Bachir Attar

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Bachir Attar claims leadership of the Master Musicians of Jajouka Master Musicians of Joujouka, and since 1990 has released records as The Master Musicians of Jajouka featuring Bachir Attar. Attar's father, Hadj Abdesalam Attar, may have led the The Master Musicians of Joujouka for their groundbreaking album produced by Brian Jones. He was leader of the rhiata players at the time they recorded with Joel Rubiner in the early 1970s. The group recorded under the shorter name "Master Musicians of Jajouka" on soundtracks for films including The Cell, appearances with the Rolling Stones on Steel Wheels, the second album of the group from 1974 produced by Rubiner, and the 1995 reissue of the group's first album, Brian Jones Presents The Pipes of Pan at Jajouka.

This reissue resulted in protests at Attar's concerts, as well as those of Philip Glass whose label Point Music released the reissue. A contemporary photo of Bachir Attar replaced the original painting by Mohamed Hamri which, featured Brian Jones and The Master Musicians of Joujouka. Bachir was four when the record was made and was only a dancing boy Sleavenotes were altered to remove all mention of Hamri's central role in promoting Joujouka/Jajouka and bringing Jones and Brion Gysin to the village. The harshest critisisms were that none of the actual musicians or decendaents were consulted or recieved any payments from the large advance paid to Bachir Attrar. Bachir Attar claims to carry on his father's Attar family traditions with a new generation of "master musicians" descended from members of his father's group. However as Jajouka is halal his taste, as reported, for vodka makes this claim dubious. The fact that he does not live in the village and that only two genuine musicians from the sacred village play with him make those claims rather unsustainable.

He has recorded a couple of solo albums in addition to his work with Master Musicians of Jajouka. Attar was a guest performer on Nicky Skopelitis's 1993 album, Ekstasis. Attar's manager and official photographer during his group's 1990s recording career was his wife, Cherie Nutting, whom he had married in 1989. The two parted in 1996, but she was managing him and his band again by the mid-2000s.

[edit] Solo Discography

  • The Next Dream (1992)
  • In New York (With Elliott Sharp, 1994)

[edit] Further reading

  • Nutting, Cherie, with Bowles, Paul. (2000). Yesterday's Perfume: An Intimate Memoir of Paul Bowles. Clarkson Potter, at p. 199. ISBN 0-609-60573-9.
  • Pareles, Jon (December 9, 1993). "Pop and Jazz in Review: Bachir Attar and Trilok Gurtru". The New York Times, p. C14.
  • Ranaldo, Lee (August 1996). "Into The Mystic". The Wire. Retrieved Jan. 14, 2007.

[edit] External links