Sir Richard Bishop
(Drag City)
It might not seem like such a good time to explore Arab culture these days, what with militant fundamentalists bearing down on nuclear Pakistan, Iraq in ruins, Iran resurgent and threatening, and most people afraid to board a plane with a Middle Easterner, let alone dig into the subtleties of traditional Arab guitar styles. Yet this is exactly what Sun City Girl - and acoustic guitarist extraordinaire - Richard Bishop has done in his ninth solo full-length, inspired particularly by the long-dead Omar Khorshid, whose career in popularizing (and adapting for guitar) the folk melodies of Egypt was cut short in 1981 by a tragic automobile accident. Indeed, this wonderful disc begins with "Taqasim for Omar", with "taqasim" being a highly disciplined form of modal variations on a theme, and "Omar" being the legendary guitar player.
Bishop is, as always, a very impressive guitar player, with a rounded, warm sound on the sustained notes and lightning speed on the quick ones. With "Solzenara", he stretched out the tones into an almost surf-like swagger; in "Kaddak El Mayass", a couple of songs later, his guitar jangles and gambols atop a bare-back rhythm of drums. Throughout Bishop plays here with a palpable sense of brio, as if enjoying the change of musical scenery and the company of fellow musicians. And that is another thing that makes Freak of Araby interesting: Bishop has assembled a full band - Moroccan chanters, bass and hand percussion - to fill out his sound. The percussion, particularly, builds tension, drive and exoticism into these songs, visions of camel caravans crossing the desert, veiled dancers, open markets. Closer "Blood-Stained Sands" is a particularly dense, particularly evocative piece of work, opening with a drawn out wind instrument's wail, very much like the call to prayer, and accelerating into drum-pounding, dizzily discordant forward motion. You don't hear the guitar at all during this piece - not sure exactly what Bishop's role is - but it is nonetheless an exhilarating, pulse-pounding ride all the way through.
Standout tracks: "Blood-Stained Sands," Taqasim for Omar", "Kaddak El Mayass." JENNIFER KELLY
