Mini Musing #1 - When all was a cappella

Assalamu aleikum,

It seems that traditional folk music of many regions in the world - from what I've researched - was, for the most part, without musical accompaniment. Stories and poems were woven into song, and the subject matter of such ballads and epics was a far cry from the tasteless drivel being peddled today. From Irish sean nos ("Old way") singing, to haunting Norwegian and Hungarian folk songs, the vocal tradition of days gone by was a testament to the unadulterated lyrical power and cultural integrity of the people of those times.

And, dare I say it? It was probably quite halaal.

Nowadays, most folk songs are accompanied - even popular "anasheeds" tend to be tune-y and beat-y and shake your boot-y material. There are of course, a wealth of "good ones": what I like to post up on this blog from time. But one is sometimes wistful for the traditional folkloric fare of times before - ok, well at least my interest was piqued. Truthfully, I was really hoping to find some of the old Irish and English ballads I had heard as a child - a cappella, of course.

The result? Well, nowadays it seems that to get real traditional unaccompanied music, you need to hunt down some select CDs. Something I am not quite willing to do since I feel it is unnecessary and, to be true, foolish to waste time agonizing over something which will end up wasting time anyway. Plus, nasheeds are on a whole other plane (since they inspire one spiritually as well).

But a tiny part of me was still bent on wiling the hours away searching aimlessly for poignant Gaelic songs which resonate with the power of the voice alone...

as you can see, Shaitan really had a field day. As he pretty much made me waste my day.

However;

although I ended up being dissappointed on two levels (1. No Nasheed-like A Cappella songs -madrigals and barbershop quartets and holy chorals was not exactly what I was looking for - and 2. I really did waste time googling), I did come up with some things I liked. Plus I found something to post about. :)

So here's a short clip from something I found and quite liked. It does have female voices, so I would recommend brothers not listen (to be unequivocably halaal :) ). It's a Scottish ballad; if you like it, I'll give you more info. If you don't: request anasheed. Listen to a tiny clip from "Mhorag 'S Na Horo Gheallaidh" by Clannan

And here's a nice, full Scottish ballad; yes the sound quality is a little gratey at times, but listen to the lyrics, it's rather touching. mp3 of "Geordie" by Oak, Ash and Thorn

And the morals of the story are:
do not waste your day listening to the eggings-on of your procrastinator Nafs. Google included.

and let us all (especially myself) appreciate how terribly fortunate we are to have such a sonorous, lyrical scripture as the magnificent Holy Qur'an. Quite seriously, everything pales in comparison. So says one who has done some research...