Some people would have flinched at such a proposition. I'll admit I thought about it, but is there any place more terrifying or liberating than the great unknown? Is there anything more exhilarating than letting go of the rails and abandoning everything to the experience of the moment?
I felt like an explorer, listening to something for which I truly had no comparisons or points of reference. I don't get to use crutches like "Beatlesesque," "bluesy," or "pop." I thought I'd have to try to grow new ears to process and understand this music. That proved to be one more faulty assumption on my part; a reminder I was still trying to hold on to the rail.
I didn't need new ears, I just had to open the ones I have and allow the power of the music to affect me on its own terms. When I did, I took a journey of my own. It doesn't matter that my journey through Home Again is different than the one its composer and creator took. To quote George Harrison – it really does all come back to The Beatles, doesn't it? – "If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there."
I didn't know where this music was taking me, but that doesn't matter. The important thing is that I went. Home Again should be experienced as an album rather than in pieces, but I was particularly moved by "Oak" and "Gray Morning." Your journey will be different than his and mine, but you really should go.
AlHaj was nominated for a Grammy in the World Music category for his When The Soul Is Settled: Music Of Iraq album.
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
great review. i've got to check this guy out (i've also got to purchase an oud, but that's another story)
and yes, as for the culture of that region, we americans don't know a whole lot about it...which is really kind of sad.
2 - Josh
Thanks, Mark. I certainly think you'd appreciate this album.
I'm not sure cultural ignorance is unique to America, but there are a lot of us who are victims of it. If every lesson were as interesting as Home Again, I'd be a far more willing student.
3 - El Bicho
I'll have to go to Amazon and sample a few tracks.
4 - Josh
El Bicho, I don't feel I have a good enough handle on your musical preferences to know whether or not you'll like this, but I know you're open enough that you might. You should definitely check out some clips and see what you think.
5 - Connie Phillips
Congrats! This article has been forwarded to the Advance.net websites and Boston.com.
6 - Josh
Thanks, Connie. That's great. I'll let my PoC know.