Faiz Ali Faiz, Duquende, Miguel Poveda & Chicuelo - Qawwali Flamenco [2CD] [2006]

The Qawwali-Flamenco project was born from a meeting between three exceptional singers: Faiz Ali Faiz and his Qawwali ensemble, the flamenco singers Miguel Poveda and Duquende accompanied from the guitarist Chicuelo.

This show was created in July 2003, in Barcelona, under artistic direction from ethnomusicologist Martina A. Catella. It highlights powerful and virtuoso voices, a musicality and creativity which remind us the greatest. Sufism and Flamenco have a lot in common: a musical system coming from the same area, a similar vocabulary, existential questions about human being and the Creator.

Adaptation faculties from musicians to their environment are fascinating. Unquestionably this special meeting, mixing tradition, open mindedness, virtuosity and creativity lets the audience full of emotion.

María la Tero, April 2006

After two years attaining maturity, the project ‘Qawwali flamenco’ is finally released in a special collector's edition: a deluxe pack including a book, two CDs and a DVD. The encounter between ‘qawwals’ and flamenco artists - between Faiz Ali Faiz and his men, and Duquende, Miguel Poveda and Chicuelo - is recorded for posterity in a deluxe pack combining sound, images, texts and photos. And all this material shows, once again, that flamenco is as universal as music itself.

This isn't the first attempt at bringing together the flamenco and Indian arts, two musical worlds with common ancestry. You have ‘Yerbagüena’ by Pepe Habichuela and The Bollywood Strings, released in 2001. Whilst the meeting point then was the instruments, with ‘Qawwali Flamenco’ the nexus is the voice. “The way you shape the sound is the same”, explains Duquende in the intriguing ‘making of’. This seventeen minute documentary reveals the very core of this musical project, allowing you to peek behind the scenes at the rehearsal venues and listen to the stars' declarations, their points of view on this joint venture.

The result is here in complete form, spanning two CDs, one with six and another with five pieces of three different types, all recorded live. There are exclusively flamenco tracks on which Chicuelo's guitar accompanies Duquende or Miguel Poveda on vocals por tangos, por malagueñas, por granaínas and por soleá. There are exclusively ‘qawwali’ tracks, with the Faiz Ali Faiz Qawwali Ensemble performing their sufi songs with voice, tabla and harmonium. And there are tracks - the most intriguing ones - where flamenco and ‘qawwali’ become one: ‘Allah hu’, ‘Tere Ishq Ne Nashaya/Con esa morena’ and ‘Tango al mar’. A repertoire that takes in seguiriyas, tientos, tangos, and which rounds off with the sum of the three vocalists in front of a single microphone, on a track that has come to be called ‘De querer a no querer’.

Tracklist:
CD 1:
1. Allah hu.
2. NO llegaste a quererme / Sal al guisao / La Tarrara
3. Presumes que eres la esencia
4. Rawance Bainan Painda
5. No pases por mi calle
6. Tere ishq ne nacaia/Con esa morena

CD 2:
1. Ya mustafa
2. No me hagas tantos planes
3. Tango al mar
4. Dam mast qalandar
5. De querer a no querer