izel ‎- şak

this was introduced to me through my sister about 6-7 years ago and she said that it sounded familiar but couldn't say what. after i heard the chorus it was no doubt about it that the track was a replay of ofra haza's version of "im nin'alu". i didn't know izel ‎prior to this track and i haven't really heard more than this track but i love it.

turkish isn't a language i understand but i have listened to my share of turkish music during my teenage years, right around tarkan managed to score a hit with "şımarık". anatolian pop music isn any different from the syriac/assyrian music or the arabic habibi pop. the same musical scales, shuffles and grooves are used and of course the repetition of lyrics which i explained in of my prior entries.

the fact that someone takes a familiar melody and rewords it is quite a common thing in the middleeastern musical world. one of my favourite syriac songs, well actually it is technically mardalli, "masale mo khosh", is a rewording of aşık mahsuni şerif's "han sarhoş hancı sarhoş". anyhow "şak" is a really good twist on the '88 played in full mix of "im nin'alu" and is quite catchy, i really have nothing else to say about that the track at hand but i can go on and on about "im nin'alu".

it's been a fascination ever since i heard it the first time on mtv and then that was the '88 version. reason i say '88 version and the likes is because "im nin'alu" has it's origins prior to the first time haza cut the song on record in 1984. the song was from an album where haza recorded modern interpretations of 16th century poetry from rabbi shalom shabazi. the songs are sung in the yeminite dialect of hebrew and arabic and it's this thing that made think that she was actually an arabic singer from the beginning.

the second reason i became fascinated with the song was because of the famous use of the long acapella intro from the '84 version in the coldcut remix of eric b & rakim's "paid in full". the new interest of the song in 1987 when the coldcut remix became a hit sparked a re-release where the song was remixed. the traditional shuffle was replaced with drum machines & breaks and the song and melodies was altered to fit a more western 4/4 timesignature. the song was also altered lyrically where english lyrics was added but i have never managed to like them with respect to the original.

my third reason is because of this clip i found on youtube in '07/'08 where you see a twentyone year old ofra haza singing "im nin'alu". i believe this sparked my interest for "im nin'alu" more than ever as this was the time i heard the song in it's traditional form prior to hearing the version on "yeminite songs". the clip was so fascinating and such a kick for a musicnerd like me as it sparked so many links to places you would never know.



listen here (youtube)