We use cookies on our website to provide you with the best experience. Most of these are essential and already present.
We do require your explicit consent to save your cart and browsing history between visits. Read about cookies we use here.

Your cart and preferences will not be saved if you leave the site.

Various

Choubi Choubi Folk And Pop Songs From Iraq Vol. 2

Label: Sublime Frequencies

Format: Vinyl LPx2

Genre: Folk

Out of stock

In 2005, Sublime Frequencies released Choubi Choubi: Folk and Pop Sounds from Iraq, and in the ensuing years it has become one of the most beloved and venerable titles in their catalog. Now almost 10 years later, this highly-anticipated second volume is finally here. Compiler and producer Mark Gergis has once again put forth a revelatory and poignant collection of Iraq's national folk music. What has happened to Iraq since the 2003 U.S. invasion and eventual occupation? Endless death, destruction and chaos, the complete take-down of a functional and sovereign secular government (regardless of your opinion on that government), puppet installations, contrived sectarian divisions, the wholesale looting of culture, rampant opportunism, and apparently no lessons learned -- all at the Iraqi people's expense. Naturally, music has continued to be produced in Iraq -- however, since 2003, musicians and artists have been consistently targeted and attacked by extremists, who have also bombed music shops and forced the closing of venues and music halls. The musical style most prominently focused on in this volume is the infamous Iraqi choubi, (pronounced choe-bee), with its distinct driving rhythm that feature fiddles, double-reed instruments, bass, keyboards, and oud over its signature beat. Choubi is Iraq's version of the regionally popular dabke, another celebratory Levantine folkloric style of rhythm and line dance. What really defines the Iraqi choubi sound are the crisp, rapid-fire machine-gun style percussive rhythms set atop the main beat. To the uninitiated, they sound almost electronic. Sometimes they are, but more often this is the work of the khishba -- a unique hand-drum of nomadic origin (aka the zanbour -- Arabic for wasp), which appears across the board in many styles of Iraqi music today, with extensions of it also heard in Syrian and Kuwaiti music. Among other styles featured in this volume are Iraq's legendary brand of mawal -- an ornamental vocal improvisation that sets the tone of a song, regardless of the style, and the outstanding Iraqi hecha, with its lumbering and determined rhythm pulsing beneath sad, antagonized vocals -- as heard on tracks A4 and B2. The tracks on this collection were produced during the Saddam era -- between the 1980s and early-2000s. An important goal within the Iraqi Baathist agenda was to promote its brand of secularism, which saw the establishment of cultural centers, and a fostering of the arts. Music was more encouraged, albeit more institutionalized than ever -- particularly folkloric and heritage music such as choubi. In an Iraqi army comprised of seven divisions, Saddam referred to singers as the eighth. Still, unless a rare level of stardom has been achieved, being a singer or musician isn't usually encouraged or viewed as a respectable lifestyle in much of the Arab world. It's often those deemed social outsiders that tend to find their niche in music -- particularly the "party music" heard on this collection. Among them are the Rom Gypsy Iraqis (known as Kawliya in Arabic). A number of female singers wear masks and adopt pseudonyms to protect their identities, as some are runaways or prostitutes making ends meet in the seedy nightclub scene. Occasionally, they end up with successful recording careers. Sajida Obeid, who has appeared on both volumes of Choubi Choubi! is an example of a talented Kawliya singer from the nightclub scene of the 1980s who rose to choubi infamy in Baghdad. Choubi inevitably invokes tawdry connotations within Iraqi society (cheap nightclubs for the lower classes, outcast gypsies and singing prostitutes), but in fact, many calibers of Iraqi singers and ensembles have recorded and performed the music. Unofficially, choubi can be called the national dance of Iraq. Though some may deny this claim (mostly due to its reputation and stigma), at most Iraqi weddings you'll find people from all walks flaunting their best choubi moves. Iraqi music has always had a way of transcending religious groups and ethnicity, collectively shared between Arabs, Kurds, Assyrians and myriad other Iraqi minorities. In 2013 sadly, this diversity and unity within Iraq is increasingly fragmented, but traditions continue throughout the internationally displaced diaspora. Limited edition 2LP set in a heavy gatefold jacket with beautiful artwork and liner notes by Mark Gergis.

Details

Cat. number: SF085LP

Year: 2013

More by Various

John Balance, Various

The Art, Music & Writings of Geoffrey Rushton Alias John Balance / New Wilderness Audiographics

Various

Juyungo - Afro-Indigenous Music From The North-Western Andes

Various

The Sounds of Sound Sculpture

Various

Deep Entries: Gay Electronic Excursions 1979-1985

Various

Quartz Mirliton Cassettes

Various

The Annual 2024 (Book)

Various

Radio Cologne Sound Das Studio für Elektronische Musik des WDR

Various

Giftnale (Book)

Various

ADN 40th Anniversary - 40 Years 40 Tracks

Various

Padre, fammi partire! (a tribute to Franco Battiato)

Various

Super Onda Chicana Vol. 1

Various

Tribal Organic: Deep Dive into European Percussions 79-90

Various

Even the Forest Hums: Ukrainian Sonic Archives 1971-1996

Various

Dunstkreis

Various

The Annual 2023 (Book)

Various

Valley Of The Sun - Field Guide To Inner Harmony

Various

Virtual Dreams II - Ambient Explorations In The House & Techno Age, Japan 1993-1999

Various

The Dominators (Book)

Various

Le Grand Ouest - 1978 - 1988

Various

Italian Library Vaults

Various

Puissance 13+2

Various

The Garden of Forking Paths

Various

Cut UP. Deconstructing William Burroughs

Various

Naši Hostia: Experimental Studio Bratislava Series, vol. 3

More from Sublime Frequencies

Madhuvanti Pal

Madhuvanti Pal - The Holy Mother (Plays The Rudra Veena)

Various

Hani Polyphonic Singing in Yunnan China

Erkin Koray

Meçhul: Singles & Rarities

Baligh Hamdi

Modal Instrumental Pop of 1970s Egypt

Various

The Photographs of Charles Duvelle: Disques Ocora

Adnan Othman

Bershukor: A Retrospective of Hits by a Malaysian Pop Yeh Yeh Le

Group Inerane

Guitars From Agadez Vol. 3 (Music Of Niger)

Various

Music for Shape-Shifters: Field Recordings from the Amazonian Lowlands, 1981-1985

Magical Nights – Saigon Surf, Twist & Soul (1964-1966)

Group Bombino

Guitars From Agadez Vol. 2

Dagar Gyil Ensemble of Lawra

Dagara - Gyil Music of Ghana's Upper West Region

Various, Yao

Canon Singing in China, Vietnam, Laos

Natik Awayez

Manbarani

Various

Sound Storing Machines

Deben Bhattacharya

Paris to Calcutta: Men and Music on the Desert Road

To Catch a Ghost: Field Recordings from Madagascar

Senyawa

Sujud

Baba Commandant And The Mandingo Band

Sira Ba Kele

Various

Ecstatic Music of the Jemaa El Fna

Various Artists

Singapore A-Go-Go

Group Inerane

Guitars From Agadez (Music Of Niger)

Various

Ishq Ke Maare: Sufi Songs from Sindh and Punjab, Pakistan

Become a member

Join us by becoming a Soundohm member. Members receive a 10% discount and Free Shipping Worldwide, periodic special promotions and free items.

Apply here

Shipping Faq Privacy Contact

Membership Store aside Gift vouchers

Soundohm is an international online mailorder that maintains a large inventory of several thousands of titles, specialized in Electronic/Avantgarde music and Sound Art. In our easy-to-navigate website it is possible to find the latest editions and the reissues, highly collectible original items, and in addition rare, out-of-print and sometime impossible-to-find artists’ records, multiples and limited gallery editions. The website is designed to offer cross references and additional information on each title, as well as sound clips to appreciate the music before buying it.

Soundohm

Various

Choubi Choubi Folk And Pop Songs From Iraq Vol. 2

More by Various

More from Sublime Frequencies

Become a member

Write us

Stay in touch

Soundohm

Various

Choubi Choubi Folk And Pop Songs From Iraq Vol. 2

Related products

More by Various

More from Sublime Frequencies

Become a member

Write us

Stay in touch