by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

“It’s Arabic music,” says Montrealer Sam Shalabi, “but slightly twisted.” He’s referring to the roughly hour-long composition he and his collaborators in Cush (not to be confused with his Land of Kush orchestra from a couple of years back) will be performing at this year’s Festival du Monde Arabe de Montréal, at Théâtre la Chapelle on Saturday, Nov. 5, 8 p.m., $15.

“It’s sort of an odd piece,” says Shalabi, an avant-garde wizard on both electric guitar and its forerunner the oud, the venerable Arabic lute (he’ll be deploying both instruments on Saturday night). “There are parts of it that are strange, and open too. There are parts that are closer almost to structured improv than to Arabic music, and then there are parts that are very traditional.”

The first curveball lies in the very title of the piece, “The Eye of Fatima Part 3.” While it might suggest to most the third chapter in a sprawling exploration of windswept Islamic mysticism, fans of the snarky Californian band Camper Van Beethoven are probably furrowing their brows and going, “Hey, wait a sec…”

The first two parts of “The Eye of Fatima” appeared on the 1988 album Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart, arguably the band’s finest moment in its equally sublime and silly patchwork of punk, folk, hippie foolishness and world sounds from the Balkans and beyond. “I was a big fan of the group, and also I liked this idea of doing Arabic music that has as much of a connection to rock, or psychedelic music, punk, improv or whatever, in the sort of way they were doing. It was rock, but you could definitely hear a whiff of something Middle Eastern. I thought it might be neat to make a reference to that.”

Joining Shalabi in this excursion are violinist Jessica Moss (violin being essential to any such Camper Van-tasy), singer Elizabeth Anka Vajagic, Thierry Amar on stand-up bass, Will Eizlini on tablas and Scot Gilmore handling cymbalon, frame drum and saz, a Turkish lute. There’s also Sara Febbraro filling out the rhythm section in a somewhat unconventional manner—tap dancing.

Orient express

Of course, the performance by Shalabi and co. is but one of many fascinating concerts lined up at the festival’s sixth edition, running until Nov. 13. And in keeping with Shalabi’s “slightly twisted” approach, there are detours and unexpected collisions galore.

Granted, relatively pure Arabic sounds abound. There’s the classic oud stylings of Tunisian Yousra Dhahbi’s “Rhapsody for Lute” show at the Gésu on Sunday, Nov. 6, 8 p.m., $20. There’s the racy chaabi action of the stately “Lioness of Atlas,” Morocco’s Najat Atabou, and her orchestra at le Medley on Saturday, Nov. 5, 8 p.m., $35. And there’s the very au courant Rock ’n’ Raï blowout with Raina Raï and Shebba Zahouania at Théâtre Corona on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 8 p.m., $35.

But it seems the fest’s programmers have gone out of their way to draw connections to other cultures, religions and musical traditions. Shalabi’s musical matchmaking is echoed in the Alchimie concert (Salle Pierre-Mercure, Wed., Nov. 9, 8 p.m., $35–$45), which sees Catherine Potter’s Indian bansuri flute interwoven with the virtuoso oud playing of Palestine’s celebrated Simon Shaheen, or in the duelling lutes of “Les Orientales,” in which Dhahbi and China’s Liu Fang deftly pluck their way to common ground (Salle Pierre-Mercure, Tues., Nov. 8, 8 p.m., $35).

Going further still, the festival explores shows that aren’t overtly Arabic in any way, yet owe a debt of inspiration to one degree or another—Persian music from Iran, Qawwali singing from Pakistan, Spanish flamenco, Touareg rites from deep in the Sahara, even Japanese classical music.

Notable concerts in this category include the brashly colourful and mesmerizing Danse du Serpent, care of India’s Dhoad Gypsies of Rajasthan (Théâtre Corona, Thurs., Nov. 10, 8 p.m., $35), and the Migrations concert by Montreal’s Lousnak and her ensemble (Place des Arts tonight, Thurs., Nov. 3, 8 p.m., $27).

Multi-faceted artist Lousnak has been giving voice, on Montreal stages and on CD, to the lingering wound of the Armenian genocide in Turkey for four years now. A grim convergence of anniversaries this year—the 90th of the Armenian genocide, the 60th of the liberation of the Nazi death camps and the 15th of the slaughter at Srbrenica—lends an exceptional gravity to her outpouring of grief—and hope.

For more info, go to wwwfestivalarabe.com

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