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In a rebroadcast from May 4, we travel to Iraq with native Dunia Aljawad to explore the sounds of The Fertile Crescent. As the national mourning period has gone on, we figured this would be the perfect way to get your mind off the troubles of this week.
"The Drop with Danno" on GFN 광주영어방송 98.7FM in Gwangju & 93.7FM in Yeosu, Korea. An eclectic radio curation of all things musical spanning the spectrum every week. Broadcasting 8-10pm KST nightly.
ROUND TRIP – Iraq
DEVO – Jocko Homo
Hassam Shakash – Oud Al batal
Mustafa Alabdallah & Ali Jassim & Mahmoud Al Turky - Ta’al
Kadim Al Saher – Lak Wahsha
Qahtan al Attar - shkol aliek
Nazem al-Ghazali - Gulli Ya Hilu قلي ياحلو منين الله جابك
Seta Hagopian - Droub el Safar (Zghayroun)
Seta Hagopian – Mandal Dallouni
Yas Khidr – Tayben
Aseel Hameem – Eii Enta
Aseel Hameem - Shkad Helw
Rahma Riad - Waed Menni
Narcy – Sun
Ilham al-Madfai - Sharabtak El Maay
Rida El Abdallah - Melh Wa Al Zad الملح والزاد
Kadim Al Saher - Fi Madrasat Al Hob
Salima Murad – Ya Nab’at Alrayhan
Hameed Mansour – Salamat
Tarah Salah Moneka – 7alti 7ala
Gary & Jung-in – YOUR SCENT (사람 냄새)
Busker Busker – Yeosu Night Sea
The roots of modern Iraqi maqam can be traced as far back as the Abbasid Caliphate, when that large empire was controlled from Baghdad. The ensemble of instruments used
in this genre, called Al Chalghi al Baghdadi, includes a qari' (singer), santur, goblet drum, joza, cello, and sometimes oud and naqqarat. The focus is on the poem sung in classical Arabic or an Iraqi dialect (then called zuhayri). A complete maqam concert is known as fasl (plural fusul) and is named after the first maqam: Bayat, Hijaz, Rast, Nawa, or Husayni.
Maqama texts are often derived from classical Arabic poetry, such as by al-Mutanabbi, Jawahiri, al-Mutanabbi and Abu Nuwas. Some performers used traditional sources translated into the dialect of Baghdad, and still others use Arabic, Turkish, Armenian, Hebrew, Turkmen, Aramaic or Persian language lyrics. Due to Iraq's to diversity, different ethnic groups use this genre in their own language.
The main difference between an Oud instrument and a guitar is that the neck of an Oud is fretless. The frets of a guitar allow the guitarist to play chords but they cannot play quarter tones. An Oud has limited chords but the fretless neck allows for a monochromatic range of sound that has no limitations.
DEVO – Jocko Homo
- A little history to start the show tonight, as this marks the date when four students at Kent State University were killed during an anti-war protest by Ohio National Guard troops.
- This song not only inspired Neil Young’s famous song “Ohio,” which became a massive hit, but also a couple of students at Kent State watching all of this to form the band DEVO.
- The band’s name is short for de-evolution, which the duo felt was exactly what they were watching at the time. Humanity becoming dumber, more violent, and crass.
- This is from their 1978 album Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are DEVO!
Hassan Shakash & Omar Kamal – Oud Al batal
- There is an Iraqi connection here with these two Egyptian nationals, but I’m not sure what exactly it is.
- Obviously, two massive artists, the former having 2.7 m followers on the instameal, and the latter having a channel on the tube where all the moving pictures are with almost 2 m subscribers
Mustafa Alabdallah & Ali Jassim & Mahmoud Al Turky - Ta’al
• Iraqi musician, video director and producer, based in the United Arab Emirates
• born in Baghdad and studied film direction at the Abu Dhabi Film Institute. He collaborated with artists Haitham Yousif, Rida Al Abdullah and Sattar Saad on The Voice: Ahla Sawt. In 2018, he released the song "Ta'al" featuring Mahmoud Al Turki and Ali Jassim. The music video of the song received over 500 million views on YouTube.
Kadim Al Saher - Lak Wahsha
• At age 12, he sold his bicycle and bought a guitar
• He took lessons for a few months, and then wrote his first song in the classical Iraqi style known as maqam.
• His parents initially discouraged his pursuit of a musical career
• has sold more than 30 million records since he launched his career with a controversial single in 1987.
• His romantic ballads, sung entirely in Arabic, feature complex chord structures and lush orchestral accompaniments that include both traditional Arabic and Western instruments.
• Al-Sahir's 1998 release Ana Wa Laila (Me and Laila), his first for EMI, brought him wider international recognition. The title track--about a woman who will not let herself become involved with the pining narrator, because he is poor--became so successful that it ranked sixth in a 2002 British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) poll of the world's most popular songs.
Qahtan al Attar shkol aliek
• an Iraqi singer in the seventies and eighties of the last century. He presented many romantic songs that were sung by many Iraqi singers later.
• The artist Qahtan Al-Attar entered the world of singing for the first time through the “Amateur Corner” program
• traveled in the prime of his youth, accompanied by few other legend singers to America in mid-1976 to hold several concerts at the invitation of the Iraqi community there, so that this artistic station would be a major turning point in his artistic career, after which he decided to reside in America,
• he expressed the harsh taste of alienation in Tannoor Al-Ayyam and decided to go back to Iraq to polish his artistic talent with academic study
Nazem al-Ghazali - Gulli Ya Hilu
• He was one of the most popular singers in the history of Iraq and his songs are still heard by many in the Arab world.
• He was born in Baghdad, and studied at the Institute of Fine Arts in Iraq. He started his career as an actor, and after a few years turned to singing.
• He worked at the Iraqi Radio in 1948, and was member of the Andalusian Muashahat Ensemble. He was also a student of one of the most prominent maqam singers of the last century. Nazem was renowned for his popular songs and he had also recorded some maqams. According to many, his refined mellow voice was the finest in the field.
• He was married to prominent Iraqi Jewish singer Salima Murad.
Seta Hagopian - Droub el Safar (Zghayroun)
• Born in Basra to a family of Christian Iraqi Armenians. Hagopian left Iraq to settle in Qatar in 1997. She currently resides in Toronto- Canada.
• Her father was a tennis player who represented Iraq in numerous tournaments. Soon after Hagopian's career had begun, she was working with the most prominent composers such as Elias Rahbani
• Hagopian's style of music was one of the first to renew Iraqi songs through the introduction of Western instruments along with singing contemporary pop music.
• She has held concerts across the entire Arab world, including Iraq, Egypt, Algeria, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar as well as across Europe in Uzbekistan, Russia, Germany, Bulgaria and Spain.
Seta Hagopian – Mandal Dallouni
- This is such a killer psyche tune! Released in 2018 on the Thikrayat LP, it has such a wonderful old school lo-fi flavor, you’d think this was produced maybe in the 1970’s, but alas, this is one of the artist’s latest.
- Love this sound, might be my favorite artist discovered this week.
Yas Khidr – Tayben
- born in Najaf in 1938. He was nicknamed the Voice of the Earth.
- Debuted as the rural singer. He became a star of Iraqi singing and one of his accredited ambassadors in the world and the Arab world until he became a shining sign in the sky of Iraq.
Aseel Hameem – Eii Enta
Aseel Hameem - Shkad Helw
• born in Baghdad. She became a professional singer at the age of twenty-two and presented dozens of solo and group works. She also participated in singing a number of series.
• She participated in the Arab Stars program on MBC 1 with the Arab Mashreq team. And she had released a solo song entitled "Blani Zamani"
• She is the daughter of musician Karim Hamim, and she is a singer who takes care of the quality of art, and this is what her father guided and taught her.
Rahma Riad - Waed Menni
• Born in Basra, Iraq. She is a celebrity singer. Her father Riyadh Ahmed. is also a famous singer in Iraq Riyadh Ahmed.
• Her father pushed her to sing at a young age. She moved to Oman after the outbreak of the Iraqi war
• She was a finalist in the Star Academy (the pan-Arabic version of Pop Idol) competition but fell just short of winning it all.
• She currently lives in Bahrain
Narcy – Sun
- Currently residing in Montreal, Narcy true name Yassin Alsalman was born in Iraq and is one of the leading voices in the Arab hip-hop movement.
- However, Narcy’s sound is truly unique as his emphasis on old school soul samples and keys lets his songs stand out via the arrangements.
- He’s also a university lecturer, actor, and activist in his spare time.
Ilham al-Madfai - Sharabtak El Maay
• an Iraqi guitarist, singer and composer. al-Madfai's synthesis of Western guitar stylings with traditional Iraqi music has made him a popular performer in his native country and throughout the Middle East.
• began studying guitar at age twelve. He formed The Twisters in 1961, Iraq's first rock and roll band.
• Lived in Kuwait for 3 years and moved to England to complete an engineering degree. While in London, he became a regular at the Baghdad Cafe, where he met fellow musicians Paul McCartney, Donovan and Georgie Fame.
• The lyrics of most of his songs, apart from those he writes himself, come from ancient poetry and Iraqi folk music.
Rida El Abdallah Boadak Habibi رضا العبد الله - بعدك حبيبى
• He gained attention across the Arab world for his singles "Bo'dak Habibi",
• born in Kirkuk. Rida participated in school plays and concerts, and began writing his own songs
• Rida came of age during the Iran-Iraq war
• he enrolled into the House of Art and Music Conservatory
• During one attempt to leave the military, Rida was caught and jailed for 100 days.
Kadim Al Saher - Fi Madrasat Al Hob
- An Iraqi guitarist, singer and composer, al-Madfai’s synthesis of Western guitar stylings with traditional Iraqi music has made him a popular performer in his native country and throughout the Middle East.
- Began studying guitar at age 12. He formed The Twisters in 1961, Iraq’s first rock band.
- Lived in Kuwait for 3 years and moved to England to complete an engineering degree. While in London, he became a regular at the Baghdad Café, where he met Paul McCartney, Donovan, and Georgie Fame.
- The lyrics of most of his songs, apart from those he writes himself, come from ancient poetry and Iraqi folk music.
Salima Murad – Ya Nab’at Alrayhan
• Salima born in Baghdad is a well-known Iraqi Jewish singer and was well known and highly respected in the Arab world She was given the nickname "Pasha" by the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Said. some art critics called her Edith Piaf of Iraq at that time
• Even after the bulk of Iraqi Jews left Iraq, Salima continued to live there until her death in 1974. She is still considered one of the most famous and admired singers in Iraq.
Hameed Mansour – Salamat
• Iraqi singer famous during the seventies and eighties, born in 1945, lives in Diwaniyah Governorate, graduated in 1970 from the Faculty of Agriculture and worked as an agricultural engineer until 1984.
• What distinguishes him is that he still maintains that sweet and calm voice so far, and this was what was distinguished
Tarah Salah Moneka – 7alti 7ala
- Not a ton of biographic information on this artist, although Moneka does hail from Iraq originally.
- It seems like many artists and people from the war-torn country, she emigrated, moving to Canada eventually and settling there.
- This tune is from last year, released on Star Casablanca.
Gary & Jung-in – YOUR SCENT (사람 냄새)
• Gary is a rapper, songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur, and television personality.
• Jung In debuted in a collaboration with Leessang for the song "Rush". She would later join the five-member R&B group, G.Fla
• He and long time collaborator Jung-in later went on to form the duo, Jung In & Gary. The two released the singles "Your Scent" and "Bicycle."
Busker Busker – Yeosu Night Sea
- A tune from 2012 off the band’s debut album called, very originally, Busker Busker 1st Album.
- The trio from Cheonan-si rose to fame through their runner-up performance in the South Korean music audition television program Superstar K3 on Mnet.
- It was a quick ride, however, as they disbanded in 2013.