A collection of the works of one of the prime movers of the youth (jeel, al-jil) style of music in Egypt, there's a deep connection here with sha'abi, and a slightly lesser one... More...

Although the album is subtitled "Cairo to Nubia: the source of Arabic music," the booklet takes care to point out that there's no classical Arab music here -- which perhaps... More...

Bashir Abdel Al plays the nay, the breathy Middle Eastern flute. On this disc he is backed by drums and occasionally by a quarter-tone accordion capable of playing Arabic music.... More...

Youssou N'Dour's Egypt is a radical change of pace for the Senegalese singer/songwriter. Throughout his career, N'Dour has adapted his indigenous musical heritage to the pop... More...

With 30 albums to her credit in the Middle East, Samira Saeed is a certified superstar there, and this, her debut American release, gives the west a chance to discover her. It's... More...

It took Cheb Mami's collaboration with Sting on the latter's mega-hit "Desert Rose" to bring Arabic music into the collective consciousness of the Western world. Never ones to... More...

This important reissue should be greeted joyfully by Sun Ra aficionados, as it fills a hole in his discography, but it is neither stellar Ra nor great jazz. The beautifully... More...

The title is a misnomer: the word "nay" is Persian and the instrument seems to have originated in ancient Egypt, which was not Arabic. But never mind. The nay is a beautiful flute... More...

Hughes de Courson, member of the vintage French folk group Malicorne, has launched a new career as a musical fusionist on a grand scale. First he gave us Lambarena: Bach to... More...

Over the course of a lengthy career dedicated to exploring unusual new musical avenues, there are few albums Sam Shalabi could have made that would be more of a surprise than Eid.... More...

It's interesting: not long after Senegal's Youssou N'Dour released his very different but celebrated Egypt, countryman Seck -- always a contender but never the champion -- came... More...

Released in 1998, this assortment covers artists from Egypt and Algeria, with occasional side trips to Sudan or a previously unheard-of locale called Iran-Morocco. The roster is... More...

If Putumayo wasn't marketing African Playground as a compilation of children's music, some non-African listeners would have no idea that the material is aimed at kids (or is at... More...

The Mediterranean is a big place, a meeting of several cultures from North Africa and Southern Europe. Over the course of centuries there's been a great intermingling of ideas and... More...

Proudly produced in the year 1418 (by the Muslim calendar), volume two of the relatively far-reaching Music of Islam series focuses on the nomads of Southern Egypt. The ud and the... More...