30 Years: Arc Music

The premier label of world folk celebrates their 30th anniversary with this all-too short sampler of some of their artists. They should have done a multi-disc set considering the great music they’ve released. This is all first-class stuff.

1. Elegant, restrained, mid, trad instrumental Greek folk.
*2. Bright, well-played traditional klezmer. Picks up speed.
*3. Deliciously shimmery, fast, Turkish (like bellydance music)
4. Nicely played, sophisticated, romantic flamenco.
*5. Cool North Afr feel, oud/violin/guitar. Upeat bellydance perc.
*6. Hip, midtempo North African jazz/rai/groove. Very cool.
7. Starts slow, gets mid. Soaring vox/kora, African griot wail.
*8. Sweet So Afr. Gospel. Fabulous harmonies, low key.
*9. High-energy Taiko drumming.
10. Chinese classical piece. Gorgeous, haunting, mostly down.
11. Didjeridoo/piano/strings. Mostly slow, sweeping, gentle.