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runner -> RE: Death of Lebanese Diva Sabah (Dec. 2 2014 13:52:22)
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Bill, thanks for posting the news of the death of Sabah. She was certainly a vibrant, engaging singer, judging by the YouTube videos I watched to familiarize myself with her art. I have no long background with Arabic music, other than listening with fascination to Radio Cairo and Oum Kalthoum on shortwave many score years ago. The mysterious ebb and flow of the shortwave transmission, as it responded to the vagaries of the ether, added to the sense of mystery and exoticism.
But by a series of circumstances, I have recently become engaged by the equally intriguing singing of the Mauritanian singer Garmi Mint Abba, whose art I referenced a short while ago. Further research shows Garmi to be the daughter of recently deceased Dimi Mint Abba, herself a legend of Arabic African (specifically Mauritanian) song. Both Dimi and now Garmi sing a very different sort of music from the urban sophistication of people like Sabah--theirs is a more extended and almost trancelike hypnotic flow of melody, seasoned with repeated vocalizations, and accompanied by a dronelike ensemble of traditional and modern instruments. I again recommend both Garmi and Dimi Mint Abba to those of adventurous musical taste. Where would we be without YouTube?
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