Description
Middle Eastern Moods: 4:01 am
by Cameron Powers
Song Titles:
Epefte Vathya Siopi
Camsong
O Hypnos se Tilikse
CamRon1
La Rosa Enflorece
Sta Pervolia
Zaira
Nani Nani
To Psomi
CamRon2
Unborn
The painter paints, the sculptor sculpts, the writer writes, the musician plays and sings, the dancer dances… What is left? We have paintings, statues, books from centuries past… The musicians and dancers weave their magic and it vanishes…. until the advent of recording devices… So here it is: captured on Cameron’s recording device and offered on CD plates… threads of live song… flavors of Greek harmonies and Egyptian oud moods.
Contributors are too numerous to mention: musicians in Athens, Cairo, Fes, California and, yes, right here in Colorado, who have taught and inspired over the last 30 years…
The sun sets, a flurry of evening activities come and go…
As midnight passes the quiet deepens…
Somewhere, in a few living rooms, in a few taverns or restaurants or around the campfires in the forests… a few people stay… conversations dwindle…
The time for music is arriving… The musicians are slowly melting into their instruments, becoming one with their sounds…
It’s 4:01 a.m…
This view through this thousand-year-old arched doorway in the Alhambre in Granada in Spain frames the still lingering vapors from countless such moments…
Now under the warm afternoon sun the musicians are just finishing their breakfasts…
Epefte Vathya Siopi was the favorite Greek song of a dear departed friend who asked me to learn it especially for him to dance to…
Camsong is my random meanderings on oud with a piece of Daret el Ayam, a piece composed in Egypt for Um Kolthoum, thrown into the middle…
O Hypnos se Tilikse I learned in Athens in 1973. Composed by Mikos Theodorakis, it is a Greek lullaby: “Sleep wraps you in green leaves…”
CamRon1 features Ron’s amazing voice and my Egyptian style improvisation…
La Rosa Enflorece is a Sephardic melody from Spain… also known as “Los Bilbilicos”… I learned it in Berkeley, California, in 1971…
Sta Pervolia is a funky zembekiko I recorded in Athens in 1973 about making a deal with Death: “if I outdance, outsing and outdrink you, you have to give me one more day of life…”
Zaira and Nani Nani are Greek Tsiftitellia, or belly dance songs, adapted from the Tsitsanis versions…
To Psomi is a reverent piece composed by Mikos Theodorakis reminding us to share our bread with those less fortunate than us…
CamRon2 again features Ron’s low voice. My oud and vocal improvisations draw from a song by the Egyptian player, Farid al Atresh, called Ghali ya Buoy…
Unborn is my own poem sung by Kristina with my improvisatory oud accompaniment…
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