Tracing the Roots of Popular Song

Dave Soldier – Zajal (2019)

In 2019, composer and multi-instrumentalist Dave Soldier released “Zajal,” a fascinating album that presented archaic verses and enlisted top-notch instrumentalists and vocalists from a myriad of genres, including flamenco, Arabic, klezmer, Iranian, Greek, and jazz. Pedro Cortés, a key player in Gypsy flamenco music in North America, was responsible for its production.

As a composer, Soldier explores the origin of popular song and pinpoints its emergence to a millennium ago when the cultures of Muslims, Jews, and Christians converged in southern Spain. Zajal and muwashaha are the lyrics that have managed to survive. This album selects time-honored lyrics from the Golden Ages of Hebrew and Arabic poetry, which were composed in a trilingual dialect that encompasses Arabic, Hebrew, and Romance (the antecedent to Spanish). It arranges them for contemporary Andalusian music, which has been infused with jazz, rock, and New York salsa.

The lyrics, which date back to medieval times and are written in Hebrew, Arabic, and Spanish from Andalusia (southern Spain) and its neighboring regions between 900-1400 AD, are considered the “Golden Age of Hebrew Poetry” and “Golden Age of Arabic Poetry”.

Musicians: Dave Soldier on guitar, keyboards; Ana Nimouz, Triana Bautista, David Castellaño, Barbara Martínez, Ismael Fernández on vocals and palmas; Maurice Chedid on oud, vocals; Chris Washburne, Dan Blacksberg on trombones; Philip Payton, Rebecca Cherry (solos) on violins; Alan Kushan on santur; Lefteris Bournias on clarinet; Mahmoud Hamadani, recitation; Ratzo Harris on bass; José Moreno, hand percussion, trap set, vocals; Robby Ameen on timbales; Sonia Olla on palmas and jaleo; Neli Tirado on palmas.

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Author: Angel Romero

Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.