--All Tracks are FCC CLEAN except Track 2—

The Paleo Festival Village du Monde is part of an annual music festival that takes place in Switzerland and features some of the greatest musicians from around the world. This year (2012) the world music venue focused on artists from the Middle East, all of whom performed at the festival, including some from Lebanon, Israel, Egypt and other places in the region.

1. Omar Souleyman “Hafer Gabrak Bidi” Loud, joyous, upbeat tune that sounds like something that would play at an Arab wedding. (3:35)
2. Balkan Beat Box “Political Fuck” (EXPLICIT) Noisy, catchy, with lots of explicatives (3:47)
**3. DAM “Mali Huriye’ Palestinian band DAM singing a hip hop tune about freedom. (3:41)
**4. Mashrou’ Leila “Imm El Jacket” A gender bending song by the Lebanese group Mashrou’ Leila about a guy who is attracted to a girl whom he thought was another guy (3:03)
5. Baba Zula “Temptation” African drums and beat along with repetitive lyrics about temptation (4:32)
**6. Natacha Atlas “Taalet” Upbeat tune with Arabic lyrics by a singer known for her fusion of Arabic and Western electronic music (3:13)
7. Trio Joubran “Nawwar” Instrumental piece by this Oud trio. Mid tempo, slows down in middle (4:42)
8. Ibrahim Maalouf “Will Soon Be a Woman” A mellow instrumental by Maalouf who is noted for playing Arabic music with quarter tones on the trumpet (5:25)
**9. Avishai Cohen “Alon Basela” Beautiful, mellow tune by Israeli singer/composer Avishai Cohen who is one of the most gifted bassists of his generation. Lyrics in Hebrew. (4:07)
10. Egyptian Project “Anta Ana”Upbeat song with lots of Eastern instruments blended with Arabic vocals (4:02)
11. Niyaz “Parishaan” Representing Iranian music in this venue, this new track by Niyaz is sung in Farsi, Khorasani dialect (3:57)
12. Jack Is Dead & son Orchestre Iranian “The Wasp vs. The Hand” Catchy tune with English lyrics; haunting back vocals (4:03)
**13. Yemen Blues “Eli” Israeli band featuring the fascinating voice of Ravid Kahalani who, shaped by his origins as a Yemeni Jew, brilliantly evokes the musical universe of his ancestors. . (5:46)
14. The Alaev Family “Sarsari” Hailing from Tajikistan and now based in Israel, these dynamic musicians and drummers innovatively meld Central Asian, Turkish, Persian, and Russian traditions as well as the Jewish music of Bukhara (3:11)
15. Broukar “Mawal” Mesmerizing instrumental, slow and haunting, lots of Oud playing, vocals in Arabic sound like a lamentation (6:31)

**My picks: 3, 4, 9, 13 Ramzi Salti