Dabke - sounds of the Syrian Houran

"This region of Syria jumbles together Syrians, Bedouin, Palestinians, Jordanians, and more, yet however acute the ear for noting regional differences might be, they are soon overwhelmed by the drone of the mijwiz that snakes through all seven of the songs. A double bamboo reed that's shrill, adenoidal, jolting, fly-buzzing, and ensorcelling with every swing of circular breath, the mijwiz is foregrounded in such wedding songs ... Modern dabke interweaves sampled and mic'd mijwiz melodies, making for tightly interwoven melodic lines from the doubled mijwiz and synth. So the tone on Faraj Kadah/Ashraf Abu Leil's seven-minute dabke ranges from finely minced beeps to breathlessness to a tone not unlike the bleat of a sore-throated calf".

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"The omnipresent instrument is the heavily amplified buzzing double-reed mejwiz flute, or frenzied keyboards which sample and mimic its sound, while the propulsive electronic beats grown out of traditional hand percussion are added to by driving, trancey bass lines. The singers declaim over the top, mixed up with backing vocals that remind of everything from a qawwali ensemble to the Chipmunks, dubby vocal effects and all sorts. Prisoners are not taken. "Your Love Made My Head Hurt", screams Abu Sultan, while controlled chaos swirls around him and the keyboards ululate in the background like a swarm of banshees. And this amazingly exhilarating stuff is wedding music. "Here Comes The Bride" it ain't".