Tag Archives: Middle East

eka3

21/03/2013 – 5:21 pm

In providing a new platform for Arabic Music, eka3 are sharing great music. They are opening up genres and styles including a diverse selection on their roster such as Classical, Fusion, Rock, Hip Hop and Experimental Electronica. We compiled a selection of cool tunes from their Soundcloud.

Who are Eka3?

eka3 is a pan-Arab organization strategically dedicated to creating, promoting and growing this new emerging wave by pointing it out to the world, and filling in the missing links between this scene & the Arab public.

eka3 is an initiative created by a team of artists: from musicians, photographers, visual artists to film directors.. Innovators who dream of seeing their own works achieve their full potential of reach and exposure, and upon this vision eka3 shares the dreams of musicians throughout the region.

Eka3 are the neo-generative front end of Arabic media. We are excited to hear about eka3 and the good works they are doing in promoting New Arabic Art and Culture. By allowing new streams of creative flow through the global media networks, we all share in the cultural diversity and the process of Global Harmony that comes with it.

Eka3 Social Media

Tags Acoustic, Album, Arabic, Arts, Classical, Egypt, Fusion, Label, Maqam, Middle East, Ney, Oud, Peace, Platform, Recording, Vocal | Comment (0)

Dubsahara 2012

29/05/2012 – 11:41 am

Opening the Sonic Alchemical Portal…?

The music of Dubsahara is an 8th dimensional entropic exploration of the matrices of time. At least that is what some people say. Others think its a post-modern view on the evolution of recorded sound. The new music from Dubsahara available exclusively on the Dubsahara Soundcloud page or www.dubsahara.com demonstrates the fractal view on the history of modern sound.

Tags DSP, Dubsahara, Egypt, Electroacoustic, ethnodelic, Ethnotronic, Fractal Sonography, Greg Hunter, Middle East, Neo-Trance, Remix, Soundcloud | Comment (0)

Omar Souleyman

27/06/2011 – 6:00 pm

Syrian Disco @ Glastonbury Festival

The BBC’s coverage of Glastonbury Festival 2011 seemed to include only one “World Music” artist, Omar Souleyman from Syria. His set was a fantastic opportunity to embrace something of the spirit of the modern Syrian music format which was one guy on synths (playing both traditional melodic riffs and percussive fills) and a Setar player doubling up on the riffs, and Omar himself who was not so much the lead singer, but the charismatic front man who was the face of the music, occasionally giving shououts to himself or singing a little riff on the main melody line. Most of all he was looking cool in his shades and middle eastern attire .

The sonic spectrum of electronica that they were using are characterised by the basic and rawness that is typical of modern middle eastern popular music. Keyboards must be able to use Quarter tones in order to play the traditional melodic riffs and bigger synthesiser manufacturers like Korg, Roland & Yamaha do not market synths with quarter tone capability, so its down to smaller manufacturers like GEM to cater for the Specialist Middle Eastern / Arabic music markets. Our Moroccan musician friends have a special additional pad plugged into their GEM keyboard, that was used to shift tunings on the main keyboard, allowing them to reach all the notes they needed for each composition.

Of course, in many ways I would have preferred to hear these tunes played by a 15 piece Arabic Ensemble with Oud, Setar, Tar, Daf and Doumbak. But part of the raw charm of the music comes form being part of the typical sound of Arabic Pop.

Photos by Valerio Berdini