Offlines Project

The musical influences of Turkey, Israel, Iraq, Iran and many other places can be heard in this intelligent collaboration from Israeli musicians Guy Mintus (piano) and Yinon Muallem (percussion and oud). Arising from a casual coffee meeting under the Galata Tower in Istanbul, the ensuing project went on to many concerts and adventures around Europe, the US and the Middle East. Mintus and Muallem composed half the tracks on the album while the others were written by an interesting mix of people, including the 18th-century Turkish ruler Sultan Selim III and, naturally, the late artist formerly known as Prince. The Middle Eastern musical styles blend with Mintus’ formidable jazz, as well as a hint of Western classical.

Guest musicians on instruments such as bansuri and kamancheh create a real sense of cross-cultural collaboration: it's especially audible on tracks like the groovy ‘Anavim’ and Muallem's arrangement of ‘Hava Nargila’. The cover of Prince's ‘Sometimes it Snows in April’ is the last track. A somewhat bizarre end to an album otherwise comprised of Levantine jazz fusion, but hey… this album is exciting and varied, and you never quite know what it’ll do next.