Rough Guide: Africa & Middle East

Reviewed by Sadie O., 3/12/07
Good overview of popular music from Africa and the Middle East. Only a couple of songs are the more classic, purely indigenous styles. Very broad selection – 1.2 hours of fine music!
No FCCs – almost nothing in English. I like 9 and 14 best.
1. ***midtempo shuffling beat with various subtle struck instruments, gorgeous alto female vocals in Amharic, rather mysterious sound.
2. ***somewhat uptempo funk with a bit of jazzy/trance electronica.
3. **sweet, relaxed midtempo Afro-beat with talking drums and flute, lovely tenor male vocals.
4. **slow, rather dreamy and trance-y, simple but powerful guitars and piercing male vocals from one of Africa’s top stars.
5. ***falsetto male vocals intro, then rather uptempo electronic and hand drum syncopation with a bit of funky bass.
6. **bright, rather uptempo hand percussion and kora, chorus and male vocals
7. **folksy acoustic guitar, downtempo and wistful-seeming, lovely hoarse male vocals and female chorus.
8. ***hand drums and hand claps, male vocals in Arabic, a bit of flamenco guitar and percussion.
9. ****nutso midtempo electronics, thumb piano and distorted male vocals from the streets of the Congo.
10. ***solo female vocal intro for almost a minute, then midtempo syncopated dance groove. Very groovy.
11. **slow string intro, then midtempo loping hand drum syncopation with Arabian orchestration. Female vocals – classic sound, remake of 50’s Egyptian hit.
12. **midtempo Afro-Cuban cha cha from Morocco, sweet male vocals in Arabic, a bit Rai-inflected.
13. **Nomadic male call and response. Midtempo loping and shuffling groove, simple and repetitive but attractive and compelling.
14. ****slightly uptempo, rather funky electric guitar groove, female vocals in Arabic.
15. **lush synth intro, trance-y dance groove, (called “raihouse”) male vocals in Arabic, rather standard female vocals in English. Very moderno-American sounding, but with a great beat.