BACHIR ATTAR

THE NEXT DREAM

  1/  Ceremonies Against the Night of the Devil  (Attar)                       4.20
  2/  Under the Shadow of Liberty                (Attar)                       5.52
  3/  The 1001 Nights                            (Attar)                       8.17
  4/  Here We Stay                               (Attar)                       6.32
  5/  Mixed Cultures                             (Attar)                       5.21
  6/  Full Moon In the Window                    (Attar)                       5.58
  7/  The Next Dream                             (Attar)                       4.48

          Recorded and mixed at Greenpoint Studio, Brooklyn, New York January 1992
          Engineer: Oz Fritz
          Mixed by Oz Fritz for High Velocity
          Produced by Bill Laswell
          Executive Producer: Kurt Renker
          Mastered by Howie Weinberg at Masterdisk
Bachir Attar: ghaita, gimbri, lira, percussion; Aiyb Dieng: chatan, congas, doff, bass drums, tom toms, metal percussion; Maceo Parker (2,3,5): alto saxophone, flute.

          1992 - CMP (Germany), CMP CD 57 (CD)

REVIEWS :

The solo album by a leader of The Master Musicians Of Joujouka offers splendid new ideas based on the trance inducing drums and ghaita, the double reed instrument that makes the music so distinctive. But instead of the massassemblage of the Joujouka troupe, Attar has opted for a small studio duo or trio that could explore and expand the Moroccan music. To that end he joined forces with producer Bill Laswell, Senegalese percussionist Aiyb Dieng andon three tracks, American horn player Maceo Parker, to make The Next Dream. In stark contrast to the large ensemble, this music is spare, almost sparse at times. Most tracks are simply (simply?) drums and ghaita, or drums and gimbri (a three-string lute), recorded relatively dry and in the face of the listener. Rather than the soothing pudding of new age "trance music" you get vital, stimulating, liberating power music. The trio pieces with Parker are exceptional. All three come from vastly different cultures, and yet each has found some common urban ground in cuts like "Mixed Cultures." Parker's sharp edged style is particularly fitting, adding a choppy edge to the drone of the reeds and the steady throb of the drums. But perhaps most revealing of all is the lengthy "1001 Nights." The spacey murmur of the metallic percussion against Attar's lute is seminal acoustic music that gives birth to a sense ofvastness through the most basic technology.

Cliff Furnald (courtesy of the Rootsworld website)

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Bachir Attar and The Master Musicians of Jajouka have attracted many Western admirers over the years, from William Burroughs and Ornette Coleman to Brian Jones, whose recording of the Moroccan troupe caused a stir in 1972. Here, bassist and producer Bill Laswell follows his recording of the whole troupe with a slimline effort embracing its leader, Bachir Attar, Senegalese percussionist Aiyb Dieng and funk sax master Maceo Parker. The result isstartling: a kind of spaced-out roots music, led by Attar, most memorably on ghaita —or woodwind— which he plays to droning and hypnotic effect. The opening track suggests bees swarming around thunderous drums; on Here We Stay, Attar switches to lute, while The 1001 Nights and Mixed Cultures pull Parker's lyrical alto sax into a musical whirlwind that should appeal to the open-eared everywhere.

Chris Stapleton (courtesy of the Center of High Diffusion website)