The Train to Basra: Salaam Plays Music from the Middle East of the Heart

A locomotive whistle sounds out across the desert, long and lonesome, and the engine gathers steam. Men ride on the roof of the carriage, their laughter spilling out into the night. Curled up on the luggage rack, a young boy on his first train trip alone is too excited to sleep, listening to all the voices and watching the faces, the stunning bride returning from a trip to gather her dowry, a striking and friendly family of African-Iraqis. He knows he’ll remember every moment of this journey from Baghdad to Basra. He did, and many years and miles away it became the bedtime story he told his daughter, and the inspiration for Salaam’s new album, Train to Basra and Other Stories (release: October 29, 2013).

“It’s my childhood,” explains Dena El Saffar, the daughter who grew up hearing this and similar tales and became the founder of Salaam with percussionist Tim Moore. “It’s the story my father would always tell me. It made me interested in Iraq,” El Saffar remembers.

His tales have become hers. Every track is a story she weaves, from the hopeful strains of “Awakening” and the grand sweep of “Kashaniya” to the personal connection that inspired “Iraqi-American Blues,” a track that builds on the innovative Iraqi-Blues fusion that emerged on their previous album.

“It came completely spontaneously,” El Saffar laughs. “Growing up in Chicago, my parents would take us to Blues clubs like the Checkerboard Lounge on the South Side. We were under 21, but somehow we were allowed in. We were thrilled to be there, taking in the music. My brother Amir was obsessed with it. My dad felt a connection to African-Americans, so this is me expressing how it fits together.” Her brother Amir ElSaffar is a frequent collaborator with Salaam and is also known for his solo work on jazz trumpet and santoor and as programmer for New York City’s Alwan for the Arts, which presents performing arts from around the Middle East.


Train to Basra and Other Stories is the album where Salaam really spreads its wings and takes flight, one that celebrates the band’s 20th anniversary—a remarkable achievement for any band—and how deeply they’ve assimilated Middle Eastern music to the point where it’s become second nature. On “Kashaniya,” an ode to an idealized Middle East, El Saffar, classically trained on viola and violin, brings in sweeping strings to power the rich melody.

Read more: http://www.rockpaperscissors.biz/index.cfm/fuseaction/current.press_release/project_id/738.cfm