Thank goodness for ethnic music, otherwise there wouldn't be too many relatively recent (i.e. within the last 10-15 years) musical releases that would be of interest to me. Among other international genres, there is still a lot of first-rate Middle Eastern/belly dance music being made, both in the United States and overseas. Kanun (Middle Eastern harp) player Ara Topouzian, one of the leading Armenian-American musicians of his generation, has consistently released excellent albums that continue to take the music of his homeland in new directions yet with a reverence for the traditions from which it originated. On Near Eastern Ride, he joins forces with oudist Dick Barsamian to lead a band of top-notch instrumentalists in performing a collection of Armenian and Middle Eastern dance numbers.
This is as good, if not better, as any LP released during the golden age of belly dance records (late 1950s through the mid-1960s). Near Eastern Ride consists of six instrumentals and four pieces featuring the vocals of dumbeg (hand drum) player Jay Baronian. I can't really single out any of the tracks as favorites since this album is excellent from beginning to end. Even though these are superb ensemble performances, the headliners provide the majority of musical delights. Barsamian proves himself worthy of inclusion into the pantheon of legendary oudists such as Udi Hrant and John Berberian, and Topouzian's kanun refrains provide the perfect complement to his partner's oud artistry.
DICK BARSAMIAN (L) & ARA TOPOUZIAN1. Soorch Bar
2. Agh Anoush
3. Tak Bar
4. Husenig Medley
5. Shekhani Bar
6. Near Eastern Ride
7. Aghchig Mariam Tamzara
8. Asoomeyir
9. Hayde Kaleh
10. 2/4 Fantasy
Posts
Great album!
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot!
:o)
Hi, Isabel,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your visit and comments.
RF
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CD rip
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Thank you for the kind remarks, I just found this page and appreciate the publicity. I did notice in the comments section that many of you are finding my music online and ripping the music without paying for it. naturally, I dont have to go into a big speech of why that is wrong, but I would only say that it is hard enough to preserve our heritage and it comes with a cost. Please support us by buying the music and not stealing it.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Ara Topouzian
Hi, Ara,
ReplyDeleteSince you are both a musician and a music label owner, I totally understand where you're coming from on this matter. If you would like an offending comment for this post removed, please let me know.
However, I would also like to point out that I have embedded a link in the above review to encourage people to buy the CD version of this excellent album from Amazon. Evidence has conclusively shown that the people who download the largest amount of music are also the people who buy the largest amount of music. This site has a proven track record of publishing reviews that lead to album sales on Amazon, sales that arguably would not have occurred in the first place without purchasers finding out about underappreciated musicians on music blogs like this one.
Indeed, almost every music purchase that I've made in the last three years has been the result of first listening to a downloaded MP3 version of the album. Record collectors such as myself and the people who read this blog will always prefer having an album in LP or CD format as long as such items are commercially available. We're not here to steal anything from anybody. Please think of us as a music library where one can read reviews and sample tunes before deciding whether to make a purchase or not. Still, if you have a problem with what we do here, please inform me, and I will rectify the situation. Thanks for hearing me out.
RF
recordfiend(at)yahoo(dot)com