Dudu Tassa & Jonny Greenwood - Jarak Qaribak

2023

In Jarak Qaribak, musicians Jonny Greenwood and Dudu Tassa collaborate with a series of Arabic singers to pay tribute to Middle Eastern songs of love.
The debut album by the duo may be one of the most memorable records of the year. It blends electronic rhythms, overdriven guitars and orchestral flourishes that are reminiscent of the big bands behind many Middle Eastern singers of the 20th century.

The album’s influences are not far off. Jarak Qaribak, which is Arabic for Your neighbour is your friend, reimagines songs by Egyptian singer Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Emirati singer Mehad Hamad, and Algerian singer Ahmed Waby, among others.

Even before their collaboration on Jarak Qaribak, Tassa and Greenwood had both shown a penchant for reinterpreting folk songs. English musician Greenwood – of Radiohead and The Smile fame – worked with Indian ensemble The Rajasthan Express and Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur on the 2015 album Junun. It was recorded in a studio in Rajasthan and featured only local musicians.

The Rajasthan Express comprises musicians from various backgrounds, including from Qawwali and Muslim Roma traditions, as well as Sufis from Southeast Asia. The album shied away from traditional western arrangements. The compositions, instead, took cues from North Indian ragas.

With Jarak Qaribak, Greenwood says that his approach to assembling the songs was to imagine what Kraftwerk – a pioneering electronic band – would have done if they’d been in Cairo in the 1970s.

https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/2023/06/14/jarak-qaribak-review-jonny-greenwood-and-dudu-tassa-deliver-soaring-debut/