Jody Stecher
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Jamil Bashir 45 rpm EP
In the mid 1960s in a tiny record shop near Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, NY, I found an Extended Play 45 rpm recording of the oud music of Jamil
Bashir that made a big impression on my young musical mind.
Each side of the disc had 2 tracks, a taqsim and then a dance tune. The taqasim were inventive and impassioned and had a lot of presence and focus
and were brilliantly executed. Although they contained arpeggiated double stops it wasn't the sort of "neither east nor west" stuff of his like you
can see on youtube. My friends and I had barely caught our breath from the taqsim when he started the dance music. One side of the disc had a tune
accompanied by hand clapping as well as drum. Jamil Bashir was burning now and we expected the turntable to catch fire. I mean this was the raqs that
knaqs yr saqs. Wow. The French LP that came out a few years later was very good of course but this was of another order.
Somehow I lost this disc and even if I found it again I had played it so many times in the 60s that it was pretty much too worn to play. I did make a
tape recording of the disc but the fidelity is truly awful.
Does anyone here recognize the disc I'm talking about and know where a clean copy can be heard? Can anyone identify the names of the four tracks on
the disc?
THANKS!!
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ameer
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Could it be this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LzLb7OL-VA
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Jody Stecher
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Thanks, Ameer, this is fantastic but the disc sounded like a studio recording and there was no singing. Your link seems to be to a live performance
but wow, this has the same electrifying atmosphere.
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ameer
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Interesting. It gets harder when you're talking about instrumental studio recordings as opposed to private sessions or even concerts as there are so
many and there are relatively few criteria to search with online. If you remember anything distinctive about it let me know as I spend much of my free
time scouring the net for old recordings people have put online in one place or another. It's amazing what you can find sometimes.
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Jody Stecher
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Well the hand clapping (if that's what it was) was certainly distinctive. I seem to recall that the label of the little disc was blue but I'm not sure
about that.
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ameer
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I think I might've found a piece of it. It has clapping anyway. I posted it here.
http://www.4shared.com/audio/fUnk2-ME/01_-______-_Line-In.html
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Jody Stecher
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There are so many things I like about this but especially the timing and phrasing. Thanks a million for this. This is similar to the recording I'm
talking about and could well have come from the same recording session as the sound is very close. But it's not the same record.
Does anyone know what kind of strings Jamil Bashir used?
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DoggerelPundit
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Hi Jody,
"I seem to recall that the label of the little disc was blue but I'm not sure about that."
From the 60s, unless it was a foreign pressing, the list of possibilities is limited. There was a label at that time, blue with a drawing of an Arab
in kafiyya and squared 'arghal, called "Arab Tunes." The catalog of this label had all kinds of Arabic music, from orchestral & singers to more
primitive bands and single folk instruments--LPs and 45s. I believe it originated out of Silwani's record shop on Hollywood Blvd. Here is a link to an
LP at auction showing the label
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SHUKRY-AYYAD-Sings-JORDANS-FOLKLORE-Arab-Tu...
Not the one you're looking for, but maybe the right label.
-Stephen
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Jody Stecher
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Thanks, Stephen. My memory says it looked very much like that but I might be confused because the 45s of Sono Cairo had a similar appearance. Let's
see what I can come up with doing a search of Arab Tunes. -jody
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