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It’s like this: The Supremes had Holland-Dozier-Holland. Umm Kulthum had the Three Musketeers. Kulthum, the fiery Egyptian vocalist and Arab-music-world legend, relied on several songwriters during the first half of the 20th century to amass her legacy. But it was the Musketeers who wrote her most famous compositions.
The Arabesque Music Ensemble (formerly known as the Chicago Classical Oriental Ensemble) has taken up the torch of these previously anonymous composers on a new CD, The Music of the Three Musketeers (Xauen). This won’t be the first time Arabesque sheds light on the overlooked, either. As it did on its last outing, 2006’s The Songs of Sheikh Sayyed Darweesh (Xauen Music), Arabesque’s mission is to re-create period-authentic versions of vital Arabic music, akin to what Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra did for the early music of Duke Ellington.
To accomplish this feat, Arabesque enlisted the duties of 75-year-old Syrian singer Youssef Kassab to reprise Kulthum’s role, and Kassab was able to offer specific pointers on faithfully recapturing the sound. For example, because of the poor, mono medium on which Kulthum had to record—and because of the dominance of her celebrity—the Musketeers often brought the volume of the orchestra far down when Kulthum had lines to sing.
In the past, this Arab-American ensemble has brought out the sweeping lines and tricky rhythms of Arabic music in concert with astonishing ease; expect the same level of quality tonight.
