Among Brothers

Amazon.com
For his second album, Abdelli, an Algerian singer-mandola (a type of oud-lute) virtuoso from the Kabyl (an ancient Berber tribal group), has again pre-recorded his blues-inflected, slightly world-weary tenor vocals and some rhythm guide tracks before sending them to collaborators around the world to have their way with. Producer Thierry Van Roy kept everybody else in the dark until the final mix was assembled. Harp-like Andean guitars, piercing woodwinds, accordions, and assorted fiddles weave in and out, bringing with them dauntingly diverse sounds from the Andes, Africa, and the Arab world, as well as echoes of assorted medieval European styles (some of which originated in the Middle East anyway), Algerian Raï, and the Silk Road. Given the piecemeal nature of the production, the almost entirely acoustic arrangements are astonishingly organic and warm, robustly engaged but also airy and spacious. Even longtime band-mates performing face-to-face seldom achieve such a combination of unity and fearless individuality. -- Christina Roden

Tracks:

Amazine
Amazine
Itij
Itij (The Sun)
Kif-kif
Asiram
Svar
Adhou
Adhou (The Wind)
Inas
Tharguith
Ayen
Ayema-yema
Thamziw
Thamziw (My Youth)

Amazon.com

For his second album, Abdelli, an Algerian singer-mandola (a type of oud-lute) virtuoso from the Kabyl (an ancient Berber tribal group), has again pre-recorded his blues-inflected, slightly world-weary tenor vocals and some rhythm guide tracks before sending them to collaborators around the world to have their way with. Producer Thierry Van Roy kept everybody else in the dark until the final mix was assembled. Harp-like Andean guitars, piercing woodwinds, accordions, and assorted fiddles weave in and out, bringing with them dauntingly diverse sounds from the Andes, Africa, and the Arab world, as well as echoes of assorted medieval European styles (some of which originated in the Middle East anyway), Algerian Raï, and the Silk Road. Given the piecemeal nature of the production, the almost entirely acoustic arrangements are astonishingly organic and warm, robustly engaged but also airy and spacious. Even longtime band-mates performing face-to-face seldom achieve such a combination of unity and fearless individuality. -- Christina Roden

Customer Reviews:

Worth the wait! In gold...........2003-08-02

One insomniac night in 1995 listening to BBC World Service I heard a track which made me sit up & glue my ear to the muffled MW signal to desperately catch the name of the artist. Remember that feeling?! I scribbled it on piece of paper & ordered the album the next day. It was from 'New Moon' by Abdelli, a Berber musician exiled in Belgium. If you can wear out CDs, my copy needs at least a buff-up with the Brasso. So at last, 8 years later, more music from this man with the one-off voice. 'New Moon' had a character all its own, combining rhythmns and scales from an ancient tradition with contemporary keyboards and western instruments. Above it all, Abdelli's soaring, imploring voice as the extraordinary commonality. 'Among Brothers', 3 years and 4 continents in the making has quite a different character. It eschews overt western sounds for a broader, richer palette of strings, woodwinds, reeds & percussion, recorded outdoors in many cases using specially-developed microphones. The result is a more diverse-sounding album but with a new edge of colours and sounds. I would also say with more consistent, developed material than 'New Moon'. It is, in truth, a fantastic recording, full of the detail Peter Gabriel hints at but here it's all real, from a real world. Neat eh? I know I'll play this record for years. How can you put a price on music like this? In a world where 'soul' music now lacks that very essence, music like this created with such love, joy, sadness, yearning & fun is literally priceless. Thanks to all the 'brothers' who played on this; thanks Thierry Van Roy for producing & playing, and thanks again Abdelli for your eternal voice.

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