Search - Zafa :: Zafa Funky Grooves of Yemen

The Story of the Yemenite Woman

PhoenixTree | Seattle | 06/09/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It is very rare; especially in the states and Europe, to find good Yemenite singing/music that reflects the commingling of culture with the modern age. Unfortunatley all the Yemenite singers out there are old men who's voices are tainted with the constant use of Qat and are essentially singers of the mawwal experience; meaning they perform at weddings and parties. Unfortunatley, in the actual land of Yemen women are not permitted to sing publicly, so it is near impossible to hear the female voice of Yemen. That is; with the exception of all the Yemenite women living in Israel. In the nineteen seventies the Arab Jews of Israel (those Jews having been descended from Arab Jewish immigrants migrating to Israel from all over the Arab world) resurfaced with beautiful Arabic music to somewhat define their place in Israeli society, since they were encouraged (and sometimes coerced) to suppress their Arab heritage in preference to the resounding echo of European influence in the region. Thanks to this resurgence it is now possible to listen to a clearer picture of Yemenite music, and Zafa is but one example. I was happy to hear a Yemenite woman sing the old songs of Yemen; virtually all the songs are in the Yemenite dialect of Arabic (which, for me, makes it harder to understand) except for the first track, Tariki (my road), which is in modern standard Arabic-dialect, and Wanabee, which is in Arabic and Hebrew. Unfortunatley the singer's Arabic is not very good, and because of this almost all the lyrics (except for the first song) are nearly impossible to understand. I liked this cd more for personal reasons, i am an Arab-American of Yemenite descent and i've longed to get a more contemporary, celebratory hold of proper Yemenite music, and the only way is for me to order online. Zafa is quite rare, but so are the other Yemenite musicians out there (which i have also ordered.) p.s. i've said that women were forbidden to sing publicly in Yemen, but that's actually changing, there is a beautiful Yemeni Arab singer named Nageeba who sings Yemenite folk songs beautifully to the accompany of traditional instruments, unfortunatly she is not available in the states)"