Search - Ali Hassan Kuban :: Real Nubian: Cairo Wedding Classics

In the 1940s, a black Egyptian named Ali Hassan Kuban left his home in the southern Nile Valley and moved to Cairo. After hearing an African American jazz band at a nightclub, he embarked on a lifelong mission to marry Western and native Egyptian musical genres, and eventually gained renown as the Godfather of Nubian Soul. On Real Nubian: Cairo Wedding Classics, Kuban delivers his diverse takes on a number of Cairo wedding songs. In Kuban's world, the accordion, bagpipe, harmonica, oud, congas, bongos, electric bass, and keyboards combine to create a musical oasis where East meets West in a pleasing and percussive hybrid. Kuban's hypnotic, nasal vocals, sung in the ancient Kenzilanguage, take us back to the days of the pyramids on "Gammal" and "Daiman." Special guest vocalist Salwa Abou Greisha adds her Sahara-tinged timbre to the entrancing "Malu Malu," and the Afro-Caribbean-sounding instrumental track "Kobana" features some funky James Brown-meets-Fela horn arrangements. There's even a Japanese pentatonic scale interwoven into the old traditional tune "Sanose," sung by Shanin Allam. The music of Ali Hassan Kuban brilliantly bridges Africa and the Americas. --Eugene Holley Jr.