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Secrets,
Moon, Magic
by Maza Mezé, CBC Records, TRCD3009,
51:38 minutes
Hypnotika: Maza Mezé,
CBC Records,
TRCD 3002
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 By Alidë Kohlhaas
Maza Mezé
has recorded its second CD for CBC Records, calling it Secrets,
Moon, Magic. These are three words related to some of the titles of the
eight songs and one medley of melodies on the CD. There is also a bonus song for those
familiar with MP3 players. This is the re-mix of Shammusa, which was one
of the songs on its previous CD, reviewed earlier by Lancette (See below ).
Once again, Maza Mezé does not disappoint. It has
performed musical magic. The group does a wonderful job of capturing the sound and flavour
of the Mediterranean and beyond. Performing with the regular members of the group are
three well known musicians, percussionists John Wyre and Trichy Sanjaran, and singer Suba
Sankaran. Together these adventurous musicians travel along the "Middle Sea"
from Greece along the sea's northern shores, then inland to Iraq and India. They capture a
wide variety of sounds that they manage to blend in a way that will please even an ear
totally unfamiliar with this music.
Without meaning to, I have become an unashamed fan of
Maza Mezé. It helps, of course, that the lyrics are mostly in English, although some of
the words are also from various Arabic and Greek dialects. Track 4, Loula Mou and track 7,
Polifoniko, are sung completely in Greek. Strangely enough, they seem far farther removed
from our musical vocabulary than those from the Middle East and India. Yet they are
related through Greece's long association with the Ottoman Empire. Asrar (Secrets), the
first song in this cycle of folk melodies, is highly unusual in that it
mixes—exceedingly well in my estimation—Sufi poetry and Inuit throat singing.
Knowing how to mix western and eastern sounds effectively, and in this case, the music of
the high north, is an art. Maza Mezé knows how to do that very well. Track 8 is mostly
sung in English. Its title is Ya Amar (O Moon). Its one line in Arabic is Ya amar, Ilahat
il layl (O Moon, Goddess of the night). It is a beautifully evocative piece.
And now I would like to throw a challenge at Maza
Mezé. I would like them to travel to Malta on their next musical journey through the
Mediterranean. This island nation has some amazing ghanniet (songs), which have been
collected by the country's leading composer, Charles Camilleri. Years ago Camilleri was a
member of the former CBC Orchestra in Toronto and a teacher at Toronto's Royal
Conservatory of Music. He returned to Malta years ago, where among his many compositional
achievements and teaching at the University of Malta, he added the task of travelling all
over Malta to collect these songs that had never been written down before.
Maltese is a very ancient language, whose roots are
in Aramaic, which makes it an older language than Arabic or Hebrew. It is also the only
language in this family group that is written with the Roman alphabet, although Maltese
has more letters than the usual 26 we have in the English alphabet. The word for song
ghanna, plural ghanniet, contains a letter that does not exist in any other language and
which I cannot replicate here through html code. It is the letter 'h' which should have a
horizontal line through the upstroke. The language is very musical and the ghanniet are
something very special as they capture the sound and flavor of Malta and Maltese.
To give the members of Maza Mezé a taste of things
Malti, let me make verbal comparisons. The Maltese, for example, spell moon qamar,
and night is lejl, while the Sufi chant Allah Haj in Maltese would be Alla
haj,(h with horizontal stroke) only the Maltese are not adherents of Islam, but count
among the oldest Christians in existence, dating to the days when St. Paul was shipwrecked
on their island group.
So, how about it, Maza Mezé?
ddd
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A very different kind of music
A very different musical approach
By Alidë Kohlhaas
Reviewed in May 2003
Hypnotika,
a CD recorded by the group Maza Mezé
(Greek-Arabic words that mean "an assortment of appetizers") has, indeed, a
hypnotic effect on the listener. It is a collection of musical pieces that reflect the
variety of countries that rim the Mediterranean Sea. Thus it takes one on a journey from
Spain to Greece, from Turkey to Egypt, where the group also ventures further south to
Nubia to present us with a modern lament.
There are 10 songs on this CD
and one instrumental. All display a distinctly Mid-Eastern influence. They show how
strongly the Ottoman Empire was influenced by the Middle East and how it imposed this
cultural influence on Greece and Turkey, and how the Moorish influence has left its mark
on Spain.
This is a highly eclectic
recording, yet there runs a unifying musical theme through it. It is a fine introduction
to a new sub-label by CBC Records brought out in conjunction
with CBC Radio One's Global Village. It certainly whetted my
appetite for this highly exotic, rhythmic music. I have to admit, however, that it took
more than one playing for me to fully appreciate what this CD has to offer.
Good sound, good
instrumentals, and fine vocals keep the interest alive for 50:18 minutes for a very
different kind of music than usually reviewed here. The one complaint is that the liner
notes tell us nothing about the musicians that make up Maza Mezé. It would be nice to
know what motivates these musicians, and how they happen to become interested in this
somewhat exotic kind of music.
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