AHMED
NASHEED
Dhaalu Raa
Assai
Records 001
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No Wikipedia peeking—Where
are the Maldives and what do you know about them? You’ll find them in the
Indian Ocean southwest of Sri Lanka, about halfway between the Horn of Africa
and Sumatra—a string of 28 small islands upon which fewer than 400,000 people
live. It’s also a nation under Shar’ia law with a horrifying human rights
record. In all, an unlikely place to find a musician who counts among his
heroes The Beatles and Pink Floyd, and tackles women’s rights, environmental
stewardship, and government corruption. Ahmed Nasheed is so out of sync with
the powers that be that he gets no national airplay and has to peddle his music
in tourist shops and abroad.
Ahmed’s music is a pastiche of
Western rock, North African guitar, and variants of a regional style known as rairvaru, a hypnotic folk style found in
the Indian subcontinent. Two of the more interesting elements are the use of
female backup singers whose harmonies evoke Township music and of the log drums,
the latter of which are heartbeat-like in acoustic songs, but are pounded with
the fury of a Western drum kit when Ahmed plugs in for crunchy power chords.
The log drums reflect the album’s dual nature: quieter songs rooted in the East
and Western-influenced electric sets. Close listeners will detect musical
homage and lifted phrases. “Rasge,” an anti-corruption song, leaps to reworked
“Jumpin’ Jack Flash” riffs and “Sihuru” has passages similar to “You Keep Me
Hanging On.” If “Fihivalhu” and a few other tunes sound like they could have
come from The Beatles’ White album,
it’s because Ahmed openly admires (the late) George Harrison.
The rock songs sound the most
familiar to Western ears, but are perhaps too
familiar. I much preferred Ahmed’s tradition-based quieter material.
“Dhiyssnsge Huvafen,” for instance, is a tribute to Princess Diana, but sung in
a slow chant-like fashion in which Ahmed’s expressive elides structure mood
shifts. “Sheyvaa” is not a raga, but it’s evocative of music one might hear in
the south of India. Ahmed is a soulful singer and a skilled guitarist who tries
to merge East and West. He faces an enormous challenge—getting Western
audiences to tune into Muslim folk-rock, and getting Muslim Maldivians to open
their minds to ecumenical Western culture. –Rob Weir
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