Emerging out of the desert like a prayer, rising with the sun and swaying off across the sand — the ecstatic, melismatic call at the heart of Middle Eastern music. It's a musical experience we return to time and again for its exotic ambience and emotional rewards.
Long before the turmoil of today, the Middle East sat at the crossroads of ancient civilization, and its music records a history of shared influences from North Africa, Egypt, Persia, Turkey, Greece, and the 600-year Moorish occupation of medieval Spain, the storied Al-Andalus.
Today our crossroads are urban and digital, and musicians from all over the world gather in studios, on stages, and online to combine elements of electronic, folk, classical and world music into an evolving super-cultural mix — respectful of history and tradition, bridging cultural barriers, taking a step into the future.
On this melismatic Middle Eastern journey, music by MERCAN DEDE, MILAGRO ACUSTICO, the AL-ANDALUS ENSEMBLE, ELIYAHU and the QADIM ENSEMBLE, PAUL AVGERINOS and OMAR FARUK TEKBILEK, YUVAL RON, ANOUAR BRAHEM, and SIWAN.
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