Middle, Near Eastern and North African musical vibes mixed with ambient, electronic and dance grooves.

Arabian Travels, the latest adventure in world music from Six Degrees, documents the extraordinary power and far-reaching influence of music from the Near and Middle East and North Africa, the music of the Islamic Diaspora. A host of different ethnic groups inhabit the Arab world, whose shared musical culture is earmarked by several easily recognized characteristics. The flowing, highly ornamented melody lines based on skilled improvisation, the linking of smaller melodic kernels to form a larger arrangement like the patterned tiles decorating the wall of a mosque, the use of sound to effect spiritual transport and an atmosphere of immanence. These are some of the distinguishing features of Arabian music, along with the distinctive sounds of instruments such as the oud (the Arab mandolin) and the spiky report of the taut-skinned darbuka drum.

As this compilation will show, the allure of this mysterious music radiates beyond the borders of Arabic nations. Musicians in the West, especially those involved with various forms of electronic and dance music, have noted the close association between music and trance states in Arabian culture. Conversely, artists from the Arab world – who have always been adept at assimilating outside influences – have begun to integrate contemporary technology within their own music, blending electronic timbres with centuries-old melodies and instruments. Regardless of the point of origin though, the sounds you will discover on this disc are at once eclectic and distinctively Arabian.
–Richard Henderson

1. Fifth Sun – Kamtarie 5:50
From the M.E.L.T. 2000 release Sout El Leil
Written by Elmagid/Hunter/Helal/Elhelw
Copyright Control
Licensed courtesy of M.E.L.T. 2000 Ltd.
(p) 2000 M.E.L.T. 2000 Ltd.

Plucking the strings of his harp-like kanoun and improvising a plaintive song, famed Egyptian musician Amir Abdel Magid introduces this extraordinary collaboration with remixer/producer Greg Hunter, a frequent collaborator of electronica pioneers, the Orb. The duo first met during a recording expedition, which took Hunter to Egypt to record the band Killing Joke within the Great Pyramid. Magid and Hunter found common ground between the former's singing, colored with microtonal inflections, and the hard trance cyber-textures provided by the English studio ace.

2. Banco de Gaia – Sakarya 5:45
Written by Toby Marks
Published by Kaleidoscope Music/Notting Hill Music Inc. (BMI)
(p) 2001 Six Degrees Records, Ltd.

"Sakarya" takes its name from a Turkish town devastated by recent earthquakes. Set against the rattling percussion of darbuka drums and short-wave voices plucked from the upper atmosphere, Banco de Gaia's Toby Marks sketches out long-chain melodies with
dramatic strings and analog synthesizer textures accompanying a wailing Islamic vocal. The intensity of the track – appearing for the first time on this compilation – gradually increases, as its mystery unfolds and the track’s many interlocking elements become apparent. As one expects of the U.K.-based Banco de Gaia, the music’s organic quality is maintained alongside muscular dance beats.

3. dZihan & Kamien – Just You & I 5:54
From the Six Degrees release Freaks & Icons
Written by dZihan & Kamien
Published by Couch Music
Licensed courtesy of Couch Records (Austria)
(p) 2000 Couch Records

The fulsome sound of a Cairo film soundtrack pervades this outing from the Vienna-based duo dZihan & Kamien, both in its sampling of terse dialog and the unmistakable pitch-bending of a Middle Eastern orchestra. The renowned remixers plant their own signature beats and ground-shaking synth basslines beneath the laminate of strings and rapid-fire Arabic hand percussion. The pair has often drawn upon neighboring Turkish music for their inventive tracks, but the episodic "Just You & I" is cinematic in its sweep.

4. Karsh Kale (feat. Hassan Hakmoun & Ustad Sultan Khan) – Indus Railway 6:01
Written by Karsh Kale
Published by Point Nine Publishing (BMI)
(p) 2001 Six Degrees Records, Ltd.

From the fertile mind of Karsh Kale, the leading American exponent of the Asian Massive movement, comes this sonic collage of breakbeats, fluttering Arabic percussion, sighing vocals and electronic pulses. The track, concocted by Kale expressly for Arabian Travels, entwines strains of Arabic, Indian and futuristic, post-millennial music. "Indus Railway" also features the talented Hassan Hakmoun, a master musician from Morocco's Gnawa tribe, whose own music has often fused ancient and modern sounds. The bowed sarangi of Ustad Sultan Khan is also heard careening between the speakers.

5. Dahmane El Harrachi – Ya Rayah (Sonar Remix) 4:07
Written by Amrani Abderrahmane
Published by Club de Disque Arabe (Artistes Arabes Associés)
Licensed courtesy of Club de Disque Arabe
(p) 1999 Club de Disque Arabe

This remix by Sonar commemorates the inspiring presence of the late Algerian troubadour, Dahmane El Harrachi. This classic melody frames lyrics invoking the sense of longing and alienation shared by emigrant workers. Dahmane El Harrachi, who continued to perform at weddings and informal parties even as his fame grew, gave voice to his disenfranchised compatriots in his music. The percussion track, fast as lightning, is the trademark of rai, Algeria's popular street music. Rachid Taha revived this track, introducing it to an international audience. Here, abetted by Sonar’s sympathetic electronic manipulations, the glories of El Harrachi's original are revivified.

Special thanks to Global DJs extraordinaire, Fabian Alsultany and Ben Kelly for the tip on this track.

6. Arabic Breakbeats – Blue Turban 4:18
Written by Khaled El Sayed
Published by Point Nine Publishing (BMI)
(p) 2001 Khaled El Sayed

Khaled El Sayed (stringed instruments and sequencing) and Ahmed Azzam (percussion) are an expatriate team based in San Francisco. Their Arabic Breakbeats project blends inspiration from the mystical Sufi religion with thumping cyber-beats. Adding a vivacious flute melody and vocals charged with Islamic inflections, "Blue Turban" shifts into overdrive and transports the listener to a bustling Middle Eastern street scene (albeit one where everyone is dancing like mad). This combustible mix premieres on Arabian Travels.

7. Dissidenten – Telephone Arab (Bucovina Dub – Remixed by Shantel) 6:39
From the Exil Musik release 2001 – A Worldbeat Odyssey
Written by Klein, Josch & Muellrich
Published by Exil Musik
Licensed courtesy of Exil Musik/www.exil.de
Shantel appears courtesy of Essay Recordings/!K7 Records
(p) 2001 Exil Musik

Founded in Berlin in 1980, the nomadic trio known as Dissidenten has repeatedly challenged and enlarged the definition of world music during its career. The group often relocates to distant settings for various projects, including lengthy stays in India, the U.S. and Morocco, where the group absorbs and incorporates local influences into its continually mutating music. “Telephone Arab” was transformed by Frankfurt-based Shantel, whose earthy approach to remixing and rhythm is on par with the band’s own cosmopolitan vision.

8. Ekova – Sabura (Desert Delight Remix Reconstructed by Max Pashm) 5:56
From the Six Degrees Travel Series release Soft Breeze & Tsunami Breaks
Written by Ekova
Published by Atmosphériques
Licensed courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment (France)
(p) 1999 Sony Music Entertainment (France)

From the outset, the North African vibe of this track is defined by the metallic pulse of Moroccan percussion and the buzzing notes of a gimbri (the preferred bass of musicians in the Atlas Mountains). Max Pashm’s take on “Sabura” figuratively creates a sandstorm of effects and samples, engulfing its thudding bass and beats. A heavily distorted voice summons images of a muezzin calling the faithful to prayer from the P.A. speakers of a mosque. Yet another foray into deep exotica from the French trio whose Space Lullabies and Other Fantasmagore delighted world music fans.

9. Acid Queen (feat. Egyptian Musical Club) – Sema 7:43
From the Kirkelig Kulturverksted release Tranzania
Written by Stephan Groth, Christian Grimshei, Jon Erik Martinsen & Abbasi Mzee
Copyright Control
Licensed courtesy of Kirkelig Kulturverksted
(p) 2001 Kirkelig Kulturverksted

"Sema" conjures a short-wave broadcast from Zanzibar, as heard against a sunset soundscape of crickets and distant howling dogs. The track is typical of the inspired collaboration between Norwegian musicians Stephan Groth and Christian Grimshei and the elegant intonations of the great tarab orchestra Egyptian Music Club (whose melodies often derive from Cairo film scores). Hovering above the proceedings are smoldering female vocals and the unlikely but winning admixture of tarab strings and spooky electronics. As the insects drone and the backing singers wail into the distance, one thing is certain: to experience "Sema," is to know that you've visited a truly exotic destination, not found on any map.

10. Euphoria – 1001 Dreams (Arabian Travels Remix by Garry Hughes) 6:35
Original version from the Six Degrees release Beautiful My Child
Written by Ken Ramm
Published by Kramm Publishing (SOCAN)/EMI Blackwood Music (Canada) Ltd.
(p) 2001 Six Degrees Records, Ltd.

Ordinarily, the combination of bluesy slide guitar and wicked beats would immediately identify any track by Euphoria, the brainchild of Toronto-based composer and guitarist Ken Ramm. With a new mix specifically crafted for this compilation by Euphoria’s producer Garry Hughes (who has also worked with Art Of Noise, Garbage, and Sly & Robbie), “1001 Dreams” piles on Arabian atmospherics, with dark-toned orchestral flourishes, percolating hand percussion and B.J. Cole’s pedal steel filigree. With enigmatic French dialog drifting in and out, “1001 Dreams” is equal parts spy movie soundtrack and a fantasy woven by Scheherezade.

Compilation produced by Robert Duskis
Liner notes by Richard Henderson
Package design by Rex Ray
Mastered by Paul Stubblebine at Paul Stubblebine Mastering, San Francisco, CA