Tango Mediterraneo

Paolo Karim Gozzo, a singer-songwriter with Sicilian and Moroccan origins, appeared on the Italian X Factor franchise in 2009. He has a crooner's vocal style, richly textured and prone to pained black notes and heavy breathing. The title of this album – which the blurb claims has been three years in the making – is misleading. There is nothing remotely ‘tango’ about the nine songs, and that includes Andalusian, Romanian, Finnish or any other kind of tango. The title-track has a quasi-flamenco-esque strum, and it's pleasant on the ear – as is the spritely fiddle that accompanies it – but that's as far as it gets.

This is a pop album and if it is, as is claimed, ‘inspired by Mediterranean, Andalusian, Arab and Berber sounds,’ these have been so thoroughly diluted and popped-down that only a crypto-archaeologist would be able to get at the roots. The best number, ‘Queen of the Gnawa’, starts promisingly and has a catchily swaying rhythm, but Karim's singing style flattens all that tries to bloom or burst through. Not a hideous album, by any means, but this is local commercial music – destined for a specific market and unfit for travel, even to other parts of the Med.