One of the most curious artifacts of my now oppressively gargantuan record collection is Village Criers by Ludus Pisnki, Smaïl Aïssa Kouider and Louis Bonaventure Hell, a dub reggae LP from 1990 that was made in Italy and features Arabic singing. I say “curious,” because who expects to walk into a record store in Massapequa Park, Long Island, NY, only to arrive at the cultural cross-section of the Caribbean, Western Europe and the Middle East? Not this guy at least.
Though perhaps existing somewhere within the same sphere, the Bedouin dub of Abu AMA does much more than pique one’s curiosity; it flips the very idea of exoticism on its head then mines the cracked skull for subjects in his unlicensed experiments. Traditional Turkish music, Syrian locked grooves, Indonesian field recordings, UK pub chatter — take your pick — the German gypsy mixes all of the above in a sorcerer’s cauldron of post-world-government gumbo.
Thus far in 2016, Abu AMA has released three albums with hexx9 records (Riad Noir, Sakral and Ishara into Abyss), as well as a 4-track mix EP called Lions & Christs. His latest project, Arabxo Ishara, arrived on August 22 via Bokeh Versions. Like all prior Bokeh cassettes, it’s sold out. However, you can still stream its darkest depths below (and download here).
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