Reviews
Golden Beirut: New Sounds From Lebanon
Two years ago, I spent a week in Beirut lecturing to journal¬ism students. In the evenings, after classes were done,...
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2012
Maqaam d’Amour
Aïcha Redouane, originally of Moroccan descent, has become a house¬hold name in the performance of music from the eastern part...
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2012
Haflat Gharbia: The Western Concerts
Once in a while, an artist from the outside punches a dirty great hole through the usually impenetrable wall of...
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2012
The Rough Guide to Sufi Music
Six years ago, I attended the grandly titled World Performing Arts Festival in the Pakistani city of Lahore, and was...
Reviewed in issue Nov/Dec/2011
Romeo & Leila
After the success of her critically acclaimed album of last year, Ghalia Benali Sings Oum Kalthoum, her 2006 album Romeo...
Reviewed in issue Nov/Dec/2011
Music of Georges I Gurdjieff
The Gurdjieff Folk Instruments Ensemble
This is a fabulous collection of Armenian and Middle Eastern folk music with a fascinating story behind it. The tunes...
Reviewed in issue Nov/Dec/2011
Arco Iris
Moroccan singer Amina Alaoui made a memorable recording of Arab-Andalus songs called Alcantara in the early days of Songlines –...
Reviewed in issue October/2011
Mugham
When a man's voice overflows with passion, and when you're told that he's singing ancient Persian poems, you want to...
Reviewed in issue October/2011
Öptüm
Sezen Aksu is routinely hailed as the ‘Queen of Turkish Pop’. But it's a tag that grossly underplays her talent...
Reviewed in issue October/2011
