Simon Shaheen at Cornell

On Sunday, Simon Shaheen was at Cornell not as a sideman but as a bandleader, with his ensemble Qantara.  Palestinian-born Shaheen has lived in New York since 1980, and has been an ambassador for Arabic music ever since.  One thing I learned at the concert is that Arabic 'oud styles are the basis of Spanish flamenco, as demonstrated in "Al-Qantara:"

(That brings to mind Eric Random's Ishmael album, featured here on July 20.)  The other thing I learned at the concert is what a versatile instrument the tambourine is.  One of the two percussionists, Michel Merhej, played only the riqq (tambourine), but that single instrument can be made to sound like a whole drum kit (minus the bass drum).  Holding the riqq with both hands, he taps the fingers of each hand in different places on the instrument's head to produce a whole range of percussive sounds.  The left-hand motion is all in the fingers, but the right-hand motion has a lot of wrist action as well.  Even so, you must have to have strong fingers to make the beats heard over everyone else!  Then there are the jingles (cymbals): they only sound when he wants them to.  He could be tapping away on the tambourine head without the jingles making a sound, or he could decide to let them ring along with the beats.  He would sometimes shake the tambourine to emphasize the jingles, or ring them with his thumbs, or lift the tambourine up in a circular motion to make them ring non-percussively.  Can you tell I was fascinated?  My previous notions of tambourine playing (i.e. that it's what a band's singer does during the songs that another band member sings) were completely invalidated.  After the show, Merhej wrapped up his two riqqs, put them in a Louis Vuitton messenger bag, and carried them away.  Now that's a portable instrument!  (Click here for a Quicktime video demonstration of the riqq by Vince Delgado.)

To give credit where it's due, I will note the other members of Qantara: Bassam Saba, flute and nay (Arabic flute); Brad Shepik, guitar; Najib Shaheen, 'oud; Thomas Bramerie, double bass; and Matt Kilmer, percussion.  Thanks for a great show, gentlemen!

Finally, since embedding a YouTube video takes practically no effort on my part, here is a clip of Simon Shaheen and Michel Merhej taken at a 2004 performance at McDaniel College in my onetime home town of Westminster, Maryland: