Soul From The Middle East

A fine atmospheric disk by Lebanese musician Abaji titled Nomad Spirit. There is a subtitle of the Deep Emotions of Nomad Blues, which aggravates one of my gripes against the loose usage of the term blues for musics from around the world but there is an underlying soulful feel ( the term I prefer ) throughout the album that is most evocative. Abaji writes interestingly about the way of life of the nomad in his notes to the disk, about how moving in space rather than time and in harmony with nature lends a certain mysticism and spirituality to any music performed. He is a multi instrumentalist of great skill and the sounds here range across influences from his birthplace but also neighbouring Syria and further afield to Greece, Turkey and Armenia. Abaji plays sitar-guitar, guitar ( occasionally slide ), bouzouki, bamboo saxophone ( ! ), bamboo flute ( rather easier to visualise ), clarinet, percussion and vocals ( more a kind of deep voiced recitative ). Other specialist percussionists are included and on two tracks he is joined by the duduk of the legendary Djivan Gasparyan, while Majid Bekkas adds oud and guembri. The state of the art production is used to serve rather than mould the music with a very clear spacious soiund enhancing the quality of the playing.