(In search of) New Flemish Masters

Abdulrasol is a brave and intriguing musician. A multi-instrumentalist born in Iraq and now based in Belgium, he plays an impressive variety of instruments and styles but now concentrates on the qanun and adventurous and grandiose compositions. His aim here is to examine the similarities between Western and Arab musical traditions, and the current state of Flemish music when compared to the Flemish Masters of the 15th century. And he does so mixing European medieval and Arab influences with jazz and electronica, joined by a cast that includes organ and keys, lute, Arabic and Western vocals, and beats from DJ Grasshoppa. The result is a set that is sometimes impressive, sometimes something of an over-ambitious mess. Abdulrasol is a fine qanun player, and is at his best on ‘Ya Mariam’, where a medieval-sounding religious theme is reworked with his Middle Eastern zither matched against lute, keyboards and fine vocals from Helena Schoeters. The electronica passages are less successful. ‘Invitatorium’ works well enough because there is a sturdy rhythm track to hold the scratching, qanun and jazz sections together, but on ‘Hell’ or ‘Heaven’ the classy acoustic opening passages are interrupted by beats and electronic squeaks that add nothing and sound annoyingly out of place.