Iīm not certain
this constellation has been mentioned here before, but if not it
deserves to. Think of One is a Belgian outfit who took a trip to
Marrakech in the late nineties and never came back, musically at
least. They got introduced to the spectacularly wild female vocal trio
Bīnet Houaryet, a Gnawa named Abdel Kebir Esager, and a handful of
other instrumentalists and have managed to produce three wonderful CDs
that a large proportion of this listīs members just have to hear.
Called _Marrakech Emballages Ensemble_ 1, 2 and 3, respectively, the
first is full-throttle, the second dampens the mood just a smidgen,
and the latest adds Magrehbinian celebrity violinist Mustafa Bourgogne
and a tuba to give it even more bottom. Lots of Berber song, Flemish
dialect, a bit of French, Arabic melisma, plenty of instrumentals and
an almost seamless result. North American distribution? No idea. But
the first two CDs were released on De Beek and the latest album is on
Zonk in Belgium and distributed in Europe by Lowlands. Visit
<http://www.thinkofone.be/> and try to figger out their website.
S
--
Stephen Fruitman
Dept of Historical Studies
Umea University
SE-901 87 Umea Sweden