Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Tamer Abu Ghazaleh's Music Revolution



If you are to draw a map where the story of Tamer Abu Ghazaleh music journey, you would have to include Amman, Beirut, Cairo, Tunisia, and Ramallah on such a map. As for his music is reached more people and touches more cities. I have heard him perform before along with Huda Asfour years ago. The beard fits well with the new song that sticks it to the bearded political men of Islam.
 
This is a composer of alternative Arabic music, and an Oud, Buzuq, and vocal performer. The lyrics in his compositions are in formal (fus-ha), Palestinian, or Egyptian dialect, written either by himself or by a celebrated Arab poets. His lyrics tend to be broader and a lot more sarcastic that one can process. His music is about love, challenge, insecurity, boredom, thrill, frustration, etc He certainly aims for making music that are not defined by time and place.

He has shown time and time again to be a restless and inventive performer and promoter of a wide range of music and artistic activity, Tamer Abu Ghazaleh is a leading figure in modern Arabic culture. He comes across as a pan Arab and his latest song mocks the Islamist and their politics. I love his many zingers geard toward Orthodox Muslims.

Tamer Abu Ghazaleh's debut album Mir'ah (Mirror) was released in 2008. Recorded with a group of Palestinian and Egyptian performers, the record’s seven turbulent, entrancing and sometimes frenzied songs were written during a turbulent period of demonstrations, bombardment and invasion of Palestinian cities. He has lead the way of the indie music platform and has shown an amusing learning curve  Like the track below it feels like an Algerian track, but sounds very Egyptian and Palestinians at the same time.

Per his Facebook page:

Tamer has sold-out concerts in Beirut, Alexandria, Cairo, Amman and Tunis, Tamer Abu Ghazaleh has been an active musical collaborator for many years. Projects include: starting the cross-genre group Kazamada (2010); working with Palestinian & Egyptian artists on Jehar (with Huda Asfour), Duo Buzuq (with Rabea Jubran) and Kalam Mazzika (with Salam Yousry); and performing on Khaled Jubran's Psalms (2005). In 2008, Tamer released Thawret Ala (Revolution of Worry), a collaborative piece of musical theatre that was performed by the Al-Tamye Theatre Group. Tamer Abu Ghazaleh was born in Cairo 1986 to an exiled Palestinian family. 
He started singing and performing at the age of two, and composing at the age of nine. In 1998 Tamer and his family managed to return to their homeland to live in Ramallah, where he started his academic music education at the National Conservatory of Music (now Edward Said Conservatory). I have come to appreciate his music and the sense of humor and purpose his songs often sport.

This feels like a cynical song made for those cynical times of ours. Not sure is some folks in Egypt may take issue with Tamer lampooning the leaders of the land. Politics aside, this is a great song with many amusing attributes.

Ah Mel Ekhwan - Tamer Abu Ghazaleh اه مالاخوان - تامر أبوغزالة

0 comments:

Post a Comment