SAPHO

DIGITAL SHEIKHA

  1/  Sois Plus Radical                          (Sapho)                       5.31
  2/  Je t'avoue                                 (Sapho)                       4.33
  3/  Laouah                                     (Traditional)                 3.02
  4/  Sahla 1+2                                  (Sapho,Jabbar)                5.05
  5/  Petit Demon                                (Sapho)                       5.01
  6/  Ya Habib                                   (Traditional,Sapho,Jabbar)    3.21
  7/  Ce Spectacle                               (Sapho,Jabbar)                4.46
  8/  Dabayji                                    (Traditional)                 5.34
  9/  Endi Ou Hida                               (Traditional,Sapho,Jabbar)    5.01
  10/ Shalini                                    (Traditional,Sapho,Jabbar)    3.59
  11/ Titiha                                     (Traditional)                 4.23
  12/ Amventy                                    (Traditional)                 2.27

          Recorded at Bouaza, Casablanca with Kador and at Secret Laboratory,
            Basel with Fido K.           
          Additional recordings on tracks 1,3,5,8 at Greenpoint, Brooklyn with Rob
            Musso         
          Produced and mixed by Fido K. & Pat Jabbar.
          Tracks 1,3,5,8 produced and mixed by Bill Laswell
          Track 2 produced and mixed by Bombax & Pat Jabbar
          Mastered by Glenn Miller, Greenwood, CH

Sapho: vocals, keyboards; Bill Laswell (1,3,5,8): bass, loops, effects; Zahera & Hallilifa: vocals, bendir, tarija; Cheb Qchatar: guitar, bouzouki; Jalal Hamdaoui: keyboards, darbukka; Nouffel H.: oud; Aziz Heditan: violin; Fido K.: programming; Bombax (2,5): programming; Pat Jabbar: programming, keyboards.

          1998 - Barbarity (Switzerland), BARBARITY 008 (CD)

REVIEWS :

"What exactly is a Sheikha? In Morocco or Algeria, it's a kind of "woman of ill-repute" or outcast who sings at weddings and feasts, with heavy make up, gold teeth, who drinks a lot and smokes dope. They shake their hair to the beat, move their sensual bellies to please women and men; sing about love and other realistic themes from the daily life. At feasts, they are well accepted and admired for their freedom and independence acquired in an islamic country; in their private lives however they seem to suffer a certain disgrace from societies attitude toward them, which forces them to live often together and hidden, rejected by their families and relatives.

With "Digital Sheikha" Sapho gets closer to her Moroccan roots and background, where Bill Laswell introduces his subtle basslines, intercultural fusion understanding and imaginative mixing on four deep tracks!" -- (Barraka Promotional Data).

And Sapho is just that, exciting, devout, and brings out the essence of the Islamic sounds on this release. With an electro-disco beat, and the very much so Moroccan influencs, Sapho brings out an intensely indigenous blend of fast paced tempos, vocals, themes and melodies of exotic middle eastern based compositions. One can only wonder if Sapho might be strongly considered to be one of those more radical subversive's in her native lands? Does this release actually get air-play there?? It doesn't seem that a country as strongly set in the Islamic Ways would want a female singing her songs from a cd titled: Digital Whore! Sapho must be a pretty gutsy gal to be taking ancient Islamic traditions, singing and infusing them into modern-day electronic music. Excellent release for those of you who enjoy the more traditional yet modern "digital" sounds stemming from Islam. Sapho's voice is very good, quite diverse, and ranges from near operatic to traditional Islamic in terms of quality. There are a great deal of diverse sounds on this release that include traditional middle eastern cries, drums, wavy calls to the religious ones, clicks, chants, bass, electronic injections, strings, winds and many more. The musicians, their sounds and instruments involved in this release, include the following fine artists: [referenced above - Dave]

Kim Alexander (courtesy of the Last Sigh website)