Arco Iris

Moroccan singer Amina Alaoui made a memorable recording of Arab-Andalus songs called Alcantara in the early days of Songlines – a TOTW in #2. On both that CD and this new album, it's the crystalline purity of her voice that is striking. Arco Iris is a contemporary take on the Arab-Andalus repertoire of Moorish Spain, making links to flamenco and fado, styles that are now rooted in the Iberian peninsular. So the 11th century Arabic lyrics of Al-Mu'tamid Ibn Abbad become a Sufi-style fado in ‘Fado Al-Mu'tamid’, accompanied by delicate mandolin masquerading as Portuguese guitar, and a flamenco love song in the gorgeous ‘Flor de Nieve’. Other texts set to music are by St Teresa of Avila (16th century) and Portuguese poet António de Sousa Freitas (20th century). The five accompanying musicians are outstanding, with the Arabic violin of Saïfallah Ben Abderrazak, the oud (lute) of Sofiane Negra and flamenco guitar of José Luis Montón often acting like soloists alongside Alaoui's gorgeous voice. The highpoint in this respect is ‘Las Morillas de Jaén, a dark and powerful flamenco track with fiery flashes of instrumental wizardry.

The music is exquisitely beautiful but, as is often the way with ECM CDs, there's more poetic meditation than fire. For light relief, read the liner notes (translated from French) which explain that it's ‘apoetic geography that entertains the dream of the impossible human horizons that transcend borders… open to the universe and the intelligence of being.’ Great music though.