Choubi Choubi: Folk & Pop Sounds from Iraq, Vol. 2

With its rapid fire, tinny beats this compilation wouldn’t be out of place sitting next to a Singeli or Electro Acholi record in your collection — just listen to Obeid Ensemble’s dizzying “Instrumental Choubi segment.” As futuristic and electronic as it sounds almost everything on here is acoustic:  these rhythms are created by the khishba hand-drum (also known as zanbour), used especially by Rom Gypsy Iraqis (known as Kawliya) in their choubi music, the Iraqi version of the dabke. Accompanied by fiddles, double reed instruments, bass, keyboards, oud, and the occasional synthesizer, the khishba is the sound of Iraqi weddings and parties, and although choubi is looked down upon by more conservative parts of society, it transcends religious and ethnic divisions and is loved as a national dance style. All of these tracks were recorded during Saddam Hussein’s rule, when being a musician was already complicated. Since the war it has become even more dangerous, and many of the music shops and clubs have closed down. But in the privacy of people’s homes, and across the growing Iraqi diaspora, the celebratory sounds of choubi continue to thrive.