so to speak.

ha expert i'm not
of the above:
that is wasmi, i just wouldnt say he's the best, not in my book. but i don't know any of his tunes
rashed maybe takes the title, that is a most camp selection, he's the biggest 'pop' star in khalij, i'd say. he's just married to soap diva zeinab al-askari, but i have doubts
recently he's redeemed his old skool cred with a series of jalsaat (jalsa = sitdown) sessions on satelite where he's rinsed some new material in a more trad style with guest stars. previously he was more like mtv style bling video style.

he's by no means the campest khaliji star who has to be bilkheir beyond doubt

ahlam i dislike - too much plastic surgery for one thing, she has a nice voice but doesnt come across as very pleasant, she has had a long running spat with asala, who's side i'm definitely on.
nawal is a better khaliji artist - she has done a nice track with mami
that's nawal alkuwaitia, not nawal zoghbi allibnania

that khaliji song is a true oldy - shioukh ard il meknes - sheiks from land of meknes, so i guess it's originally moroccan, this one is rajaa mohamed i think but there's another khaliji version by ahmad aljumeiry
that whole clapclapclapping sound is very khaliji jalsat, sometines you will get a percussion section playing water jars & old chaps having a little dance

if i'm not wrong that aseel song is not aseel but his dad the fantastic abu akr salim, of an album from a year or two back,
he's a yemeni saudi and a drunk, has a brilliant voice and has been around for ages, aseel is more pop

npr clip is annoying but mostly correct
mohamed abdu is definitively the don of khaliji and alamaken is a brilliant tune, angham has a lovely live version,

nabil shweil is great, i prefer husein al jasmi out of the fat singer with high voice category, although he's recently been spotted in london losing weight and looking grumpy
check al shaki, by jesmi

that's for starters... go check demna or dewaniya forums (inglish) or uae4mp3/soutilemiraat (عربي)

salaams

Thanks! I need to spend more time poking around for this stuff online, but right now I don't have internet at home, so my chances are somewhat limited. But that should change shortly. (Note: was "Rockist Scientist," just re-registered under new name that I should be keeping for a while.)

This channel looks like it's going to have a lot of good stuff on it (though I've only just started going through it):

http://www.youtube.com/user/AbdullahKhaleeji7

Rudipherous?

x-Rockist Scientist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFP4zj-GcOA

(Very good.)

Haha, that woman at 3:37 is making almost the exact pretend "bored Latina dance partner" look my salsa teacher used to make to entertain me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLKOI2U8iew

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPa4lx3silI

Really useful afropop write-up (interview, actually) on khaleeji culture and music, with an emphasis on its African roots:

http://www.afropop.org/multi/feature/ID/692

I'm not sure how I missed this. One of these days I may actually know my way around this music (at least in terms of artists and recordings), but it's not so easy to get a handle on if you only speak English.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aivLYfyKZg

Love the rhythmic oud interlocking and the hand-claps, caught up in the interlocking rhythms.

This album is quite good (and fairly straightforward in approach, with hardly any mixture of elements from outside the genre):

http://www.sv3r.com/m/22mtmeqh.jpg

Khaled Abdul Rahman - Khalediat 2010

I don't even remember noticing his name before, but he seems pretty major.

From the album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJVFVPpOlzs

I want these:

http://www.maqam.com/Jalsat-Wanasa-2010-Vol-1-P3470.html#Samples
http://www.maqam.com/Jalsat-Wanasa-2010-Vol-2-P3471.html

I will be the one man western Khaleeji crazy.

Why has it taken me all this time to check sufi lala's recommendations for sources of Khaleeji music?

on/of

When do my Rashed Al Majed CDs arrive? These samples sound better the more I listen to them.

I will be the one man western Khaleeji crazy.

I meant CRAZE.

If I could change one thing about Arabic music it would be the choral parts. Either change or eliminate. Maybe without polyphony this is just the way they have to sound. Is it a coincidence that the greatest Arabic singer of the last century jettisoned choral accompaniment almost totally for the bulk of her career?

These rhythms sound so much like oars going through water in unison. It shouldn't be that easy to find the roots of these things should it? But I swear, it's right there. Just like some Arab rhythms sound like the rhythms of riding slowly on a horse.

(Not in every song, but in the slower and more trad. sounding khaleeji, it tends to sound like that.)

There was a moment earlier on this CD when I thought: "this sounds like reggae," then I get to the sixth track on the second CD and the beginning is totally reggae. It's not that surprising, except this particularly recording sticks mostly to a traditional sound.

Little by little I am finding pieces of this puzzle. This is one of the songs on that crazy khaleeji tape I copied many years ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wl8LgVuUrs

I can relate to this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8awKHWl8pO4

Once I identify all the unknown songs on my cassettes, the world will come to an end.

I think I detect a Marcel Khalife influence in a lot of his other songs, which is a little surprising to me.

I'll tell you though, I've been listening to this stuff almost all day, and after a while it does get to feel a bit claustrophobic, between the violins and the chorus and the cheesiness mixed in with much of it. At least I think that explains it. Right now I need something spare and in utterly good taste.

Once I identify all the unknown songs on my cassettes, the world will come to an end.

― _Rudipherous_, Sunday, December 19, 2010 11:12 PM (3 days ago

Uh Oh. I must confess I haven't listened to this genre enough to be able to tell Khaleeji rhythms from those from elsewhere in the Arab world

I wish I could explain in technical terms. I have a set of images I use, but they apply to some khaleeji rhythms more than others. I think there may be something different about how they lock together. There is more often a feeling of interlocking rhythms on the verge of going out of phase, maybe? I think I tend to hear the component pieces of rhythm more in khaleeji. Anyway, it would probably just take more exposure to recognize the difference.

Another thing to look for is that the oud tends to be used more as a rhythm instrument than in other types of Arabic music. Not 100% certain of this, but it seems that way to me. Some of the percussion instruments are different, too, so I may be recognizing a different sent of percussion timbres in addition to different rhythms.

Finally discovered the ID of another great old khaleeji track on Spotify tonight:

Ali Abd Al-Sattar - Ya Nas Ahiba

Rapid-fire electronic claps, micro-tonal synth twinkles, semi-percussive oud, catchy tune, floaty vocals.

From a collection simply called Best of Oldies, Vol. 2. But of course.

Somebody listen to this song. It's incredible.

Very effective approach, obviously.

Mohammad Abdo's "Awah," from Ana Habibi, is great. I can't seem to find it on youtube though. Hearing it via Spotify is making me miss my long lost copy of some live Mohammad Abdo recordings, which included a performance of this song. (Check under Abdu.)

http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/media/new-arabic-station-hayat-fm-goes-on-air-1.1030902

Added 16:27 June 3, 2012
what is new about the channel ??????????? when you say less talk and more music i can say that alreayd there are some fm channels that uses the same phrase less talk and more music , and the channel is the same as tens of fm channels on air nothing really special . any way good luck .

Khaleeji here?

Incredible song: Eid Al Farah:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7EA_gqhjhM

The version of that song I have on tape seems to have extra layers of rhythm, more syncopated or ornamentation or something. But this is a good enough representation of the song.

Very nice stripped down version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjMGLPpMr90

Sounds like some sort of a rarity, but there is nothing remotely approaching an adequate Mohammad Abdo discography in English that I know of.

Stripped down, but with the rhythm definitely highlighted.

Mohammed Abdo still going (of course). Just found this from three years back:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLBIxH_kFtQ

google search shows various youtube and soundcloud postings for Khaliji 2016. Will add it to my list of stuff to check out