Romeo & Leila

After the success of her critically acclaimed album of last year, Ghalia Benali Sings Oum Kalthoum, her 2006 album Romeo & Leila has now been re-released. Deservedly so, as this predecessor was perhaps an even more daring step in the singer's innovative approach to Arabic music. While the Kalthoum album trod carefully into repertoire that is sacrosanct in the Arab world, her 2006 album showed less restraint. Benali dedicated the album ‘to consciousness and freedom, to my Tunisia and Egypt, and many other countries fighting for dignity and democracy!’ The album contains one reworking of a great Kalthoum song, ‘Rubaiyat, which receives an almost jazzy touch. There is one more classic on the album: ‘Ya M'safer’ a song made famous by another Egyptian legend, Mohammed Abdelwahab. The original was quite a Westernised song, while Benali gave it an Oriental jazz treatment too. And Oriental jazz, in these cases, means a convincing fusion, rather than East-meets-West clichés. ‘Quala'n Nass’ has flamenco elements, but again the musicians avoid the obvious.

The other pieces were written (or co-written) by Benali herself. The apparent simplicity of the accompanying ensemble's line-up gives room and space to some virtuoso musicians, centred around ud player Moufadhel Adhem. The title-track reminds us of the fact that the urban classical music of Benali's native country Tunisia, like flamenco, drew heavily from the ancient Arab-Andalusian musical legacy.