What Kind of Music Y'all Listen To?

[Phil Owl]

This inquiring Owl is curious as to what kinds of music everyone here listens to?

What makes it special for you? What does it do for you?

I'll post mine shortly

[pygmalion]

Anything and everything, Phil, depending on the mood.

C&W when I'm feeling sentimental
R&B from the sixties when I'm feeling happy
Smooth jazz when I'm feeling mellow
Classical when I want to baffle my coworkers (What!?!) a black woman listening to classical?!?)
Salsa or reggae when I feel like moving my hips
Rock when I feel like singing along really loud while playing air guitar
Blues when I'm down and need catharsis
and the list goes on ....

I guess the answer is that music helps me build a mood, maintain a mood, or change my mood.

[borikensalsero]

I'm strating to think salsa has taken over my body. I don't listen to anything but salsa and anything that sounds like it. Guajira, son montuno, son, etc. I spend all day listening to salsa, when I buy a CD, it is salsa, when I'm on my way to a club I play salsa. When I leave the club I search my CDs for songs they didn't play at the club and I wanted to hear. At work my CD player always has a salsa CD in it. I spend my time making salsa song selections which complement the mood I'm in. I.E. Happy songs, love songs, fast songs, slow songs, cut your veins songs, old songs, new songs... :shock: HELP!! I tell people that I listen to all type of music, and when they say no you don't. I replay with, I listen to old, new, fast, slow salsa... :D

[Swing Kitten]

My favorite is Big Band swing but I also have some pretty ecclectic tastes. I enjoy songs from the 20's through the 70's. Right now, I have a Cajun/Zydeco CD in the player at home. I enjoy Klezmer!! I really enjoy Dixie-Frielich .. it's a mix between klezmer and jazz-- a lot of the songs are too fast to dance to but it's great as a soundscape for work! I even a CD of bagpipe music (Pipeband Spectacular Vol. 2)-- I can't listen to the whole thing at once though.

[Swing Kitten]

Classical when I want to baffle my coworkers (What!?!) a black woman listening to classical?!?)

:?: :?: :?: How is that baffling?

[pygmalion]

You'd be surprised, Swing Kitten. People are so strange, and many think that everybody fits into predefined boxes. Black woman and R&B go together. And it's not just non-Black people who think that way. Some of us think that way too.

You'd be shocked at some of the reactions I've gotten to my ballroom dancing. Honestly, people think I'm nuts, and that ballroom is for white people. To which my response is :tongue: . I listen to, and dance, whatever I like. So there!

[Swing Kitten]

You'd be shocked at some of the reactions I've gotten to my ballroom dancing. Honestly, people think I'm nuts, and that ballroom is for white people. To which my response is :tongue: . I listen to, and dance, whatever I like. So there!

Go YOU!! That is so rediculous.

[Danish Guy]

Mostly rock music.

Deep Purple
Black Sabbath
Whitesnake
Fish
Marillion

and the quiet things like

Blackmores Night
Sorten Muld
Sky

Still getting use to the Salsa stuff. :oops:

[pygmalion]

Hey Danish Guy! (John)

So how do you feel about Genesis? Not the later-day, pop stuff. Yuck to that! The earlier (70's to mid-80's) rock.

Best concert I ever saw. I think it was about 1988 or 1989. They were doing this big stadium tour around the world. Oh my goodness! The varilite light show! Wow! and the music. Even from FAR away, you could feel it. Those guys are REAL musicians, in my opinion. Do you like them, too? (Disclaimer: Anything recent involving Phil Collins solo, thumbs down. :lol: )

[pygmalion]

Nope. I take that back. The best concert I ever saw was Eric Clapton, when he was touring with Stevie Ray Vaughn (the summer SRV died).

Eric Clapton has unbelievable stage presence. I saw him in a basketball arena, and when he walked on the stage, all 20000 people there, went silent. Powerful! :D

[Danish Guy]

Hey Danish Guy! (John)

So how do you feel about Genesis? Not the later-day, pop stuff. Yuck to that! The earlier (70's to mid-80's) rock.

Genesis has made many great things. Actually Marillion with Fish in front is often compared to the old Genesis stuff. I got the Genesis double cd "The Lamb lies down on Broadway" (playing now), but I favour Marillion. I have seen Fish in concert many times, but never Genesis or Marillion. The lyrics with some "meat" on Genesis was known for is definitely picked up by Marillion with the Fish in front.
Check out the 4 concept albums by Marillion.
“Script for a Jester Tear”
“Fugazi”
“Misplaced Childhood” (With the major 1985 hit “Kayleigh”)
“Clutching At Straws”

One of my friends from Copenhagen was at the concert there. After about 45 minutes of playtime, Fish told they would play the last number for tonight, and then presented “Misplaced Childhood”. They haven’t played any numbers from the new record, not even “Kayleigh”. There isn’t a number called “Misplaced Childhood” on the record, and when they started playing “Pseudo Silk Kimono” the fans knew they would use the next 50+ minutes to play the album from start till end. Including the extra numbers afterwards nobody was cheated. Hear them live on the double album “The Thieving Magpie”

[Vince A]

90% of the time it's Swing - Big Band to M-M-M-M-Michael (I didn't want to admit it) Jackson (me, not him).
!0% is New Age Jazz and Reggae, Rap for the beat . . .

I play blues, rock and roll, and country. . .

[Danish Guy]

It’s live and on stage, the talent is shown. And that go for all kinds of music.
Everything is possible in a studio, with money and promotion. But out live, you realize if the musicians can play, the singers sing, and the bands perform with the audience.

My best concert was with Ian Gillan, after he was thrown out of Deep Purple for the second time. I saw him a year or two before in a totally sold out show in a stadium hall in Denmark. Great concert by the way. But solo as Gillan, presenting the “Toolbox” album, with 3 other musicians in a little club with the around 100 fans there was room for, that was absolutely fantastic. The stage made of wood plates mounted on empty beer boxes. The look on the bass player bending he’s knees, and then realise he couldn’t jump, without hurting his head on the ceiling. These talented guys playing this little place, not to be rich, but because the wanted to play and entertain. That will be hard to beat.
8) 8) 8)

[pygmalion]

Yes, John. The truth about a group's musicality really shows live in concert. There's no hiding behind technology there.

I'm going to check out Marillion, because if there's any comparison to the old Genesis, I've gotta try it.

The first time I heard anything by Genesis was on an episode of Magnum PI. Mama. And I went out the next day and bought the "Genesis" album (still on vinyl then). Since then, I've collected every album they made, until that debacle in the mid-eighties somewhere. When they switched over to wimpy pop music. Yuck!

So, like I said, if Marillion's anything like that, they may have a new fan in the making. Thanks for the tip! :D

I LOVE this forum. :D :D

Jenn

[dancer at heart]

I used to listen to mostly classicals, goa or trance techno music. Pure music notes seems to take my spirit places whether it be a land of peace of one that is completely psychodelic...

however, now, lik borikensalsero, I listen to nothing but salsa...cuban salsa, romantic salsa, african cuban.....you name it, it's all salsa. I got to a point where I can even sing to some of the songs when I do not even speak a single word of spanish... people have asked me if I ever get bored with it, and frankly, the more I listen to it, the more hooked I get....:wink:

[youngsta]

Let's see:

RnB - Probably my first love only because it's my foundation. It's what my parents exposed me to most.

Hip-Hop - My music. It came into being and matured during my young life. It's an integral part of my being.

House - Just like Hip-Hop I was heavily into the House scene from nearly its beginnings. I've been a DJ for over 15 years now.

Jazz - I'm really listening to more and more everday, and if you include Latin Jazz I'd say it's 40% of what I listen to these days.

[Spitfire]

Jazz and oldies music. 60's and 70's stuff

[MissAlyssa]

Uhm, my favorite is hip hop with r n b in close second. I also like rap, alternative, rock, big band, and blues. I listen to some frank sinatra and some country. I looooooove music!

[pygmalion]

My best concert was with Ian Gillan, after he was thrown out of Deep Purple for the second time. But solo as Gillan, presenting the “Toolbox” album, with 3 other musicians in a little club with the around 100 fans there was room for, that was absolutely fantastic. The stage made of wood plates mounted on empty beer boxes. The look on the bass player bending he’s knees, and then realise he couldn’t jump, without hurting his head on the ceiling. These talented guys playing this little place, not to be rich, but because the wanted to play and entertain. That will be hard to beat.


When I was awake in the middle of the night, I was thinking about this post of yours, and what makes a concert truly great for me. Oddly enough, it's not the music. To me, excellent music is the minimum requirement. There's something else that makes the magic.

Several years ago, I saw Jill Sobule in concert, in a tiny, smelly old converted movie theater. No more than 200 seats total. It was just her and her guitar in a single spotlight at the center of the stage. With her simple, almost folk-type music, her presence, and her charisma, she kept the audience entranced for two hours.

Another time, I saw a popular flamenco guitarist in concert. Exactly the opposite. Intricate, technically perfect and beautiful music, but no connection to the audience at all.


Hmmm.

You've got me thinking, John. :D

[dancersdreamland]

I listen to a mix of everything...right now I'm on a slow pop kind of kick...think Kelly Clarkson (minus Miss Independent) and the soundtrack from A Walk to Remember.

[Phil Owl]

I like both types of music, Country AND Western :lol:

Seriously though, here’s what I listen to:

Progressive Rock: stuff like King Crimson, 70’s period Yes (their 80s & 90s stuff was ABOMINABLE!), 70s Gabriel-era Genesis (absolutely HATED the Phil Collins-era stuff after Wind and Wuthering :mad: ), Carmen, Magma, Anglagard, Anekdoten, Deus Ex Machina, Island, Univers Zero, Gentle Giant, PFM, Banco, Focus, Trace, Hawkwind, Finch, Happy the Man, Arti & Mistieri, Area, National Health, Hatfield and the North, Gong, Soft Machine, Happy Family, ELP (in moderation, about 1/3 of their stuff was brilliant, the remainder was kitsch at best) and a ton more. I love colorful and complex music that stimulates the mind.

Jazz: Basie, Ellington, Miles, ‘Trane, Monk, Ornette Coleman, Weather Report, Chick Corea, Allan Holdsworth, John McLaughlin, Joe Henderson, Jimmy Lunceford, Steve Swallow (bassist), Charles Mingus, Sheila Jordan (vocalist), Herbie Hancock, Ella Fitzgerald, Joanne Brackeen (amazing pianist), Wayne Shorter and more. Th e one thing I cannot tolerate is the likes of Kenny G. TO me, he's a talentless gimmick-laden hack that just got real lucky. :mad:

Blues: Way too many to list, blues is very cathartic for me!

Old School Funk/R&B/Soul: Whether to listen or dance to, this stuff is emotional and unbeatable, love James Brown, Tower of Power, Aretha, Curtis Mayfield, Tyrone Davis, Earth Wind and Fire and more. Even what I’ve heard of what's now called Neo-Soul I’ve very much enjoyed (Seal, D';Angelo, Erika Bhadu, Macy Gray and more).

Classical: Love this music (save probably for Mozart, just too sugary for me), faves include nearly all the Russian composers, Beethoven, the Bach family, Honneger, Boulez, Ravel, Debussy, Berlioz and more.

Rock: For the fiercely male side of me, things like The Beatles, Cream, Hendrix, Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, 70’s Judas Priest, Metallica, Blue Oyster Cult, The Police, Talking Heads, Motorhead (when I need a good laugh), Allman Bros., Steely Dan and more. Just can’t stand that awful AOR/Corporate stuff like Journey, OREO Speedcookie, Styx (Stux) and all that other overproduced, sappy whitebread stuff (like Chicago or Air Supply), and I also add that generally I avoid bands named after places (Kansa and Oregon being the only exceptions).


Country: Oddly enough, I do like some country, but it has to be REAL country, not this sappy, sugar-coated pop-crossover mush that passes for it nowadays (which means no Shania, Faith or the likes of Toby Keith or any one of thousands of generic clones in cowboy hats). The good stuff for me is Randy Travis, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Ricky Skagggs, Flatt & Scruggs, George Strait, Patsy Cline, Kathy Mattea etc.


And for Dancing:


Swing: Lots of Basie, Sinatra, Louis Jordan, Jimmy Lunceford, tons of jump blues, Ellington and more!

Hustle: 70's disco (and NOT the same 25 songs that got played to death either) and Deep House (people like Frankie Knuckles, Ron Trent and more). Kylie Minogue has a fair amount of Hustle-worthy tunes too.

Latin: Gimme REAL Latin music like Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Poncho Sanchez, Eddie Palmeri, Tito Rodriguez, Chucho Valdez and more. The pop stuff like Ricky Martin and such just doesn’t cut it for me. Odd non-Latin tunes that I love to Cha-Cha to are-

Twilight World-Swing Out Sister
The Sinister Minister -Bela Fleck & The Flecktones
Why Can't We Live Together- Steve Winwood

Foxtrot: Nothing beats Tony Bennett and Sinatra for this dance for me!

[pygmalion]

Phil Owl.

I would LOVE to get into your CD collection! :D And even I must admit that Peter Gabriel - style Genesis was the best. :D

[DanceMentor]

My tastes are always changing, but lately I've been getting into Led Zepellin. I just got the complete collection. I also just picked up the latest Evanescence album. When I'm just listening to the radio, I usually like 80's dance music.

[Spitfire]

Did anyone watch Paul McCartney's Red Square concert on A&E last night?

I have it taped and will watch it later.

[dancersdreamland]

I also just picked up the latest Evanescence album.

I LOVE Evanescence. They are quickly becoming one of my favorite groups. Their songs are filled with such passion. Gotta love em.

[Phil Owl]

Phil Owl.

I would LOVE to get into your CD collection! :D And even I must admit that Peter Gabriel - style Genesis was the best. :D

My CD collection can be a wonderful and frightening place all at once :D :lol: :shock:

[dancersdreamland]

Phil Owl - That makes it all the better...gotta have a mix of everything cause you never know what kind of mood you'll be in.

[MissAlyssa]

Uhm, my favorite is hip hop with r n b in close second. I also like rap, alternative, rock, big band, and blues. I listen to some frank sinatra and some country. I looooooove music!

oh yea and I'm really into dancehall and reggee

[Swing Kitten]

I checked out some CDs from the library recently. The Mandolin music was class related but as I was finding them I came across a CD entitled "Tubas From Hell" how could I resist?? I cecked it out and I am getting the biggest kick out of it!! Jazz Tuba!!! It's wonderful and hilarious!




and yes I'm getting used to the strange looks from my peers...

[Swing Kitten]

Which reminds me of the Tuba Polka by the Tee-ah-wanna Brass which is plain remarkable!

Which in turn reminds me of the time I heard Flight of the Bumble Bee played on trombone! It made me super curious is it was played on a valve for a slide trombone. The way I see it it would be challenging to play it on the valve but on the slide? if not impossible then completely mind blowing!!

[will35]

In my car, mostly I listen to some old chamame and paraguayan polka tapes. At home, J.S. Bach, Boccherini, Soler, Brahms...I've got one concert tango cd that I like sometimes by Daniel Barenboim.

[pygmalion]

I like the Bach double violin concerto, the Dvorak New World Symphony, the Shostakovich Fifth Symphony, the Mendelssohn Italian Symphony, the Schumann Unfinished Symphony, and the Faure Requiem. Absolutely my favorite classical pieces. Each takes me back to a specific time and place. :D

Will check out the Barenboim Tango CD, though. :D

Jenn

[HothouseSalsero]

Over the past six years, I've been listening to a lot of salsa, and some other Afro-Latin music, thanks to taking salsa classes. And for the last ten years I've been listening to Arab music (mostly "oldies" in recent years). Most of the Arab music I listen to sets out to create a feeling of tarab, which is generally translated as "ecstasy" (of a specifically musical sort), but there is no exact equivalent in English. Anyway, I think I have felt it at times. A couple of the more famous singers would be include Oum Kalthoum and Farid el-Atrache. Lately I am getting around to exploring Greek music a little more as well, something that I was interested in before I even got into Arab music (but had some trouble finding leads on). I like a lot of international music in general, but I don't like to describe myself as a "world music" fan since it is so broad, and makes it sound as if I automatically like whatever happens to be from another country or culture, which isn't the case.

I still enjoy many of the things I grew up with, so some classic rock, 70's R&B/Soul, and pop music from that era in general. Lately, I have also been getting to appreciate more of the classic American popular music from before I was born, so I finally bought Ella Fitzgerald's Cole Porter songbook album this past year. Also warming up to some of the more famous country singers (Johnny Cash--like everybody else, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings), though I don't think country music will ever be my thing in a big way.

Much of the more rock-related music from my high school and college years isn't holding up to well for me: punk, post-punk, industrial, early indie rock. I like bits and pieces, but don't have much of a desire to hear it. However, at the same time I was discovering many other musical worlds. I have gotten to enjoy the music of Sun Ra more and more over the years. I still like some of the instrumental progressive music that I like then (e.g. Fripp & Eno's collaborations). I still like some reggae and dub.

I'm sorry I'm not saying much about what the music does for me. I'm not terribly inspired this morning. As a general rule, I want something that moves me and puts me in touch with my aliveness, or suggests an altered state of consciousness (in other words: something that is psychedelic, in the broadest sense of the term), but sometimes interesting sounds alone are enough to hold my attention.

[HothouseSalsero]

For a while there I was listening to salsa almost all the time, but I have to admit that even though I love it, I need a change of pace at times. My music listening has been very eclectic at least since I was about 12 years old. I don't think I should fight my desire for variety.

[Sagitta]

I'm sorry I'm not saying much about what the music does for me. I'm not terribly inspired this morning. As a general rule, I want something that moves me and puts me in touch with my aliveness, or suggests an altered state of consciousness (in other words: something that is psychedelic, in the broadest sense of the term), but sometimes interesting sounds alone are enough to hold my attention.

How about trip-hop music? It is a fusion of hip-hop and trance music.

[HothouseSalsero]

The trip-hop I've heard (at least one Tricky CD and one Portishead, among other things) hasn't done much for me. The closest thing that I kind of like would be something like Cinematic Orchestra (but that's more acid jazz, I guess).

[HothouseSalsero]

I'm discovering that just in the last five to ten years, jazz has been going in some directions that I'm finding enjoyable or at least interesting.

I'm talking about people like: William Parker, Matthew Shipp, Hamid Drake, Susie Ibarra, and Cooper-Moore.

Particular labels: Thirsty Ear, especially for it's "Blue Series." Maybe Hopscotch (which is Assif Tsahar's label, I think).

These players are all from the avant-garde side of things, but in many cases they have been working in relatively straight ahead jazz settings, or they have been working with current pop music rhythms, or they are working in electronics in a way that that jazz has not commonly done (not that there isn't still lots of precedent for it).

An album like Matthew Shipp's Equilibrium strikes me as something that lots of listeners could find a way into. It alternates between somewhat meditative tracks and more upbeat ones, with a hip-hop sort of feel. William Parker's Scrapbook sits on the avant-garde side of things, and parts of it are "challenging" to me. But on the title cut, the dissonance sits side by side with a really fun, sometimes funny, rhythm section (consisting of William Parker on bass and Hamid Drake on drums).

Suddenly I'm finding that the list of jazz CDs I want from just the last few years keeps growing. Frankly, I can't expect many surprises when I buy a recent salsa CD, and I don't find that many that don't have a lot of tracks I want to skip. (Salsa albums from the late 60's to the early 80's are a different matter.) This kind of jazz satisfies my desire to hear something I like that is also new and unexpected.

[HothouseSalsero]

I'm not saying it's necessarily better, but something has been going on.

It's like there's a whole generation or two of players who have come from an avant-garde jazz background, but who don't feel that they have to stick to some sort of avant-garde program (like all those crazy art manifestos from the beginning of the last century); they don't have anything to prove; and they grew up with the popular music that came after the era of jazz's dominance, and they aren't afraid to let that into their work.

[HothouseSalsero]

Here's a link to someone else's take on William Parker, Matthew Shipp, and some of their colleagues:

http://www.tomhull.com/ocston/arch/static/parker.php

[Pache]

I ca "stand" alsmost any music :) Though I get quite fast tired of too sweet pop songs and love songs, I believe. Also I don't like rap. R&B I sporadic like, just as hip hop, but wouldn't prefer to listen to it. I lived next to someone who had it constant on, loud out, so when I was home I could clearly hear it through the wall. Years I was more or less forced to hear that and now I just don't like it much anymore.

Jazz and lounge I don't lik elong term either (been thrown dead with that too :)). Other music, just fine :) Though I tend to listen to oldies and the "forgotten" songs more.

[DWise1]

I didn't much care for 50's rock at the time (was too young and my sisters watching American Bandstand interfered with my cartoons) and only started liking rock in late junior high around the mid-60's. Then in '72 they started on that 50's revival, so I bailed for Bach & co. up to the present. When ARRO came out, I listened to it, but it loses me when it starts playing weird stuff -- 80's I think it's supposed to be.

So on the car radio, I cycle through ARRO & KRTH for classic rock, a couple other stations for Baroque and Classical, a couple other stations for Rock en Español, salsa, merengue, etc., and NPR when the news is on. Unfortunately, there's no big-band/swing stations in our area at present.

At home, I'll put on the Big Band station on DirecTV (it's on right now). And at work I have many classical CDs, 2 CDs I burned of swing, and another of Beatles. I often put on one of the swing CDs towards the end of the day.

[HothouseSalsero]

cocodrilo quoted me:

Also, I bought some new Arabic CDs (by old singers) lately: Wadi el-Safi, Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Farid el Atrache. Ali Aldik (he's newer and more dance oriented).

I've bought so much this year. I'm still absorbing a lot of it.

and then added:

Those sound good- I'm also interested in Arabic music. Do you recommend all of the above for dancing? I guess most Arabic music is pretty danceable anyway, isn't it?!

There was a winky face after that last question, so I'm not really sure if that means it was a joke or what.

Anyway, assuming it was serious a serious question, well, maybe most Arabic music is danceable, but a lot of the music that is taken most seriously intentionally removes itself from dance and dance-like rhythms. The composer who composed for the Egyptian singer Oum Kalthoum toward the end of her career were sometimes criticized for writing songs that were "little more than dances" and therefore unworthy of her talent (and maybe their own talent as well). To take Oum Kalthoum as an example, most of her songs (especially pre-60's) contain very slow paced rhythms, on top of which, she as an improvising vocalist will, in certain passages, bend the meter. In fact, one of the things I like in many of these recordings is the way they evoke an altered state of consciousness when the music slows down or when the vocalist steps outside of metrical regularity altogether.

(This is going to be wordy. I am just getting started. Somewhere here I am going to post some recommendations, so anyone who is bored might want to skip to that part.)

There are a couple types of traditional non-metered vocal improvisations: the mawawal and the layali. The first type uses a variety of texts, the second one is so conventionalized that it works with the same limited one or two lines. The point is for the vocalist to improvise melodically and demonstrate his or her vocal capacities.

Instrumental solo improvisations, or takasim, also normally stretch out without any metrical regularity.

Incidentally, when I refer to Arabic music, I'm thinking primarily of music from Egypt, Lebanon, Syria; and to some extent Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Kuwait. North African countries like Morocco and Algeria are distinct enough that I'd rather leave them out of the discussion for now. (Also, I know less about them.)

*

I highly recommend the book Making Music in the Arab World: The Culture and Artistry of Tarab by A.J. Racy. "Tarab" is an Arabic word which roughly means a certain type of musical ecstasy. There's no exact equivalent to this word in English.

*

Anyway, aside from Ali Aldik, the artists I named are all pretty major singers (and in some cases composers &/or oudists as well). I like some work by all of them, but they are all very prolific, and their work isn't always consistent. If you want recommendations of specific Arabic CDs, I would recommend these:

Oum Kalthoum: "Roubaiyat el Khayam," "Ana Fe Entazarak," "Ya Zalamny." (These are all long enouh to either stand on their own, as a separate CD, or maybe share space with one other piece.)

Asmahan: Asmahan ASMCD 601

Unfortunately, I have yet to meet a single CD of Farid's music that I like all the way through (though it would not be hard for me to pick out 3 CDs worth of good material by him). For now, I will recommend Addi Errabi/Wehyat Eineiki, mostly for the second song.

I haven't gotten all that far in exploring Mohammed Abdel Wahab's own recordings. (He's somewhat better known as a composer, but he was also a great singer at some point. There's a lot of debate about when or even if he "lost it" as a singer.) I like one that starts with the song "Toul Omri" and has the catalog number: BGCD 603. (Sorry, but some of these things don't have titles, at least not in English transliteration.)

Nazem alGhazali: Vol. 1. BUZCD 515.

Fairuz: Safarbarlek/Bint el-Harass, mostly for the second album on this 2fer, and Soiree avec Fairuz (but be warned that the sound quality is very bad).

For a taste of instrumental music, try Taqasim by Ali Jihad Racy (the AJ Racy who authored the book I mention above) and Simon Shaheen. Also, the collection by various artists, Maqams of Syria, is mostly instrumental, and very nice, if heavily on the meditative side.

My favorite oud solo ever is Riad el Sounbatti's in the middle of his piece "Ashwaq" (at least I think that's what it's called, judging by the cover). There is something very special in his tone. I don't think any other oudist makes his silences sing the way el-Sounbatti does, and he has an incredible sense of rhythm. Unfortunately, the CD that collected several of his oud solos went out of print before I bought a copy, but hopefully it will be back in print eventually. Incidentally, I think the full piece "Ashwaq" itself is seriously flawed, so I'm reluctant to recommend it (though I like the two songs tacked onto the end).

Also, I really liked Marcel Khalife's Caress, which came out this year, and combines jazz elements with Arabic music in a way that I enjoyed. (I usually don't enjoy that combination.) Warning: the 5th song is some strange saccharine take on "Happy Birthday to You" and there is also a violin piece that seems very out of place. The first four cuts flow together nicely as a suite.

And you might enjoy Sahar Taha and Omar Bashir's recent CD Baghdadiyat, which consists mostly of Iraqi folk music (but performed by conservatory trained musicians in this case), although there are also some quiet oud solos. (Omar Bashir is the son of Munir Bashir, an Iraqi oudist who became relatively famous in the west, though I'm not sure he ever had that much of a following in the Arabic world, even in Iraq. I don't actually care for this style of oud playing that much, but on this CD, mixed in with other types of material, it works for me.) Great rhythms.

Some of my favorite more dance-oriented Arabic music is on tapes with titles only in Arabic and no apparent CD version. What can you do?

I love Arabic rhythms, but I also love the less rhythmically oriented, more stretched out, types of music, which can take you to some very special places.

[HothouseSalsero]

cocodrilo, you know, I just realized that you never asked me if I recommended that music as such, just whether or not I recommended it for dancing.

[DanceMentor]

I've been really getting into Hotel Costes. There are 7 albums and they are all based on the music coming out of a popular bar (http://www.worldsbestbars.com/city/Paris/HotelCostes.asp) in Paris. Gotan Project has been featured on a couple of the albums. The seventh album is just now being released.

[cocodrilo]

cocodrilo, you know, I just realized that you never asked me if I recommended that music as such, just whether or not I recommended it for dancing.
Actually, since it seems you were recommending all of the above to begin with, I was wondering which were best for dancing! The wink was not meant for sarcasm- au contraire, I was simply implying that as ALL of the middle eastern music I have ever listened to makes me want to get up off my chair & writhe, I was wondering which was the MOST danceable. (At the discos in Casablanca & Marrakech they played some great Saudi, Egyptian, Algerian & Morroccan dance tunes. When I was there, oddly enough during the 9-11 terrorist attacks, at the time a lot of the music they were playing at the discos had a neat latin beat/sound to it!)

Anyhow, thanks for your list. I'll definitely see if I can find CDs by some of those artists over here. :notworth:

[HothouseSalsero]

One thing I think I somehow neglected to mention is the Arabic music I listed is pretty old. These are classic recordings. Some go back to the 40's.

[cocodrilo]

One thing I think I somehow neglected to mention is the Arabic music I listed is pretty old. These are classic recordings. Some go back to the 40's.Yow! I think I'm more interested in the contemporary stuff, like music they are playing at the clubs RIGHT NOW. What would you recommend in that case?

[HothouseSalsero]

The current North African and Saudi stuff I'm not very familiar with.

The Egyptian "New Sound" disco type music is almost uniformly bad.

Uhm, let's see. . . current artists. I like that Ali Aldik CD Aloush, which is kind of a very modernized variant on the folk dance form the debka. I have no idea if it gets played in clubs.

I like Abdelli from Algeria, though I'm not sure that would be popular dance music. It's got dance rhythms in it though.

[HothouseSalsero]

Here is a link to a list of the best music of the 21st century so far, from a music board I frequent (which happens to attract a lot of professional and semi-professional music critics): http://base58.com/ilx/ilm/top100/20002004/.

I present this very much in the spirit of FWIW, since it mostly doesn't represent my taste. Naturally I'd like to see some salsa; some Arabic music--it's true there isn't much new stuff I like, but there is some: Marcel Khalife's album from this year, old school master Wadi el-Safi's album from last year, and Rahim AlHaj's solo oud CD from last year as well; more international music in general (Youssou N'Dour's latest CD, for example); as well as some avant-garde jazz/experimental stuff generally, like: William Parker, Matthew Shipp, Susie Ibarra, Assif Tsahar, Cooper-Moore, John Fahey, etc.

[Swingolder]

How does everyone handle the music setup if you share office space (or any kind of work space) with others? I know what I like doesn't necessarily appeal to the others I work with, but the days go by so much faster when I have good stuff on.

[HothouseSalsero]

How does everyone handle the music setup if you share office space (or any kind of work space) with others? I know what I like doesn't necessarily appeal to the others I work with, but the days go by so much faster when I have good stuff on.

Thank goodness, I don't have to deal with that. I work in a library, and the staff area is hardly removed from the public area, aurally, at all, so it's not an option.

[Phil Owl]

One thing I think I somehow neglected to mention is the Arabic music I listed is pretty old. These are classic recordings. Some go back to the 40's.

This is an area of music that fascinates me somehow, can you recommend any specific recrodings to get started on?

[Phil Owl]

I've been really getting into Hotel Costes. There are 7 albums and they are all based on the music coming out of a popular bar (http://www.worldsbestbars.com/city/Paris/HotelCostes.asp) in Paris. Gotan Project has been featured on a couple of the albums. The seventh album is just now being released.

That's some cool stuff, great to either dance to or just chill out with.

I heard an OM Lounge disc yesterday (#9 in the series) that had some cool jazz-house stuff on it.