Oriental Music

This vinyl-only remaster of the now cult classic album originally released by Cairene label Soutelphan back in 1976 celebrates two true legends of Egyptian music: keyboard player Omar El Shariyi and singer, composer and actor Mohamed Abdel Wahab, six of whose tracks El Shariyi reinterprets here in his own charmingly hypnotic way. A gifted musical child prodigy, overcoming blindness since infancy, the late El Shariyi was famed for skilfully intertwining the traditional sounds of his native Upper Egypt with contemporary Western cultural influences. These innovations, as well as the popular songs he penned for other artists of the day, led to him being sought out by Yamaha to create a form of Oriental electronic keyboard that could handle the more exotic nuances of Middle Eastern tonality. This dreamily indulgent collection of all-instrumental tracks reveals both the depth of his skill and the warmth of his personality. From the haunting opening chords of ‘Ana Wehabieby’, reminiscent of the sumptuously romantic Arabic films that Abdel Wahab was known for, to the staccato notes of ‘Gafnoho’ – which could almost be Ravel’s Bolero transplanted to a felucca on the Nile – this is 36 minutes of joyously nostalgic listening pleasure.