Bride of the Zar
Rango
30iPS HOR21948
Rango’s debut album Bride of the Zar features trance-inducing music from Sudanese mystic healing ceremonies, hip-quaking Nubian wedding melodies, ritualistic tales of an Arabian Dracula and songs recounting the mysterious disappearance of sardine rations in the Egyptian army – all performed on vintage 190-year-old rango xylophone with spirit manifesting gourd resonators, simsimiyya & tanbura lyres retrofitted with electric pickups, and shakers made from recycled aerosol cans.
Recorded in London and deep in Egypt’s bustling Cairo metropolis, the disc features guest appearances from members of El Tanbura and Bedouin Jerry Can Band.
Witty and life-affirming
Love, possession and pure joy CD of the week
Electrified sound as heard in Cairo’s Sudanese quarter
Music that penetrates the bones like an X-ray... an album of huge variety, energy and depth
An intent trance, with truculent songs of the Sudanese in Egyptian exile