ABDEL HADI HALO AND THE EL GUSTO ORCHESTRA OF ALGIERS
Abdel Hadi Halo and the El Gusto Orchestra of Algiers
(Honest Jon’s)
By Erik Morse
The style and history of chaabi may be recognizable to few if any Westerners. But the examples performed on Abdel Hadi Halo and the El Gusto Orchestra of Algiers represent a unique and fascinating exchange between French, Spanish, and Algerian musical identity as well as the miscegenation of Jewish, Berber, and Arabic street culture in the heart of North Africa.
Translated from Arabic as “popular," chaabi – originating in the Casbah as part of a Moorish/Andalusian tradition that stretched back to the 15th century – reached its height during the 1950s. Primarily performed in bars and clubs where many French expats, American GIs, Sephardic Jews, and Algerian Muslims congregated and swapped native instruments and scales, the cosmopolitan interplay of chaabi marked a complex colonial parity comparable to American Delta blues. With Algeria’s independence from France in 1962, over 100,000 pied-noirs (mostly Jews and European colonials) fled north from their homes fearing reprisal from the Muslim sanctioned government. And with them went much of the cross-cultural popularity of chaabi.
Although it lost much of its mystique among younger musicians, the forefathers of chaabi played on. Some, like El Hajj Muhammad El Anka, referred to as the “father of chaabi,” continued to teach and spread the genre’s musical heritage throughout Algeria until his death in 1978.
Abdel Hadi Halo and the El Gusto Orchestra of Algiers - recorded live at the Conservatoire d’Algiers in 2006, by none other than Blur frontman Damon Albarn – is an attempt to rediscover this musical genealogy. As the soundtrack to the upcoming El Gusto, a documentary by Safinez Bousbia that seeks out former Arab and Jewish players, the album is a mellifluous visit to the archive and a foretaste of the musical possibilities to come. Composed of instruments as varied as oud, gambar, bender, accordion, violin, banjo, and piano, the orchestra wades through a baker’s dozen of styles, relying on vocals and percussion for anchor.
To the uninitiated, the lattices of strings and vocal drones are almost too blurred to be fleshed out by the ear but multiple listens provide a series of rich confabulations in sound. As a footnote, the album does not include any Jewish musicians as reportedly none were willing to travel back to Algeria for safety concerns. However, live concerts throughout Europe in fall 2007 did reunite many of the former Jewish and Muslim bandmates – rabbis and imams among them – and more live releases are surely on the horizon.
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Comments (2)
Great review, Erik--- thanks for the tip! This definitely sounds like something I need to check out. Ah, Honest Jon's--- such a great little label, isn't it?
--Todd
Posted by Todd Lavoie | May 13, 2008 08:05 AM
I live in Southwest France in Toulouse and there is a tremendous melange of styles among Arab, French, Spanish, Jewish, and gypsy music here. All kind of radiating outward from rai music as a base but lots of other elements as well. Really music in France is quite retro and behind the times but in this sense there is a lot to hear. Forget Johny Halliday, France finally has something good to offer.
Posted by francetales.com | May 14, 2008 12:51 PM