Nostalgique Egypte

This is a charming glimpse into a vanished era of Egyptian music. The 30 years following the Cairo Conference of 1932, which focused attention on Arab music as a coherent tradition, are still considered to be a golden age. It certainly helped that new, heavily orchestrated songs were carried around the Middle East by the emerging film industry, making singers like Oum Kalthoum household names from Muscat to Marrakech. This music is an exotic blend of Western and Oriental styles: the solo clarinet run in the opening bars of Farid El Atrache's ‘Wayak’ sounds like George Gershwin writing from the banks of the Nile.

What makes this evocatively presented compilation so irresistible is the intelligent choice of performances. Obvious superstars like Abdel Halim Hafez are rightly included but so are the often-overlooked Asmahan and some excellent and rarely heard instrumental recordings from the late 1920s. The decision to feature Mohamed Abdelwahab – best known as a composer – playing an oud taqsim (Arab lute improvisation) is testament to the thought and imagination that went into this selection.