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Music lovers will enjoy this thread tracking one prominent example of the Middle Eastern roots of early 1960s California “surf rock.”
I think the significance of this is how it tracks an alternate line of rock’n roll’s development in the US. Typically, the origin is tracked from New Orleans jazz of Louie Armstrong thru the Delta blues of Robert Johnson to BB King and then the cross-over to Elvis.
This line of development is significant because it tracks thru Chuck Berry to eastern US rock, eg Little Richard, Bill Haley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, and then via Elvis, to the UK where the Beatles, the Stones, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton caught the wave.
But inside the US, quite separate from the influence that British rock of the 1960s had, American rock’n roll was more influenced by what happened in California after the “surf rock” wave built to a tsunami through the Doors and on to the Dead, the Eagles, Steely Dan, etc
In other words, there are at least two tracks for the development of American rock. One came through West African roots via Blacks in New Orleans and the Mississippi Delta north to Memphis; the other came from Middle Eastern/North African roots via Hispanics in Los Angeles & Cali
One needs to credit the influence of Spanish guitar, which itself was influenced by older Arab-North African “guitar” (oud/lute). Without the latter, American rock’n roll was unlikely to develop via Jim Morrison the trend line that runs through Funk and Grunge, like Red Hot Chili
This Alabina song with The Gypsy Kings is the best example of The Middle Eastern/North African roots of California “surf rock,” which makes up half of rock’n roll
You can also hear it in Khaled’s most famous song, Aïcha which Outlandish covered to great effect here
Outlandish combined three musicians with 1) Moroccan 2) Punjabi and 3) Cuban connections
The true point of origin of rock’n roll is somewhere between Mali and Dakar in West Africa, and Granada and Seville on the Iberian peninsula. As people of this region know the Spanish guitar sound of California originally derives from the Arab “oud” and Malian “kora”
On Dick Dale’s passing, @QifaNabki points out the guitarist’s Lebanese ancestry. And he notes the derivation of this Cali “surf rock” sound in a 1963 performance with The Del Tones.
Compare this 1963 song by Dick Dale and the Del Tones with an earlier 1948 Arabic version by Maestro Clovis in Lebanon
After 1963 California rockers thought they had invented an entirely new “rock’n roll” sound but Dick Dale knew that it originated in what Spanish guitarists like Richie Valens and Santana owed to the music of the Middle East/Africa
