Confessions of a Fanboy

Listening to Rahim Al Haj’s Friendship album this afternoon has made me reflect on my first exposure to his music. I didn’t think I knew anything about the oud when I received a copy of Home Again album to review at the end of last year. I was almost right. It turns out Al Haj contributed some oud work to one of my favorite songs on Tuatara’s East Of The Sun record, the Mark Eitzel-sung “A Spark in The Wind.”

That wasn’t a lot to go on yet I set out to listen to, understand, and review Home Again. It became pretty clear to me early on I was not going to be able to review the record in a traditional sense. The only way I could describe the album was to try explaining my listening experience in the hope that might shed some light on the record itself. I’d considered subtitling it “A Lone Dumbass’ Crash Course in Iraqi Music.”

Within days of publishing my review of Home Again, I interviewed him on the B-Sides Concept Album. After interviewing him, I’m kind of glad I didn’t. I’m barely if at all any wiser on the subject, but the interview served as a reminder. There are intellectual and technical aspects of music and it’s good to learn them and understand them, but music goes well beyond pick attacks, time signatures, keys, and structure. Music is about feeling and Al Haj’s music is filled with it.

I was impacted by being able to add his voice and his experience to the music. I didn’t understand the compositions in any better on a technical level, but I did on an emotional level. Al Haj has seen his country torn apart by wars, survived torture at the hands of a vile regime, and was forced to flee his homeland. That’s what you hear in the music whether you understand how he constructed it or not.

Filed under: Tags: Music of the Moment