ARTIST ... Origin
Title  Duration
(Album) [Label]

Ravi SHANKAR & Ustad Alla RAKHA .... India
Raga: Yaman - Gat - Matta Tal 9'12
(The Genius of Pandit Ravi Shankar) [Oriental]

Maharajapuram V. SANTHANAM .... India
Rama Nina Nammina - Raga Mohanam 15'00
(Maharajapuram V. Santhanam) [Music Today]
A quality no-noise-reduction cassette from this "budget" New Delhi label.

Sant Anup Singh JI .... Punjab, India
Aawoh Sajna Haun Dekha Darsan Tera Ram 10'31
(Haun Dekha Darsan Tera Ram) [Super Cassette Industries]
"Shabad Gurbani", which is Punjabi devotional song. Despite the name of this Indian label, this is a CD.

Talip ÖZKAN .... Turkey
Semah 5'30
(Mysteries of Turkey) [Music of the World]
A master of the saz, and a fine singer.

NAQSHBANDI SUFIS .... Chinese Turkestan
Zikr 4'30
(Trance 2) [Ellipsis Arts]
A rare recording made by Jean DURING of the Islamic "Calling to God", a ritual of dancing and intense devotion. This disc includes Gnawa music from Morocco and trance music from Bali.

The NECKS .... Australia
Pele 26'30
(Next) [formerly Spiral Scratch]
A wide ranging improvisational "jazz" outfit, who have extended the art of long trance-like pieces.

Rabih ABOU-KHALIL & The BALANESCU STRING QUARTET with Michel GODARD and Nabil KHAIAT .... Lebanon / Romania etc
No Visa 9'58
(Arabian Waltz) [Enja]
Just arrived in australia, this is the new album from Khalil. Knowing all of his CDs well, I am disappointed by the arrangements. Most of the time, all instruments follow each other in unison, a trend which began a couple of albums ago. This is not only boring listening, but there is little exploration of the possible timbres, and it is almost impossible to discern anything other than violin from the quartet over the tuba. Therefore, the most interesting occasions are when the individual parts break apart for solos. I am not particularly thrilled by the recording either, which seems a little muddy, a product of multi-microphone recording in an ordinary acoustic space. This is especially obvious to me having been spoilt by the superb sound on all his discs prior to The Sultan's Picnic.