Chris Silver is blogging for Gallica, the digital library of the
Bibliothèque nationale de France. Here he takes up recordings from the
thirties by Mahieddine Bachetarzi, Dalila Taliana, and Cheikha Aicha La
Hebrea. Remarkable music, great commentary.
On Cheikha Aicha La Hebrea: Cheikha Aicha La Hebrea has left barely an archival trace but a
number of her recordings survive on Gallica. What is remarkable about
this record is that it reminds that international labels like Pathé were
keen to record popular music as much as the Andalusian high art
repertoire. In fact, what we have here is one of the many covers of the
Algerian Jewish artist Lili Labassi’s wildly popular “Mamak", recorded
for Columbia Records in 1930 and which then spread like wildfire across
North Africa. Indeed, one French composer at the time noted that every
shoeshine boy from Algeria to Morocco was known to sing the tune. Among
other things this recording provides us with a sonic glimpse into the
North African popular music charts of the 1930s.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment