{"id":591,"date":"2009-07-12T20:54:14","date_gmt":"2009-07-13T03:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gildedserpent.com\/cms\/?p=591"},"modified":"2009-07-12T21:05:40","modified_gmt":"2009-07-13T04:05:40","slug":"aminareviewchamoun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gildedserpent.com\/cms\/2009\/07\/12\/aminareviewchamoun\/","title":{"rendered":"

Drum Attack <\/h3>"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\"Drum<\/p>\n

Belly Dance Drum Solos by Tony Chamoun (plus 2 drums solos from his Nourhan Sharif CD) <\/h2>\n

CD Review by Amina Goodyear<\/a>
\n\tposted July 12, 2009<\/span><\/h3>\n

Tony Chamoun is a Lebanese American from Boston, MA. This CD has 10 tracks and each track is named after a dancer.\u00a0 I recognize some but not all the names and believe that these drum solos are mostly named after prominent East Coast dancers. The CD is very well mixed and recorded and all the individual percussion instruments either jump out or hold their own as background in the manner that the drummer saw fit. <\/p>\n

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  1. Shadia \u2013 3:22<\/strong>
    \nThis piece is short with the duf or     bendir<\/a> acting as the ard (base) with the tabla playing over it for about a minute of it. The rhythm changes are a little too abrupt to make this a fun dance unless it is completely counted out and choreographed. To me, it doesn\u2019t make sense. It doesn\u2019t have good natural progressions for a dancer.<\/li>\n
  2. Nourhan \u2013 8:25<\/strong>
    \nThis starts with the rhythm bambi which is the first underlying rhythm that keeps changing until it eventually changes to a maqsoum beat. There is one section in the middle that sounds like the galloping horse that was used for the Lebanese dancers Nadia Gamal<\/span> and     Amani<\/a><\/span> which is followed by the undulating rolls that made these two Lebanese dancers choo choo with body waves. This is followed by the Iraqi chobi rhythm that gradually becomes another rhythm while the
    \nfamiliar, old stand-by maqsoum keeps entering into the rhythm with a tar solo that keeps answering the tabla. Throughout this piece, the tar and tabla have interesting conversations with very clear distinct sounds. I don\u2019t find this particularly interesting as a dance piece. It is more a piece for a drummer to enjoy and think about how the percussion gently moves from one rhythm to another.<\/li>\n
  3. \u00a0Lola \u2013 1:24<\/strong>
    \nThis very short piece is ideal for using in class. After the 15 second intro it is basically a maqsoum drum solo base with some tabla rifs thrown in. It ends with a drum roll. Good for using a class and seeing how each dancer responds to the drum.<\/li>\n
  4. Najmat \u2013 6:18<\/strong>
    \nA maqsoum duf floor with the tabla playing short rifs and accents turns this into a drum solo that goes nowhere. I would say this is good for a drum teacher to use as examples of different drum rifs…Or\u00a0\u201cOK class, I (the teacher) will play maqsoum on the duf and we\u2019ll go around the room and in turn each of you students will play 4 measures of something just like you heard on this CD." I guess it would be OK to practice to dance to this, but it would be a better practice track if each rif were done 4 x and that is not the case.\u00a0 The drumming seems to be random. After almost five minutes of this \u201cgoing nowhere\u201d the tempo changes ever so slightly into a maqsoum saidi but the next couple of minutes is a repeat of the first 5 minutes until finally it is maqsoum saeria and the tempo picks up enough to end.<\/li>\n
  5. Katia \u2013 4:25<\/strong>
    \nI really don\u2019t understand this piece. Just when it seems to be getting into a groove, it jumps to something that just doesn\u2019t feel like a \u201cnatural to dance to\u201d transition.\u00a0 The rhythm in this piece ultimately reminds me of when I was a kid playing cowboys and Indians and we did our Indian war dances to rhythms similar to this.<\/li>\n
  6. Johara \u2013 7:10<\/strong>
    \nBack in the 70\u2019s there was record, Delta Festival,(vinyl), and in the 80\u2019s a cassette \u201cAddomma Wettekka\u201d which was later re-released on CD, of music put out by the Egyptian drummer Khamis Henkesh<\/span>. It was modern and it very disco-like. In fact,\u00a0 one of the cuts was called \u201cEl Disco Hal Hadisco\u201d. Besides El Disco, there were two other cuts, \u201cDokdok Abu Daka\u201d aka \u201cDoDo Abu Daah\u201d and \u201cHenkesh fi Belad el Ferenga\u201d. These songs all featured a very disco, jazzy synthesizer sound with tabla.\u00a0 When I heard track #6, \u201cJohara\u201d, I was reminded of Henkish\u2019s music. This is not the same as Henkish\u2019s but I wonder if Tony was influenced. Or, maybe, as a friend pointed out \u2013 Henkesh was playing tabla to disco music which was popular then, and Tony was playing tabla to club music which is popular now. After 5 minutes the synthesizer music stops and it becomes just a tabla drum solo that starts without a rhythm baseline and gradually welcomes the duf playing various versions of maqsoum saidi until the finale. This section could be danced to. <\/li>\n
  7. Phaedra \u2013 3:12<\/strong>
    \nThis is a very nice tar\/tabla\/bongo piece. For me it works better as a listening piece than as a dance piece because I don\u2019t like the abrupt end, but it does build and for the most part is pretty good for dancing.<\/li>\n
  8. Shakira \u2013 4:48<\/strong>
    \nAlthough the cymbals have been prevalent throughout this CD, this track finally features the cymbals in the opening section.\u00a0 This lively track featuring the bongos definitely is a fun piece and brings to mind carnaval or Samba Brazil with the bass drum and pandeira batteria\u00a0sounds. With so many Brazilian dancers loving bellydance, I am sure this cut is very popular and in a non-traditional Middle Eastern way, is very danceable. <\/li>\n
  9. Houwaida \u2013 8:01<\/strong>
    \nThis piece has an\u00a0interesting tar\/tabla version of the \u201cStandard Arabic Drum Solo\u201d that Setrak<\/span> made so famous in his early records in the 70\u2019s.\u00a0 I think that it is probably the most danceable piece in the CD. It has a beginning, a middle and an end.\u00a0 Good repetitions and structure in the beginning, nice variety in the middle and a build-up with all the usual known drum rifs for the end. There are lots of\u00a0 opportunities for the dancer to play with the rhythms including the Brazilian beats which seem to be an integral part of many Arabic drum solos.\u00a0 Besides the familiarity of many of the drum rifs and the nice repetitions (to enable the dancer to do something), the tabla has a nice contrasting sound between the dums and the teks. <\/li>\n
  10. DeAnna – 1:35<\/strong>
    \nThis piece, to me, doesn\u2019t have enough changes to make it useful as a performance piece, but it\u2019s nice repetitions make it a good class practice piece. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"Nourhan<\/b>In conclusion \u2013 I feel this is mostly a\u00a0 drummer\u2019s for drummers CD and not really a \u201cBelly Dance Drum Solos\u201d CD. Out of 10 tracks, I would recommend track # 9 as being the only\u00a0Arabic bellydance drum solo track, with track #8 coming in second as a Brazilian bellydance drum solo piece.\u00a0I would, though, recommend both drum solos in the following CD by the same artist.<\/p>\n

    Nourhan Sharif in \u201cRaqs Sharqi\u201d<\/b> by Tony Chamoun <\/b><\/h3>\n

    Includes 2 Drum Solos composed and played by Tony Chamoun that are very danceable and interesting. Various percussion instruments are played.\u00a0 Although it sounds like a \u201cpercussion ensemble\u201d,\u00a0 according to the liner notes it seems that Tony Chamoun layered all the tracks himself. <\/p>\n

    Track 4 \u201cTabla Solo\u201d (3:07) <\/strong>is a predictable and fun drum solo in the style of \u201cStandard Arabic Drum Solo\u201d (think Setrak<\/span>)
    \n\tstarting with 3 repeats and an ending,\u00a0followed by interesting rhythm progressions and changes with endings and finally an upbeat drum roll end. <\/p>\n

    Track 8 \u201cAl Tabla Jamila\u201d (8:37)<\/strong> is a nice medium tempo Saidi style drum solo. It has very clear riffs played on top of the rolling Saidi rhythm that just make the hips and body want to play and accent. Besides the tabla accents, about half way into the piece,\u00a0bongos come in to help change the tempo and flavor and when the tabla comes back with some great rolls and little accents, the rhythm and feeling subtly changes into a driving chobi background with the tabla still playing over the rhythm. Again the background percussion rhythm changes – this time into an ayoub with the tabla still continuously playing riffs and accents until the piece crescendos to an abrupt finish.<\/p>\n

    Zil rating<\/strong>
    \n\t\t2.5 for Tony’s whole Drum Attack CD
    \n\t\t\"2.5

    \n\t\t3.5 for the 2 drum solos in the 2nd CD called Nourhan Sharif in Raqs Sharqi<\/strong><\/em>
    \n\t\t\t\"3.5<\/h5>\n

     <\/h4>\n

    Return to intro for Heartbeat of the Dance: Review of 4+ Drum Solo CDs by Amina Goodyear<\/a><\/em><\/h4>\n
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