Editorial Reviews

The connection between Latin and North African and Middle Eastern music predates the success of Shakira. You can find it first with the Islamic conquest of Spain, where the cultures first mixed, and it's evident in the music of Spain's Radio Tarifa (whose singer, Benjamin Escoriza, has a track here, infused with flamenco passion). But everything here crosses musical borders, like the cut from Emil Zrihan, which merges the sound of the Jewish cantor with flamenco in startling and superb fashion. Latin America gets a look through both Maurice el Medioni, the great Algerian pianist, where Arab and Cuban music come together in a gorgeously melodic fashion, and Rhany's take on the Cuban standard "Chan Chan," which keeps the basis of the song intact but puts a completely different frame around it. Egyptian star Amr Diab shows himself to be Shakira's equal, just looking at the music from a different geographical perspective. Anyone who approaches this expecting a bunch of Shakira pop clones is going to be disappointed, but hopefully entertained, too. This far rootsier approach offers a musically satisfying approach to a fusion avenue that's existed for centuries, but which has never been really explored -- this makes a great first step. Chris Nickson, All Music Guide

Customer Reviews

• Listener Rating: