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Friday 22 September 2023

Yemenite Dynamite

Welcome to the second and final part of our catchily titled new series "Compilation Albums Of Middle Eastern Music Beginning With The Letter D Friday". 

Last week we brought you 'Dabke - Sounds Of The Syrian Houran'. This week it is the turn of 'Da'asa - the Haunting Sounds of Yemenite-Israeli Funk 1973-1984'. As the title hints at, 'Da'asa' features the music of Tel Aviv's Yemenite Jewish community - music which mashes up traditional Yemeni rhythm with the funky modern sounds of the 1970s. Very groovy it is too.  

Released in 2017 on Fortuna Records, the full album is only available on vinyl these days but you can download a sampler on Bandcamp. Neither of these tracks are on the sampler, but I sneakily have the whole album in mp3 format. I can't remember how I acquired it, but they say if you can remember 2017 you weren't really there.

"Shedemati" - The Amranim

"Eshmera Shabat" - Duo Tsafri

Further enquiries revealed that there is modern successor to the acts featured on the album. Bint El Funk are an eight piece from Jerusalem. This splendid video features a track from their 2020 album "The Great & Glorious Yemenite Funky Thing".

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