Andalusian Love Song

The most striking thing about this release is that it celebrates the often-overlooked Sephardic Jewish tradition of music that has its roots in Andalucía during Muslim rule. While Israeli folk-roots superstar David Broza, who was brought up between Israel, Spain and the UK, is the star, the Andalusian Orchestra Ashkelon is perhaps the most intriguing element of the collaboration.

The orchestra is made up of a traditional Western classical ensemble, mainly comprising musicians from the former Soviet Union, and a traditional Eastern group of darbuka and tar (drums), qanun (zither), oud (lute) and ney (flute), featuring mainly Arab musicians who play by ear. They have spent the past two decades building a reputation that in the past few years has broadened under the directorship of Tom Cohen into a pan-Mediterranean reconciliation project.

While featuring several of Broza's Spanish-language hits, this exuberant live album also features the tonalities of the Arabic maqam (scales) in improvisations that bring the Middle Eastern instruments to the fore. Broza has performed regularly with the orchestra over the past five years and this is a taste of a far lusher orchestral sound than his fans might expect.