IRAQ Music of Iraq – Seven Seas – Ethnic Music of the World Series – GXC-5013

IRAQ – IRAK

Music of Iraq – Seven Seas  – Ethnic Music of the World Series – GXC-5013 – Recorded by Fumio Koizumi in 1975 & 1977 (LP)

This excellent panorama of traditional Iraqi music, recorded by musicologist Fumio Koizumi (1927-1983) on the Japanese Seven Seas label’s essential Ethnic Music of the World Series, includes inspired authentic classical Iraqi music (A1-A3), Iraqi Bedouin folksongs (A4-B1) and a riveting Sufi Dhikr, or Zikr, ceremony (B2) with performers in a collective state of trance-like ecstasy in the remembrance of God.

Cet excellent panorama de musique traditionnelle irakienne enregistré par le musicologue Fumio Koizumi (1927-1983) sur l'incontournable Ethnic Music of the World Series du label japonais Seven Seas, présente de la musique classique irakienne (A1-A3) et des chansons folkloriques bédouines irakiennes (A4-B1 ) inspirées, ainsi qu'une cérémonie soufie Dhikr, ou Zikr (B2) envoûtante avec des participants en état d’extase collectif dans le souvenir de Dieu.

A1 – Qanun Taqsim – Hassan Al-Shakarchi - qanun or kanun.

A2 – Pasta – Ali Imam - ud lute / Sita - vocals.

A3 – Iraqi Maqam – Saleh Abdul Gafor - vocals/ unknown joze fiddle.

 

Bedouin Folksongs (A4-B1)

 

A4 – Ataaba – Ibrahim R. Abdullah - vocals / unknown rabab.

A5 – Mohammedawi – Ibrahim R. Abdullah - vocals / unknown rabab.

A6 – Naqqare solo – Abdel Karim Halbud - naqqare kettle drum.

A7 – Matbudj solo – Abdel Karim Halbud - matbudj flute.

A8 – Zurna-Tabl-Naqqare – Iraqi Traditional Group.

A9 – A Song with Matbudj "Sweheri" – Ibrahim R. Abdullah – vocals / Abdel Karim Halbud - unknown matbudj flute.

B1 – Drum Ensemble – Iraqi Traditional Group (tabl. - naqqare - hashshabi - Reg. - Tabla).

B2 – Sufi Dhikr or Zikr  – Ceremony with religious leader Masjid al-Khalifa in Baghdad.

Download:

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MP3

Other Iraqi music posts:
Jamil Bachir - Luth Traditionnel - Jamil Bachir ‘Ud – Iraq Arabesques N°4, 1973 here

Arabian Music - Maqam – UNESCO Musical Sources – Philips 6586 006, 1971 here

Photographs below are from The Mystic Spiral: Journey of the Soul by Jill Purse, Thames & Hudson, 1980, and the British Museum’s online collection here

“The spiral ascent of this holy mountain is symbolic of the expansion and evolution of consciousness and the accompanying flame of wisdom. As the pilgrim travels towards God, so his receptivity is met by the descending spiral, the manifestation of the Spirit. Indeed, since minarets are used for launching prayers, it is as if the spiral dynamic propels the word on vortices of air towards the Divine.”

 

Minaret of the Great Mosque of Samarra, Iraq, 9th century:

Queen of the Night

Old Babylonian, Southern Iraq, 19th century B.C.-18th century B.C.:

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