Sir Richard Bishop: The Freak of Araby

These five new guitar compositions of Sir Richard Bishop’s merge seamlessly with the North African and Middle-Eastern re-interpretations that make up half of this new record. The sources range from Lebanese musician Elias Rahbani’s lightfooted ‘Ka’an Azzaman’ to Egyptian singer Mohamed Abdel Wahab’s soft ode to devotion ‘Enta Omri’, made famous by legendary singer Oum Kalthoum. This isn’t all quick fire Wikipedia work, I have heard the singing of Oum Kalthoum, but that is hardly surprising considering her stature.

The sidetracks and biography back alleys I have been winding down to find this information are an adventure, (or at least a pale computerised imitation of adventure) in themselves, plucking names from the sparse liner notes yields a hazy first glance at the autonomous music history of the Arabic cultures from which Richard Bishop is drawing influence. The only name which returns little information is Rasheed Al-Qahira, who may well be the very Freak of Araby…

Unlike his phenomenal Drag City debut Polytheistic Fragments this album has a cohesive sound. Rooted in low volume bass and instantly iconic hand percussion Bishop’s electric guitar is allowed to take on rich, single note melody lines for the duration of a song. ‘Solenzara’, which is credited to D. Marfisi, C. Darbal and B. Bacar, reminded me that the reverbed guitar style is most commonly associated in the English speaking West with Spaghetti Western soundtracks and The Shadows. Just like Morricone’s best work I feel like I have heard the tune a thousand times before, without being able to attribute the feeling to any hard memory. It’s the kind of melody which sounds eternal, human and populist at once. It thrusts mysticism and earthly passions together in a very hummable tune. I can imagine it sped up for a dance and slowed down for a funeral, Bishop and his Freak of Araby ensemble chose to walk the middle ground between.

Most, if not all of The Freak of Araby achieves this high art. When you hear as fine a tune as the sprightly ‘Kaddak el Mayass’ it is not surprising to imagine that the soul of such a melody has survived down through the decades, perhaps the centuries. It is not the musician who is the sorcerer, it is the song. So when the Bishop penned ‘Essaouira’ follows it is testament to the mans compositional ability that it can hold its head high in such company. He certainly does the traditionals and re-interpreted tunes justice, so he hasn’t exactly set a low bar for himself. If this sequence occurred at a gathering or festival, perhaps on the first evening of the Aïd el-Kebir in the mountains beyond Fez, I can imagine it would slide in seamlessly. Likewise for the jaunty, time signature defying twirl of ‘Barbary’. 

He’s not just putting his guitar into some open tuning and running through some simple one string runs over a drone; he can truly play. His technique sounds flawless to me, precision and phrasing clearly matters to Al-Qahira. The trills and bends are precise and well scattered so as not to overwhelm the centrepiece melody and theme. He uses flicks and strums alone and in sequence to decorate, to place a full stop and to build tension. He also utilizes the guitars own capabilities rather than pretend it is an oud or a cumbus. If this sounds a little like guitar nerdery then I should explain that I am trying to demonstrate how rare it is that a guitarist from the US avant-underground (whatever the fuck that means) doesn’t just look to the East through a cloud of misconceptions but actually goes east and learns valuable things. The only comparison I can think of which resulted in similar success is Ross Daly’s departure from the United States for Crete in 1975 (video posted at the end of this review). I can imagine that Ben Chasny could achieve similar things (RTZ review here).  

Ahmed Sharif does a grand job on the bass, softly saturating the background with thick colour, never creating patterns so eye catching as to divert the attention away from the dance. Mohammed Bandari and Abdullah Basheem do the same with the percussion, creating a dancing skeleton for Bishop to decorate with flesh, blood and expression. They remain devoted to skilful simplicity. The rapid drum slaps and sparse repetitions of a three note bass riff keep the heart of ‘Sidi Mansour’ beating just above a coma in the midst of a woozy trip which stretches the composition out and finds a few ghosts in the spaces. Bishop makes use of a whole barrel of delay and reverb to stretch muted plucks and scrapes into a host of bewitching phantoms; it is perhaps his most liberal reworking on the record.

In other words, The Freak of Araby rocks hard, smells good and He and/or She deserves a place in your life. It makes me want to get travelling before the oil runs out…