Dead Can Dance - Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun (4AD - CAD 705)

Dead Can Dance has always been a striking group (Based on a duo) with a very unique voice of it's own. It's not that their chant like neoclassical songs are feeling cozy to the ears of regular bred religious/classical music appreciating societies of ours. It is mainly the way they have adjusted the very intimate relation between simple melodies, a gloomy atmosphere or background music and extremely good vocals.

Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun is their best album to date, but that is for my taste of course. After having an important change within the group, bringing such an album to life is amazing. "Anywhere Out Of The World" is the best track you can imagine to start the album. "Windfall" is effective, yet doesn't come close to the "In The Wake Of Adversity" where Brendan Perry really creates the miracles in vocals with a truly melodramatic music in the back.

Brendan Perry is dominant in terms of vocals on the A side of the album while Lisa Gerrard is on the B side. I don't know if this was specially designed, but it creates that feeling for sure. When Lisa Gerrard starts with a beautifully crafted gazel like piece in "Dawn Of The Iconoclast" it runs through your veins. Then comes the crown of the album "Cantara" which is gothic in essence and divine in performance with being the most uplifting of the album if I can use such a wording. It leaves you totally stunned.

Actually this album marks the change in DCD and their move forward as a result. The following two albums, The Serpent's Egg and Aion have put them on a very good position within the musical world and their style was clearly appreciated accordingly.

To buy this record:

@ Discogs
@ Music Stack
@ Ebay

Soliman Gamil - The Egyptian Music (Touch - TO: 7)

Soliman Gamil is an Egyptian musician. He can be named as one of the few experimentalists in the sense that he experimented with classical Egyptian music in order to create the sounds closest to Ancient Egyptian Music. He is also one of the many names that I had a chance to listen after starting to collect records on a broader sense.

The music has a true authentic feeling with obvious roots to Egypt and Middle East. Some of the instruments used are known to people interested in the region, but among these there were a number of them which I couldn't identify. With the aim being creating Ancient music, it sometimes gives the feeling of Om Kalsoum's long ballads under the catalogue name of Arabesque while some of the compositions are outright nothing like I've ever heard. The music itself is at first surprising, then soothing and later you get an overall affection.

One negative aspect of the record is that, if we can call it negative, the compositions are scattered around the record without any road to follow them. None of them leads you to the other. This creates an atmosphere of detachment from a music that can be categorized as new to a listener (Which I was actually). However, the compositions within themselves were beautifully constructed with giving enough breathing ground to each note and instrument and providing the full scent of the feeling that Gamil wanted to serve.

The collection of compositions were recorded in Cairo and released by the reputable Touch records. The record itself is quite recent (1987). They have also released some other works of Gamil later on. It is always a challenge in listening these new, far away, but yet familiar sounds. Frankly I am quite thrilled to offer you this challenge.