Levantine Indulgence

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Singer and composer Gaida’s debut album Levantine Indulgence is named for Levant, the Fertile Crescent’s desert oasis. Aptly named, this album offers listeners an abundance of vocal and instrumental styles that even the most resistant listeners can find nourishing and enchanting.

The opening track, “Dream,” begins with rhythmic clapping and percussion and a chorus of male voices who share vocals with the lead singer. I should clarify by referring to sharing and “trading.” This distinction is important because the contrast of Gaida’s voice with the male singers makes this short song into a true performance. The vocal banter between Gaida and the men reminded me of a musical where the lead female actor is center stage and the men in the chorus sing to her with the purpose of wooing or impressing her. But in the case of “Dream,” the men sing with Gaida at the end of the song. Unlike a traditional musical from an earlier era, where the woman needs to fend off potential suitors with clever lyrics and a silky voice, in this modern version Gaida works with the men, but the song is still decidedly hers.

“Kaifa Uhibuka” transports the listener to a smoky, jazz club with purple walls and red, plush booths. When I close my eyes and listen to this track, I’m a patron of this club, sipping gin and smoking a clove cigarette, while I lean back into my lush surroundings to enjoy the music. I despise gin and I no longer smoke, but the song evokes feelings of real or imagined indulgence, and yet sadness. I felt that this song represented the overall mood of the album even more than the title track.

Another track that evoked this mood was the beautiful ballad “Ghayeb.” The piano, cello, and flute blend with Gaida’s vocals to create a song that expresses love, longing, and caring. Despite the fact that the lyrics are not in English, my eyes filled with tears as I listened to “Ghayeb.” Without even knowing what Gaida was saying, I could feel the pain and loss in her voice. When you hear a song like this, it can cause you to have a flashback to a situation that may have been painful, or one that caused you to feel a sense of bittersweet regret. Granted, this isn’t exactly a desirable feeling, but if a song can make you feel this way, I think that’s pretty powerful.

Gaida has lived in Germany, Damascus, Detroit, Paris, Kuwait, and New York. Through the incorporation of jazz, bossa nova, ballad, Tarab (ecstasy) songs, Arab folk, and traditional Arabic maqam (modes) and improvisational style in her music, it is easy to see that she has carried pieces of these places with her as she has traveled the globe. Some people would create a scrapbook or a photo album of their diverse living experiences; Gaida has produced an audio diary of her musical and emotional journeys, and the listener can feel her sentiment with beat of the bass, the raining piano notes, and memorable melodies. On the album cover, the artist in fact states that she, “will always sing with tears close to my eyes, beats pounding my fragile heart, and care wrapping the entire world.”

Written by: Rachel Muzika Scheib, May 27th 2010

3

admin — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 17:01:00 +0000

By Nouvelle Vague

Peace Frog Records

If there’s one word to describe the works of Nouvelle Vague, it's génial. Generally, I don’t trust cover versions. Many of them are an abomination that spits all over the originals, but somehow, the cover band Nouvelle Vague makes me forget that. Yes, that French band that rehashed “Love Will Tear Us Apart” in pure bossa nova sweetness—a complete turnaround from the original melancholic version by Joy Division that followed more melancholic versions (the Wild Swans among others)—it became the anthem of the brokenhearted. Granted, Ian Curtis would cringe in his grave while hearing Nouvelle Vague’s version, while I, in turn, was amusing myself.

The masterminds of Nouvelle Vague—Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux—lead the pack of chanteuses, including Melanie Pain, and are armed with sixteen new secondhand tunes in their new release, 3. Instead of copying the songs one to one, the boys from Nouvelle Vague stick to the formula: strip the songs off and rework them, sometimes to the point of being mundane and unrecognizable. Hence, Nouvelle Vague, which means new wave in English and bossa nova in Portuguese, has taken on a different meaning altogether. It is French chansons for the twenty-first century gone alternative.

If imitation is a form of flattery, then don’t wonder why Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore decided to join the fray. On the first single “Master and Servant,” Gore serves as a back-up vocal to Pain. Strangely enough, it feels like listening to a dialogue between a man and a woman engaged in BDSM, only they are singing. For a while the song was on the black list of many radio stations in the U.S. due to its theme. While retaining the guitar parts, Nouvelle Vague added a flavour of bluegrass and country. Voilà! The single is set to conquer radioland without any scandal.

Terry Hall (Funboy Three and The Specials) and Ian McCulloch (Echo and the Bunnymen) make a cameo. Hall sings with Marina Celeste on “Our Lips Are Sealed,” which he co-wrote for the girl pop group The Go-Gos; McCulloch renders his voice on the original EATB tune, “All My Colours,” in another duet with Pain.

Nouvelle Vague’s acoustic version of Sex Pistols’ “God Save the Queen” has lost its teeth. However, laid-back this version is, the message is still depressive and amazingly clearer due to its sinister lyrics. “Such a Shame,” an original by Talk Talk, heavily reminds you of Air’s hit single “Playground Love.” The treatment is moody, yet hauntingly pretty. The torch song “Say Hello Wave Goodbye” could even impress Soft Cell’s Marc Almond. The French accent on “Blister in the Sun” accentuates its cuteness, while Plastic Betrand’s original “Ça Plane Pour Moi” is darn upbeat and cheeky—great songs to perk up your day.

Some might find Nouvelle Vague’s repackaging of old New Wave and punk anthems an act of blasphemy, but in truth, this is the group’s testament of paying a tribute to their favourite songs. So music purists, eat your hearts out. Nouvelle Vague is here to stay and 3 is the proof of that.

Written by: Elen P. Farkas, January 13th 2010