:
'
.. .:.... . ' '
______________ : ________ : '
\ / .. .:. .. \ / : :
\ /_________ \ / . .. ... .. . :
.\ / /___ /\ \ / ______________ ___ _.
: \ / / \ / \ \/ / \ \ \ \ \
. ...:..\ / _______/ \/ \ ___/__ / / / / /
: /\ / / \ \/ \ / / / . sH!
' / \/ / / / \ / / . ... .:.... .. .
:/ _______/ / / / _______/__ ___ __
.\ / / / / / / / / / / /
\ / / / / / / / / / / / .
. \ /\______/ / / / / \___ / / :
\/ ____ \ / / / / / :
\ / \ /\____/\ / / : :
________\/ \ / \ / / : '
\ / \/ \ /\ / : . ..:.. .
\ / \/ \ /
\ / \ / . '
: \/ F A N G \ / : '
____ \ / . . .. .. .:.. .
\ / presents \ / .
. \/ \/ :
: .
..:.. ,
: Artist......: Land of Kush
: Album.......: Sand Enigma :
: Label.......: Constellation Records .. .:.. .
Genre.......: Avantgarde :
Catnr.......: CST146 .
' Source......: CD ,
; Rip.date....: 2021-06-27
Str.date....: 2019-11-08
Quality.....: 253kbps/44.1kHz/Joint Stereo . :..
.:. Url.........: http://landofkush.bandcamp.com '
' ,
________ ________
\ / \ /
\ / \ /
\ / # title time \ /
\/ \/
1. Aha 7:14
2. Domyat 1331 6:18
3. Safe Space 5:36
4. Broken Maqams 10:32
5. Sand Enigma 7:56
6. Ssssss 3:52
7. Recuerdo 6:26
8. Bone Mass I 1:32
9. Bone Mass II 1:26
10. 10 Bone Mass III 5:54
11. Ana 2:42
12. Trema 7:12
13. Dol 2:45
14. Tensor 6:56
______
\ / ________ Runtime 76:21
,\ /... . . .... .... \ / ' Size 149.21______
:\/ ', \ / , \ /
' '... ..\ /.. .. .....:. .. .... .. . ..\ /.
: Release Notes: \/ , \/ ,
' '
,: Renowned MontrΘal/Cairo-based composer Sam Shalabi returns with :,
: his exhilarating and utterly genre-bending big band Land Of :
:' Kush. The trenchantly-titled Sand Enigma is the orchestraÆs ':
,: long awaited fourth album û its first in six years, following :,
: 2013Æs The Big Mango, ShalabiÆs critically-acclaimed love letter :
:' to Cairo, written and recorded during the Arab Spring. While ':
,: the intervening years have obviously been devastating and :,
: disenchanting in so many ways, Sand Enigma bristles with defiant :
:' exuberance, restless creative energy, and electrifying ':
,: cross-cultural expression. The album is a wildly diverse and :,
: hugely compelling tour de force of modern composition that :
:' pulses with emotion and experimentation, blending avant-garde, ':
,: psychedelic, Middle Eastern, out-jazz, electronic and :,
: improv/free music tropes to stunning effect. Sand Enigma is peak :
:' Land Of Kush: the bandÆs most accomplished, acute and ':
,: accessible album to date (though donÆt expect æeasy listeningÆ :,
: from this boundary-pushing hydra-headed entity). :
:' ':
,: Premiered at a rapturously-received concert in spring 2018 at :,
: the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, Shalabi entered MontrΘalÆs :
:' Hotel2Tango studio later that year to record Sand Enigma with ':
,: producer/engineer Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Jerusalem In My Heart, :,
: Matana Roberts, Suuns, Big Brave, Sarah Davachi) and a cast of :
:' over twenty of MontrΘalÆs finest out-music players, many of ':
,: them veterans of Kush and of ShalabiÆs various other projects. :,
: This 75-minute work (spread across two slabs of vinyl in the :
:' deluxe 2x180gLP edition) brilliantly captures a band on fire, ':
,: flowing through composed set-pieces, improvisational turns, :,
: harmolodic gestural and textural interplay, bursts of fervent :
:' groove, and fearless, feral experimentation. As Alan Bishop ':
,: (Sun City Girls/Sublime Frequencies) raves: ôSam Shalabi has :,
: raised the bar for modern psychedelic music with the Land Of :
:' Kush orchestra, weaving a seamless montage of styles in a ':
,: transcendent way that is rarely, if ever, achieved.ö :,
: :
:' As with previous works, the music on Sand Enigma also shifts ':
,: between instrumentals and vocal-led pieces, with various singers :,
: contributing their own lyrics and taking the lead on different :
:' songs û including long-standing Kush members Elizabeth Anka ':
,: Vajagic, Katie Moore and Elizabeth Lima (also a virtuosic :,
: extended technique clarinetist), and the newly drafted :
:' Tokyo-to-MontrΘal ΘmigrΘ Maya Kuroki. And while the bounty of ':
,: heavy-hitting instrumental players are too numerous to call out :,
: here, Sand Enigma notably features two new international :
:' collaborators, and leading lights of CairoÆs burgeoning ':
,: avant-electronic scene: Nadah El Shazly (vocals) and Maurice :,
: Louca (keys/synths). Among other accolades, both were recently :
:' featured as avatars of the Egyptian ænew waveÆ in a cover story ':
,: in The Wire (along with Dwarfs Of East Agouza, the epiphanic :,
: trio of which Shalabi is a member) and both are perfect fits for :
:' ShalabiÆs compositional sensibility and the idiosyncratic ':
,: performative spaces he seeks to open up in his big band works. :,
: Shazly takes the vocal lead on three songs, including the :
:' simmeringly strange slow-burn of the superb album opener ôAhaö, ':
,: and the more traditionally-rooted (though suitably tweaked) :,
: maqam-based groove of ôTremaö û both highlights on an album that :
:' truly bursts forth with them, like relentless fireworks set off ':
,: from several corners of the world, converging over a MontrΘal :,
: twilight sky, inscribing a celebratory celestial score that :
:' innately resists every facile, orthodox or prevailing idea of ':
,: æfusionÆ music. Thanks for listening. :,
: :
:' ':
: '
'.. ..'
.. . :........... . . . . ............: . .
______________ ______________
\ / \ /
\ / Shout out to all our homies from: \ /
\ / \ /
\ / iPC BOSS HiT2000 1way UKi i8 RNS \ /
\ / RAGEMP3 MANDY DV8 pLAN9 BUTT \ /
\ / \ /
\/ ____ ____ \/
\ / F A N G \ /
\/ 2 0 2 1 \/