For much of the last decade, improv impresario Sam Shalabi has been a pivotal player in a community of Montreal musicians that circle around the Alien8 and Constellation labels. Like Alexandre St-Onge, one of his frequent collaborators, Shalabi thrives on the citys history of intermingling bands. Apart from his solo work, he heads up the psych-driven Shalabi Effect and has contributed to Godspeed affiliates Molasses, as well as more tangential outings with Balai Mécanique, the free-jazz trio Po, and Gypt Gore.
Shalabis numerous musical pursuits are the mark of a musician who would rather not sit still. "I dont care so much for honing a style, he says, during a conversation in his kitchen. "Id rather be involved in something where I dont know so much what Im doing, and learn about it while Im doing it. Ive tried to never do the same thing. Usually when I finish an album I have no intention of following it or reproducing it. When I finished Osama [his 2003 album for Alien8], it took me a while to figure out that I wanted to work with singers.
Of course, given his deep history in improv, the vocalists Shalabi chose to collaborate with on his new album Eid (also on Alien8) werent about to sing your average songs. From Arabic pop singer Radwon Moumneh to Quebecois chanteuse Lhasa de Sela to local indie friends Elizabeth Anka Vajajick and Katie Moore, Shalabi approaches singers who are willing to behave like instruments in a larger production.
"These are all singers who are all willing to go outside of what they normally do, Shalabi admits. "For some of them, it was a stretch to do what they did on the album, and theyre looking for an opportunity to do that. And that ends up being the case with a lot of people I work with, that theyre looking to stretch their boundaries.
On Eid, those boundaries stretch far beyond Montreal to Shalabis long-time interest in Arabic music. The turn toward Middle Eastern song structure and instrumentation has always had a kinship with his passions for transcendental genres like free jazz, psych, and improv, but throughout the decade each Shalabi effort has introduced more and more overt references to his Egyptian roots. On Eid, those references overtake the album to deliver what is ostensibly Sam Shalabis most traditionally Arabic album to date.
The Middle Eastern influence is one he actively pursued this time, beginning with a seven-month journey back to Alexandria, the city of his birth. "I ended up writing most of the album there, he says, a fact that accounts for the albums heavy Arabic instrumentation. Apart from the singers, the most distinctive sounds of Eid come from the oud, a lute-like string instrument that forms the foundation of much Arabic music. "I was given an oud by my dad years ago, as a gift. I was very intrigued by it. I knew the sound and was familiar enough with certain things in Arabic music that I could get something out of it. I became obsessed with trying to figure out the instrument, which led to becoming really obsessed with Arabic music. The nuts and bolts of it, the culture surrounding it, everything.
At this point, Shalabi takes me into his studio and shows off the oud that formed much of the foundation for Eid. "This is an oud I had made for me by an Iraqi luthier. This is oud number four, which was built for me after another one was accidentally broken. The body is smaller than an Egyptian oud and the gourd is smaller, so the sound is different. The construction of the neck is also different, so the oriental, Arabic notes are in a slightly different place than on a different-sized oud.
Listening to Eid, the oud sounds like a natural progression of the improv Shalabi has always pursued, though the instrument provides a cultural texture to his work that the guitar hasnt delivered in the past. "The big difference between this and a guitar is that theres no fret, so you can play it like a regular guitar, but the notes slide a lot easier, creating that more draw-out Arabic sound to the instrument, he explains. "In some ways its like a sitar, because a lot of Arabic music is monophonic. Its droney. There arent a lot of chord changes in Arabic music. The oud is a primary instrument. This is the equivalent of the piano in Arabic music. Even a lot of the orchestral music, or any music Arabic music that uses Arabic scales, will be written on the oud. Singers and ouds have pushed Sam Shalabi not only into previously uncharted sonic territory, but also into a more intimate relationship with his past. Of course, hes not about to stick around for long. "All of the songs on this album, Im not going to do again, he says. "We launched the album a week ago, and I wrote a new 45-minute piece for that. Wherever he goes next, chances are he wont have been there before.
Of course, given his deep history in improv, the vocalists Shalabi chose to collaborate with on his new album Eid (also on Alien8) werent about to sing your average songs. From Arabic pop singer Radwon Moumneh to Quebecois chanteuse Lhasa de Sela to local indie friends Elizabeth Anka Vajajick and Katie Moore, Shalabi approaches singers who are willing to behave like instruments in a larger production.
"These are all singers who are all willing to go outside of what they normally do, Shalabi admits. "For some of them, it was a stretch to do what they did on the album, and theyre looking for an opportunity to do that. And that ends up being the case with a lot of people I work with, that theyre looking to stretch their boundaries.
On Eid, those boundaries stretch far beyond Montreal to Shalabis long-time interest in Arabic music. The turn toward Middle Eastern song structure and instrumentation has always had a kinship with his passions for transcendental genres like free jazz, psych, and improv, but throughout the decade each Shalabi effort has introduced more and more overt references to his Egyptian roots. On Eid, those references overtake the album to deliver what is ostensibly Sam Shalabis most traditionally Arabic album to date.
The Middle Eastern influence is one he actively pursued this time, beginning with a seven-month journey back to Alexandria, the city of his birth. "I ended up writing most of the album there, he says, a fact that accounts for the albums heavy Arabic instrumentation. Apart from the singers, the most distinctive sounds of Eid come from the oud, a lute-like string instrument that forms the foundation of much Arabic music. "I was given an oud by my dad years ago, as a gift. I was very intrigued by it. I knew the sound and was familiar enough with certain things in Arabic music that I could get something out of it. I became obsessed with trying to figure out the instrument, which led to becoming really obsessed with Arabic music. The nuts and bolts of it, the culture surrounding it, everything.
At this point, Shalabi takes me into his studio and shows off the oud that formed much of the foundation for Eid. "This is an oud I had made for me by an Iraqi luthier. This is oud number four, which was built for me after another one was accidentally broken. The body is smaller than an Egyptian oud and the gourd is smaller, so the sound is different. The construction of the neck is also different, so the oriental, Arabic notes are in a slightly different place than on a different-sized oud.
Listening to Eid, the oud sounds like a natural progression of the improv Shalabi has always pursued, though the instrument provides a cultural texture to his work that the guitar hasnt delivered in the past. "The big difference between this and a guitar is that theres no fret, so you can play it like a regular guitar, but the notes slide a lot easier, creating that more draw-out Arabic sound to the instrument, he explains. "In some ways its like a sitar, because a lot of Arabic music is monophonic. Its droney. There arent a lot of chord changes in Arabic music. The oud is a primary instrument. This is the equivalent of the piano in Arabic music. Even a lot of the orchestral music, or any music Arabic music that uses Arabic scales, will be written on the oud. Singers and ouds have pushed Sam Shalabi not only into previously uncharted sonic territory, but also into a more intimate relationship with his past. Of course, hes not about to stick around for long. "All of the songs on this album, Im not going to do again, he says. "We launched the album a week ago, and I wrote a new 45-minute piece for that. Wherever he goes next, chances are he wont have been there before.