Best Middle Eastern Music
1 Ya Nass
Debut solo album by Yasmine Hamdan, written and produced in collaboration with Marc Collin (Nouvelle Vague).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I'm selective about music of any kind, but this music was like finding that mysterious sweet spot on the radio dial between middle eastern world music and popular music. I don't have any music quite like this in my collection, but it reminds me slightly of instruments and/or vocals from these bands and artists: Bjork, Irfan (Bulgarian group), Cocteau Twins, Tanita Tikaram, Camera Obscura... but... the vocals on Ya Nass are what set this apart from a lot of music."
"She has little recorded work, young, talented, concerned enough with building her kind of music in her native Lebanon she tends to turn down recordings, contracts which would have her appearing on the Continent and singing in French and English in addition to Arabic."
"This solo debut by Yasmine Hamdan is a delight."
"The sound is compelling, and it adds to the ambiance in a way to not understand any of the lyrics... well, except for habibi, but I have no idea how it fits into the theme of the song."
"her voice is hauntingly beautiful."
"I am enjoying this CD and listen to it often!!"
"Her voice is so alluring and she sings with such emotion that you can feel what the songs are about even without understanding Arabic."
"The Arab answer to the late Amy Winehouse."
Shot in high definition for super visual effect of the highest quality, this DVD showcases the exceptional "Raks Sharki" dance form known as bellydance by some of America's greatest bellydancers.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"well, since bellydance is a middle eastern dance, there has been a lot of bashing from the arab side against american bellydancers, but i think they're just being ridiculous. it gave me the feeling of intimacy and romance, it was perfect, and the smoke didn't affect me too much, it seemed pretty moderate. sound and angles... thats another story i will get to after i review the dancers... AMAR GAMAL: the girl looks like a supermodel and the way she dances really shows you how dedicated she is to her craft. it was the first time for me to watch a bellydance on techno (oojami song). and when she performed to talakik, i was happy to see that she looked like she was having a good time and she showed a lot of comfort with herself while dancing. RACHEL BRICE: like most arabs, i wasnt a big fan of the "tribal" movement. though i thought her costume was freaky, i was soooooo incredibly mesmerized by her fluency of the music. i thought both of her performances were superb, and the simon shaheen song she danced to could have brought anyone to tears. but she looks like she only learned to bellydance a month prior to the filming of this dvd. i grew up listening to nawal, and i love her music, but nobody i know ever got the urge to bellydance to her songs! the abdel halim song she danced to was an okay performance, i felt her energy pretty well and it wasn't so bad. the violin taqaseem could have been better if it wasn't for the bad sound production and camera work. but to get suhaila in her best action, go to her website and buy some of her solo dvds. i think she should learn the kind of grace im talking about from ansuya and rachel brice. like, rania has all the moves and she knows what shes doing, but she seems to technical and it doesnt look to me like she always feels the music right. it sounded too much like a stupid stereo was playing in the back (which it probably was) and i could understand not dubbing the performances with the zills like ansuya and tamalyn, but jeesh. when filming a bellydancer, the camera should capture her body for the most part because thats where the magic takes place."
"Wonderful performances!"
"If you're a fan of Tamalyn Dallal and Rania then maybe you'll find this video of interest as they are not featured in the other Bellydance Superstar video."
"As others said, the dancing in general is good (and amazing in some cases) but the cropping of the camera ruins some of the performances--in Rachel Brice's segments, you can tell she's doing some amazing movements below her ribs, but they're only showing her chest up and focusing on the face!"
"I enjoyed this dvd for the most part.I didn't care for some of the camera angles,I don't think all of that moving around the dances was necessary.When Rachel was doing her first number,some of the camera angles were awful.Because of her subtle moves and belly rolls you sometimes missed them because the camera was over her head or showing her back.I didn't care for Suhaila's dances...I know she can do better than that.I love Jillina,one of my favorite dances to watch,Rania has performed better also.Ansuya was great,I have never seen her before.Amar and Sonia,lovely beautiful moves.Tamalyn was very good,I like the first dance with a Spanish flair to it.I don't regret buying the dvd and I will watch it many times,and buy other 'Bellydance Superstars' dvd's in the future."
"I don't know why everyone is complaining about the set and the camera work for this DVD."
This joyful celebration in song features some of the West Coast's top children's performers: Dan Crow, Marcia Berman, Uncle Ruthie Buell, J.P. Nightingale and Fred Sokolow.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Very comprehensive of the basic and even some more obscure traditional songs in Hebrew, Yiddish, and English as well some original works by members of the group."
"My grandchildren love it."
"I was looking for an adult-friendly (as in, not just for kids) Chanukah CD that measured up to the warmth of Christmas carols."
"Ive been searching for this CD, very happy I found it."
"Growing up, my family always listened to this (on cassette tape) in the car around Chanukkah."
"Wonderful collection of Jewish holiday songs by great performers."
"I have several Chanukah CDs, this one is my favorite."
Best Music of Afghanistan
From Kabul to California, Homayun Sakhi is admired as the outstanding Afghan rubâb player of his generation, a charismatic virtuoso who has pushed the limits of his instrument.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Homayun Sakhi is peaceful w/tunes that soothe the audience."
"Our Press paints Afghanistan as a backward, dusty country devoid of any cultural richness and overrun by barbaric religious fanatics. Sadly, the oppressed common Afgan man (and certainly woman) are heirs to an ancient culture where the arts flourished along side those of its sister India to the east and Persia to the west."
"The Music of Central Asia initiative was set up by the Aga Khan and the Smithsonian Insitution to document the surviving folk music traditions of that rich part of the world, and to present it to the global community with enough background to get the most out of it. In this third volume, the Afghan rubab tradition is represented by virtuoso performer Homayun Sakhi. While the rubab is squarely a Central Asian creation, but its Afghani performance tradition developed in close relationship with players in the East, and so afficionados of North Indian music will find this to be quite familiar."
"(little new to the Afghan music) chosen are of a more minor/dissonant nature than the Afghan music I've heard on popular Afghan websites. The instrument itself is related to sarod, but much more percussive due to frets."
"I was hoping for more percussion, but the instrumental music was pleasing."
"Homayun jaan and Toryala jaan are both exceptional musicians and performers, respectively."
"Who played the instrument RABAB is so good, you can feel it in your heart, when you listen to it more and more carefuly, it will grab you heart, some times it will take me so away from this world, Sound of Rubab is so deep and full of joy and flavor."
"Homayun Sakhi is living proof that faith in God and faith in yourself still produce the highest results in man."
Best Arabic Music
Le pas du chat noir gives the clearest indication yet of the work of Brahem as composer and features a spacious "chamber music" that resonates with the freshness of improvisation.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Very nice and gentle."
"If you like classical Indian music, classical guitar or more restful music, I would really strongly recommend both Sahar and Le Pas du Chat Noir."
"I was hooked after hearing the first few sound bites of this album, and I've been listening to it every day for months."
"This is just gorgeous music."
"This album is what music is all about."
"beautiful and mysterious."
"where classical becomes modern and visa versa."
"This is my first listening of Brahem."
Best Iranian Music
Renowned for his work with Ghazal , a group that bridges Indian and Persian music, he applies a similar approach to Iranian folk and classical forms on Night Silence Desert . The Radif (Persian classical repertoire) grew from folk forms, but over the centuries the music evolved from its simple rural origins into an elaborately ornamented and rigorously structured style. Kayhan Kalhor, master of the kamancheh (the bowed four-string precursor to most Asian and European bowed instruments) and setar (four-string long-necked lute), composed Night Silence Desert as a contemporary experimental suite fusing Iranian folk and classical traditions.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This is a beloved evening in the desert of our hearts."
"Fascinating traditional persian music."
"I enjoy music from Pakistan and India and this is a nice fusion from a Persian mix."
"Poetry and music as beatiful as the landscapes it describes...simply phantastic and delightful... ...a muscial journey in a wonderful world...."
"Rich sound and voices, Mohammad Reza Shajarian offers an amazing immersion into traditional Persian music."
"nice for giving massage treatment or relaxing."
"The exquisite spiritual beauty and true loving instrumental/vocal mastery of this work is a collector's item - one of the best in Persian music."
"This is my third CD from Iran, and I must say, I've become very attached to Iranian music now."
Best Iraqi Music
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"What wonderful music comes from Baghdad and Iraq in general."
"The piece "Amiriyyah" that another reviewer likens to a siren is just that -- a tone poem or picture of Baghdad under US bombing attacks."
"The piece "Amiriyyah" that another reviewer likens to a siren is just that -- a tone poem or picture of Baghdad under US bombing attacks."
"What wonderful music comes from Baghdad and Iraq in general."
"NASEER a native babylonian from IRAQ has nine (9) music pieces in this CD all composed by him & each of them has a story to go with, he play them live on stage, showing his style and a very nice music rhythm to them."
"This music does not fit the stereotype of Near Eastern music- in point of fact, in many ways this disc is more reminiscent of a bravura recital by a musician from the Western classical music tradition. The piece about the bombing of the orphanage is quite obviously about something like that and belongs to the international tradition of protest music that uses instrumental sound effects to convey horror- does anyone else remember Jimi Hendrix playing the Star Spangled Banner during the Vietnam war?"
"Perhaps my expectations were too high, or maybe I am used to that style of the Egyptian School of famous musicians such as Fareed Al - Atrash."
"That sort of piece works well in live concert to show variety and special effects, but not on a CD, in my opinion."
Best Islamic Music
The musicans, who have named themselves after an ancient form of romantic poetry, perform on sitar (a multi-stringed Indian plucked instrument with a tall fretboard attached to a resonating gourd) and kamancheh (a sonorous but gutty-sounding spike fiddle) and voice, accompanied by a tabla virtuoso (a tuned skin drum commonly played in India and Pakistan).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This is a shimmering, scintillating, plangent CD."
"I owned this for years on CD, but someone borrowed it and never returned it to me, subsequently it was lost."
"Inspite my personal preference, I suggest to friends, this is a must have CD!"
"Ghazal Live - wish I was there."
"Lovely gentile music with a soft Middle Eastern or Indian sitar flair."
"The interplay of the musicians is nothing less than astounding, and the sound quality is lovely (typical for an ECM disk.). In this, I was a little disappointed; I had hoped for new material from Ghazal (I preordered the CD as soon as I heard about it.)."
"Very soothing."
Best Israeli Music
This record was originally released 20 years ago and became an instant classic.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Although the musicians are very good, I felt there needed to be more variety in the music."
"They rummaged through stacks of old 78 rpm records to find the musical rosetta stones that would make this nearly extinct music form comprehensible to ears unfamiliar with the "krechtz" (moans and groans)of a wailing clarinet or fiddle playing a soulful doina or a foot-stomping freilach played by a kapelye (klezmer ensemble) at full throttle. In sharp contrast, Andy Statman and Zev Feldman offer us an older form of klezmer, which typically tended towards smaller ensembles that were similiar in instrumentation to the local non-Jewish fiddle-led string bands (in fact, non-Jewish musicians, especially Gypsies, often played in klezmer kapelyes). The wonderful music is supported by well-researched, well-written liner notes by Zev Feldman, who is a noted authority on not only klezmer but also on Eastern-European, Balkan and Near-Eastern traditional music forms."
"The combination of traditional instruments and choice of musical selections is absolutely delightful."
"Very different, but enjoyable."
"Andy and Zev started the Klezmer revival in the late 70's/early 80's."
"Occasionally there is some bass and percussion on this disc, but for the most part it is just clarinet and cymbalon. I would even say that I think this is a better first choice than some of the legendary masters' albums, such as Tarras and Brandwein, if for no other reason than this disc has very good recording quality and also the presence of the cymbalon."
Best Lebanese Music
Lebanese, Egyptian, Moroccan, and Algerian artists such as former Londoner Natacha Atlas (who has been featured with both Transglobal Underground and Jah Wobble) contribute 11 songs which lend themselves to sensual dance, exotic drink, and glamorous gatherings of multicultural hipsters.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The familiar beat allows me to feel comfortable while appreciating more and more that there are Eastern strains in the melodies - strains that evoke belly dancers or snake charmers, for instance. The songs, with a Western beat and Eastern words and melodies, are rather catchy and I often find myself "singing" along, even though I don't understand the lyrics."
"The production is also poor...some of the songs end abruptly, as if the producers weren't paying attention when they put together the tracks."
"Great Music, and great artist, truly enjoy this type of music, Amazon is great place to purchase."
"I can't understand the words but the music is terrific!"
"Loved the album but I knew what I was looking for as my troupe dances to one of the songs on this album."
"WE have had this CD before & we like the music, good to dance to."
"This has got to be one of my all time favorite funky music CDs."
Best Syrian Music
Mesmerizing music from some of the greatest musicians of the Arab world.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I was looking for instrumental music, not lyrics and this fit the bill."
Best Turkish Music
Frowned on by the paranoid Turkish authorities she would face the threat of imprisonment due to her unwaning desire for freedom of speech and a demand for a quality of human life.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Great condition!"
"Okay, it's probably the only 1970's Turkish psychedelic folk rock I've ever listened to, but I really liked this album."
"It's a solid Turkish album and you won't be disapointed. I'm like "Oh Selda..." It's got some rockers and it's got some nice slower melodies."
Best Music of Yemen
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Music is great."
"First heard Kahalani on Matisyahu's Spark Seeker album."
"Heard these guys live at the 2013 Reno ArtTown and had to get a disc, wow!"
"although the reason i bought this cd is from the song previewed on the voyager series was not present the music was still soulful and uplifting."
"Ravid Kahalani is very talented, with a group of amazing musicians he creates new rhythms deriving from diverse genres."