A case of the Palestinian blues

September 4, 2021 1:25 PM

Recording under quarantine, a musical trio gives a classic blues song an Arabic twist, exploring new depths for Black-Palestinian solidarity. [+972 Magazine] For Kareem Samara, a British-Palestinian multi-instrumentalist, composer, and sound artist, it was naseeb — meant to be. One day in 2020, American-Palestinian filmmaker and music producer Sama’an Ashrawi messaged asking him to play “Baby, Please Don’t Go,” an American blues standard, on the oud. Ashrawi was curious what the blues would sound like in the quarter tones of the Middle Eastern instrument. Minutes later, Samara sent him a recording of the tune. “It’s a song I’ve always loved,” says Samara. “That song is in my bones.”

The essay includes a curated Spotify playlist to enjoy while you read.

posted by Ahmad Khani (8 comments total)

For comparison, here's Muddy Waters in 1953.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 1:52 PM on September 4, 2021

Saving for later reading and listening. Thank you so much.
posted by Sheydem-tants at 2:28 PM on September 4, 2021

Ashrawi was curious what the blues would sound like in the quarter tones of the Middle Eastern instrument.

This is a simple pentatonic run, but like most blues all the flavor comes from the pitch bends, slides and vibrato. If you listen to the Muddy Waters version above or the uptempo ACDC version all of those microtonal accents are present.

I know this riff well and playing it in E just now, it's impossible to play without bending a quarter-tone on the A and G. It doesn't sound right without it. Playing it on an oud makes perfect sense.
posted by adept256 at 3:01 PM on September 4, 2021 [1 favorite]

I've always loved this version.
posted by evilDoug at 3:48 PM on September 4, 2021

And from 1935

and (cough) the version from Archer
posted by mbo at 4:22 AM on September 5, 2021

Works for me. :)
posted by Pouteria at 6:02 AM on September 5, 2021

This is great! Thanks for posting.

And yeah, like adept256 says, giving the blues a whack on an instrument built for quarter-tones makes total sense.
posted by soundguy99 at 6:35 AM on September 5, 2021

omg this collaboration is amazing. I love that they decide to ground their version in Third Ward (Houston TX)... and I didn't know about George Floyd's connection to that neighborhood.
posted by spamandkimchi at 9:50 AM on September 5, 2021