“The Shape of Arab Music to Come”
If ever an album has been created to invite the uninitiated to dip a toe into the deep water of contemporary Arab music, it is Alif’s debut release, Aynama-Rtama, released September 4 by Nawa Recordings. Alif is a supergroup, composed of five musicians who are well-regarded recording artists in their own right: Khyam Allami (oud), Tamer Abu Ghazaleh (vocals/buzuq), Bashar Farran (bass), Maurice Louca (keys/electronics), and Khaled Yassine (drums/percussion).
Aynama-Rtama (Wherever it falls) is a musically dense but engaging album that provides layer upon layer for both the traditionalist and the futurist to dissect, inspect, and admire. Abu Ghazaleh turns in one of his finest and most coherent recorded performances to date, welding his considerable gifts as a vocalist to exquisite borrowed texts from poets like Mahmoud Darwish and Sargon Boulus as well as contributing lyrics of his own. Allami and Louca weave an intricate tapestry of melody, along with Abu Ghazaleh’s buzuq, which, in the absence of traditional Western chords, serves as the counterpoint to the melismatic vocal lines and dictates the dynamic viscosity of the music from moment to moment.
Source: www.worldliteraturetoday.org