Maghreb II (2 CD Set)

By Israeli Andalusian Orchestra

This double CD is the direct musical continuation of the Israeli Andalusian Orchestra's earlier disk, Maghreb I. On the first of the two CDs which make up Maghreb II is a selection of Andalusian Arab classical music. This repertoire is characterized by long pieces of exceptional musical richness and complexity, accompanied by equally complex poetic texts. Each piece has its own impressive overture, the tushya.

This CD consists of extracts from longer pieces, called noubat. Noubat are classical Andalusian works which developed in 10th-12th century Muslim Spain. Each nouba has five parts, each of which lasts for an hour or more. Originally, there were 24 noubat, each based on a different melodic form and designed to be played at a different hour of the day. Only ten of these original noubat survived the expulsion of the Jews and Arabs from Spain and in the 19th century, a new nouba was composed called Istihlal. Traditional noubat texts were concerned with love, friendship, nature, heroism, beauty and other topics which dominated the lives of the upper classes in mediaeval Muslim Spain.

The second CD focuses on the more popular aspects of the Maghrebi repertoire. The music on this CD was composed for a variety of family and community events, and listeners familiar with this type of music will recognize many of the pieces.

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