Kamilya Jubran, lead vocalist for Palestine's beloved, avant-folk group Sabreen from 1982 to 2002, has recently put out a solo recording called Wameedd. I don't yet have the album, but I've listened to the quite long samples from the album that are up on Kamilya's website and they are just amazing. Wameedd features the voice and 'ud playing of Kamilya and the very creative electronic sounds produced by Swiss composer and sound wizard Werner Hasler. The result is truly remarkable, about as unusual a recording of "Arabic" music as I've ever heard. It puts me in mind of Sabreen's last release, Hases Maz'ooj, not because the latter sounds like Wameedd but because both are so singular, so unlike anything else. Someday (but not now) I hope to write something about Hases Maz'ooj, which is very hip-hop/electronic and a radical departure from Sabreen's earlier work.
I highly, highly recommend Wameedd. I will be reviewing it soon for RootsWorld, along with the new solo release, Min Ba'd, from Wissam Murad, also of Sabreen.
Wameedd is available from CDRoots (and so is Hases Maz'ooj).
Tags: Palestine
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