When this set--part of the Nonesuch Explorer Series--was first released, Hamza El Din had already headlined at the Newport Folk Festival and Woodstock and released an album on the Vanguard label. But this was the one that put him on the map, bringing his oud (Arab lute,) tar (an ancient frame drum), and plaintive vocals to a much wider audience. Born in 1929, El Din has dedicated his life to the music of his ancestral homeland of Nubia, much of which now lies underwater in the shadow of the Aswan Dam. The title track, a 21-minute meditation based on the creaking, rhythmic sounds of a wooden water wheel, later became his signature work. Despite the unadorned simplicity of his forces, El Din evokes centuries of laboring agrarian workers. He later re-recorded the piece several times, including a version with the Kronos Quartet, but he has never quite duplicated the tidal ebb-and-flow of the original performance. --Christina Roden
Explorer Series: Nubia - Escalay the Water Wheel,Hamza El Din,Nonesuch,Africa,Egypt,Environmental,Int'l & World Music,Neo-Traditional,North Africa,Nubia,Pop,Sudan,Traditional Middle Eastern Folk,World,World Fusion,World Music
World Music:
- Farewell to Lough Neaghe: Traditional Harp Music of Britain & Ireland
- Force D'Intervention Rapide
- Gaining Through Losing [Import]
- Golden Zeiten [Import]
- Gonzaguinha [Import]
- Grandes Exitos [Import]
- Grazie Mille: Edizione Straordinaria [Import]
- Ground Rhythm [Import]
- Havana and Matanzas, Cuba 1957: Bata, Bembe and Palo [Live]
- History of Logic System [Import]
World Music
Maxima FM: the Compilation V.2 [Import]
Spohr: Nonetm Op. 31 / Octet, Op. 32
Shadow of Your Smile [Original recording remastered] [Import]
The Lion in Winter [Soundtrack]
The Best of Times: The Best of Styx [Import]
Street Medics Unite! [Enhanced] [Explicit Lyrics]
Songs of WWII Jewish Resistance
Serenades For Flute And Guitar
Quiereme Mucho [Original recording remastered] [Import]