ARTIST: Talib Aziiz
TITLE: Ibraahiim
ARTIST LINKS:
www.myspace.com/crawfish81
http://soundcloud.com/aziiznoise
ARTIST COUNTRY: USA
LABEL: Self-released
GENRE: Quranic Recitation/Throat Singing
TRACKLIST:
1_ Ibraahiim Dhkir
2-8_ Untitled recitations of Surah 14 [Abraham] of the Holy Quran
9_ Salaam Dhkir
It feels as if I have been waiting for an album like this for some time now. Years, even. In fact, almost as soon as I began my own Industrial music endeavors, I had seen that as my ideologies and spirituality were somewhat interwoven, I could incorporate my strongest emotional triggers and core beliefs into any art I chose to make. Everyone needs a strong philosophy to make strong music. I have had this in mind since before I was ever a musician, but this album is one more indelible example of this principle.
It is no secret to those who know me best as Rex The Ninth that over the years, I have developed a strong fascination for, support of, and feel a great sympathy and solidarity for Muslims and Islamic culture. In the advent of a post 9/11 world, I saw first hand the demonization of this culture, religion and its people. I saw how the infinitely corrupt US government reduced so many victims to ridicule, misery and death at the hands of the intolerance of the ignorant and fear stricken masses both here and on Muslim land. I saw the scope of the gravest cultural and socio-political conflict of my time, and I realized that as a Mexican being discriminated on the basis of being born on the wrong side of some fucking fence, a minority, unwelcome in a racist, separatist, and highly oppressive nation.. Well, I saw that I share much in common with my Middle Eastern brethren.
These are extreme times, and extreme situations are presented to us every day, and I knew that there had to be even ONE individual in the community that I hold such deep admiration for that felt enough rage at these modern times who actually either pertained to the Islamic faith, or that was at least of Middle Eastern descent, who’s main output of expression was Noise/Power Electroncis/Industrial… I knew that there was someone who took it upon himself to be a strong representative of an intense and brutal musical form that is also a stronger representative of his culture, and perhaps, as is the case with “Ibraahiim”, his faith. And I found him. His Name is Talib Aziiz.
Now, I know many of us in the Post-Industrial world find that faith holds no sway in their rational minds, and this is fine, but I hope no one reading this is as intolerant to any degree as to not consider what has been written about here. It’s some dark and beautiful stuff, I assure you.
I have held deeply that spirituality is the most complicated and personal aspect of any person’s life, so you will find little judgment on my part about any faith-element incorporated to make GREAT art. Cultural contributions are the true lifeblood and saving grace of any faith. Music is the cultural lifeblood that sustains me personally, so I enthusiastically declare the importance of this album, to me, is unbounded. The sound is unique, the concept is simple, and it is as powerful and meaningful as any TRUE expression of faith can be.
“Ibraahiim” is unlike any other album I have ever had the honor to hold. For starters, the sound is the provocative mixing of two distinct but equally passionate cultural faces, being Islam and Buddhism. This work is a recitation of a surah done in Arabic, but sung in the deepest of registers by way of a Tibetan throat-singing method. You could swear this guy has been doing this for years, like he was brought up in the land of the Holy Dalai Lama… reading the Quran. The vocal work is the main focus of “Ibraahiim”…
The album itself is presented in an simple and welcoming intro, spoken-word, outro format. The opening track is one in only a pair of tracks that have actual instrumentation on “Ibraahiim”. “Ibraahiim Dhkir” was recorded with a singing bowl and a dripu & dorje, which is a form of bell and a brass striker. The Surah begins here, and from here to the end of the album, you are introduced to something that, perhaps even in the respective time of the ancient caliphate, has seldom been heard. The world has seen that Islam was the faith that saw the quickest and most culturally significant establishment of its time, and as a religion of tolerance, respect, and compassion, its cultural influence was widely admired, assimilated to and with the cultures of the nations it conquered. The reach of Islam went as far as India and its northern regions that stretched to the borders of China, including Tibet, where throat singing had reached its zenith. But who can say exactly how many individuals, and what type of circles of folk, have used one highly-effective Buddhist meditation tool such as the intensely difficult to master throat method with the sheer poetry that is Quranic verse? Until I had met Mr. Aziiz, my experience with Islamic vocalization had only been that of the free-form, intensely melodic Arabic and Persian styles. So it is something special to hear! And while a melodic style is meant to heighten the emotional and sometimes pacifying nature of the Quran, a style like Talib’s [which in this album is done entirely through a reverse-reverb with delay trails] elevates it to a colder, yet still amazingly transcendent level. It’s stark, honest, and somehow very deep and vast simultaneously.
The closing track is the one that had struck a real chord with me when I first discovered Mr. Aziiz’s work. “Sallam Dhkir” is a track that has a constant rise and fall in its stereo channels, alternating and harmonizing words with only a gong. Simple enough, but when you have the lowest of octaves a human larynx can force out, and the resonant but very sharp sound of a perfectly engineered metal disc, I think you have something as Industrial as any Power Electronics or Noise. And by the way, he makes Noise as well.. and some damn good Noise it is. So stay tuned…
This is a physical release reviewed. One of three that were the very generous contributions from a very thoughtful and talented Muslim man. TRUE Muslim indeed, but also awake and human enough to express his rage at the deterioration of a society that continues to crumble beneath very stylishly [or not] dressed feet . Next, I will review Talib’s newest perversion of the perversion known as pop music, “KAWAII. SUMMER. CONFUSION. FUCK.”
It’s killer.
