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

Hossam RAMZY .... Egypt / UK
(a) Night Foal 2'27
(b) Arabian Nights 8'28
(Baladi Plus) [ARC Music]
When I met Hossam Ramzy earlier this year at the end of his tour with Page & Plant, he told me that the word "Baladi" means "my country", used here to mean simply "the music of my country". This, his latest CD of Egyptian dance music is clearly part of his life-long mission to share the music and culture of the Arab world, to learn about other cultures as part of that process, and to find common threads.

Anouar BRAHEM, Jan GARBAREK & Ustad Shaukat HUSSAIN .... Tunisia, Norway, India
Sull Lull 16'47
(Madar) [ECM]

Zakir HUSSAIN & the RHYTHM EXPERIENCE .... India / USA
Lineage 4'55
(Zakir Hussain & the Rhythm Experience) [Moment]
Guest here is Zakir's legendary father Ustad Alla RAKHA.

Zakir HUSSAIN & Hariprasad CHAURASIA .... India / USA
Water Girl 3'48
(Making Music) [ECM]

Ferdinand MAISEL .... USA
(a) Shaman's Lament 2'37
(b) But You Were There 3'05
(Far End Din) [independent / Alternity]
Collaborating here (with some transglobal overdubs) is ethnomusicologist Christopher BASILE playing guitar and tabla respectively. Chris has formed a new band called Djamu that fuses jazz with global rhythms - all original material. You can hear them in Melbourne on September 14 at The Boite World Music Café in Mark Street Fitzroy.

NADOYA Music and Dance Company .... Australia
(a) Spirals 6'13
(b) Sacred Cow 5'08
(Kagome) [independent]
A fabulous blend of musical influence and instrumentation, developed for butoh movement art and contemporary dance forms. The music is the work of Anne NORMAN - shakuhachi, bowls, Vietnamese oboe etc., Peter NEVILLE - percussion inc. steel drums, music box & drum kit, Satsuki ODAMURA - koto, Michael HEWES - bass guitar. The voices are provided by the dancers Yumi UMIUMARE, Tony YAP & Lynne SANTOS. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

SYNERGY & Reilly Lee .... Australia
(a) The Hour of the Boar 4'27
(b) The Hour of the Monkey 5'20
(Matsuri) [Clestial Harmonies]
Satsuki ODAMURA also appears on this disc.

Loreena McKENNITT .... Canada
(a) All Souls Night 5'01
(The Visit) [Quinlan Road]
(b) Full Circle 5'54
(The Mask and Mirror) [Quinlan Road]

Hossam RAMZY .... Egypt / UK
Roah Albi 1'00
(Baladi Plus) [ARC Music]