The Wax Cylinder Recordings

The reign of the wax cylinder was very short – a mere 20 years around the turn of the last century, after which it became obsolete. It created a very particular kind of sound, with boxy acoustics and a thick carpet of crackle and hiss over everything. Could a wax-cylinder recording made in 2016, complete with the original sound, amount to anything more than a new kind of aural retro-chic? Actually, yes it could. Oxford Maqam have had the revolutionary idea of celebrating this groundbreaking technological invention for itself and this CD, made with the original technology, is their vindication. As they point out, wax cylinder recording shaped a whole musical aesthetic, which was then transferred to shellac, then vinyl, and to everything digital since. The music recorded here derives from the Nahdar era – when the Egyptian recording industry was taking shape against the backdrop of the national ‘awakening’ of Arab culture. The imagery of the Nahdar repertoire is saturated with spirituality and Arabic poetry, which the singers of Oxford Maqam (Tarik Beshir and Yara Salahiddeen) honour with powerfully atmospheric performances. Ahmad Al Salhi's violin weaves spirited melismas, while Martin Stokes – taking time off from his day job as professor of music at King's College, London – delivers real virtuosity on his Middle Eastern zither. Listening blind, you'd assume this was the real historical thing.