Chekroun

[Judith R Cohen <judithc...>]

hi, re the Alain Chkroun recording mentioned in today´s )yesterda´s_=
JMD, here´s a review I wrote for the now defunct magazine ¨Neglish
"Songlines" last year:

> Alain Chekroun, a cantor descended from rabbis of the now-disappeared 
> Jewish community of Algeria, offers an agreeable performance of African 
> Jewish religious songs,
> accompanied by Taoufik Bestandji and his ensemble.This Jewish-Moslem 
> collaboration 
> is an encouraging resumption of a long tradition. 
> 
> Chekroun's voice is appealingly clear, warm without being cloying: 
> no vocal pyrotechnics but characteristic, subtle ornamentation. The 
> circumcision song (#7)
> is beautifully sung a capella; for the others, the instruments provide a 
> discreetly appropriate
> accompaniment, never overpowering the singer. Altogether, the atmosphere is 
> that of sincerely rendered devotional songs.
> Unfortunately, the notes are almost non-existent. We are told the tunes' main 
> functions, and that they are "traditional", except for one by Chekroun and 
> another by Bestandji, but not where in North Africa they are from. No 
> musicians are named except for Bestandji, neither are the instruemtns listed 
> (traditional Middle Eastern oud, kanun, violin, flute and percussion).
> Though Magda's promotional blurb says the songs are in Hebrew, Arabic and 
> Ladino, this must be marketing fantasy; Hebrew is the only language used. 
> The texts appear in Hebrew (Hebrew alphabet only) and their translations and 
> the letters of appreciation in French.  Magda's PR notes tout the music as 
> being "hundreds of years old", 
> which it is not, and as  "never  recorded before", an exaggeration; there are 
> several well-known traditional melodies. My own group, the Moroccan Sephardic 
> ensemble Gerineldo, recorded part of  "Eftah pi be'rina"(#6), ("En Medio de 
> Aquel Camino", Montreal 1994): this is a Hebrew text set to the famous tune 
> of the late 19th century Turkish song "Üsküdara". The album text is printed 
> over a decorative background design, making it almost impossible to read.
> While it is unfortunate that the information is totally inedaquate, vaguely 
> rhapsodical and often inaccurate, the recording itself provides a 
> consistently pleasant listening experience.

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