fusion never sounded this sweet. or if it did, this track has made me forget.
this is cuban lounge in all its decadence. except for one very striking thing: you're never sure if it's from cuba or lebanon.
hanine's opening arabic invocation starts us off under tall date palms and into a centuries-old mosque, the sun beating down and the sweat dripping into our eyes. but a moment's pause and a tap-tap later, we've been led through a curtain and find ourselves late at night inside an old-school havana dance hall.
the musicians play without a care in the world. slow, sultry... distinctly cuban. the tempo suddenly lights a shade higher as the instruments converse like old neighbours. and then as if recalling a dream, hanine re-enters the room and starts to sing...
here everything seems effortless. hanine wails her undulating notes, the bongos play out in time, the lazy piano keys seem to just play themselves. the trumpet echoes hanine's calls and the room begins to widen and spin. a swirling sea of drunken sound.
and the pace quickens. the room is under a spell. it gets hot, the ceiling fans giving out high above the dance floor. we dance anyway, skirts flying, cigarillos dangling on the lips. everything is sticky, even the ice cubes in the drinks are on fire. and she keeps singing...
this is the last track on the album 10908 km (the distance between lebanon and havana), which ironically brings the two places together so tightly, you sometimes can't figure out where one ends and the other begins. even the classic arabic songs hanine sings replicate the heart-wrenching tristessa of a cuban salsa epic.
the arabo cuban improvisation is a warm, thick, sweet syrup. i could happily drown to this.
hanine y son cubano - arabo cuban improvisation:
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