This beautiful collection of Sufi music comes from Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, Pakistan, and Egypt. This eclectic mix of songs consists of raw field recordings, and modern renditions of traditional songs, performed on both traditional and modern instruments. This devotional music is largely inspired by Sufi poets such as Rumi, Hafiz, Bulleh Shah, and Khwaja Ghulam Farid.

This release features bouncy and sinuous bellydance music by Emad Sayyah. He writes soft and harmonious arrangements, avoiding quarter tones, using traditional instruments as well as modern ones. His compositions have found many admirers among professional belly dancers, but beginners and non-dancers will also enjoy these exciting songs. Emad Sayyah was born in Beirut, Lebanon. He has been performing professionally for more than three decades across Kuwait, Jordan, Syria, as well as Europe. Besides using traditional oriental instruments like the derbacki, rik, kanoun, nay, and santur, Emad also utilizes modern instruments like the saxophone, oboe, clarinet, accordion, keyboards, and violin.

This album features original Egyptian dance compositions as well as traditional pieces with a modern touch, by Essam Rashad. Essam Rashad was born in Cari, Egypt. He learned music from his father early in hi life. In his twenties, he worked as a composer for the national Egyptian radio station. After his father’s death, he began to study violin and joined a small orchestra, recording a great number of songs by various Middle Eastern composers. Thus he gained a great wealth of knowledge and wide-ranging experience in different musical styles and techniques. Gradually he became highly regarded as a talented musician, whereupon he was appointed to join the Egyptian National Classical Orchestra as a specialist of the oud, his first instrument. In 1981, he came to England. He then began to teach music privately, while also looking for an opportunity to release his musical works. He worked on arrangements for Indian and Western music with his special skills. At present, he is completing work on original pieces of full orchestrated modern classical music.

London Jewish Male Choir presents regaling performances of classic cantorial and liturgical songs, Sephardic (Judeo-Spanish) songs, Chassidic pieces and modern Israeli compositions. Extensive information is included in English and German.

• Los Angeles, CA based group of musicians at the forefront of establishing fresh interpretations of traditional Klezmer music. • Averaging 30 years of age, the group is led by Buenos Aires native Gustavo Bulgach. • Have experienced great success in the Los Angeles area."

This album takes the listener on a musical journey through Morocco. From the Berber traditions of the Rif and Atlas Mountains, to deeply spiritual Sufi music and the improvised street music of Marrakech, Morocco is a land of musical riches. The tracks on this release have been curated from ARC music's vast catalog of world music, and include artists like Nour Eddine, Abdesselam Damoussi, Rachid Halihal, the Altaf Gnawa Group, and many others. Julia Beyer is responsible for compiling the works on this album, and Diz Heller, once again, presents stellar mastering.

Music from the Middle Eastern lute, the oud, has become especially popular in Australia through Joseph Tawadros and groups like Trio Joubran and Les Triaboliques. Ancient, mesmerizing Iraqi rhythms based on Arabian magams conjure images of bazaars and mosques. Backed by exotic percussion including the dombak (single-headed goblet drum), riqq, tar (tambourines) and khishba.

Sufism is the mystical branch of Islam. The Sufi strives for a direct connection with God. The rapture of music and dance is frequently used to create a transcendental experience in which the ego falls away, allowing direct experience of the divine. There is a saying: ‘If a man claims to be a Sufi, he is not, and any true Sufi will never claim to be one’. To call a music ‘Sufi’ is to thereby bring into question its authenticity. If we claim this is Sufi music, it therefore must not be. What we can say, though, is that Shafqat Ali Khan’s music is thoroughly rooted in the Sufi tradition. Many of the songs are ghazals, a poetic musical form in which the singer, taking the woman’s perspective, longs for the return of her lover. This longing, expressed in a romantic form, is understood to be a metaphor for the soul’s longing to be connected with the divine. The spiritual expression of Sufi music is robust and intensely emotional. This is no quiet background music for meditation, but deeply passionate music that wrestles with strong emotions, from melancholy and despair to rapturous ecstasy. By directly going into the emotion, in a way somewhat akin to how an American blues or gospel singer might, we find transcendence. The music takes us on a journey, and we emerge somehow changed.

In celebration of ARC Music's 35 years of dedication to world music, Hossam Ramzy presents Rock the Tabla. 10 years in the making, this explosive musical journey brings together musical genius from all corners of the globe. Featuring world renowned artists including Oscar winner & Slumdog Millionaire composer A.R. Rahman, famed percussionist & drummer Billy Cobham, Manu Katche, Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Jimmy Waldo, Chaz Kkoshi, Phil Thornton, John Themis and others. Rock the Tabla is an album that is sure to get your feet tapping, heads nodding and body swaying to this diverse combination of electrifying rhythmic collaborations.

Classical Music

This new release features a wide and varied collection of Klezmer music, gathered from across the Americas and Europe. These songs represent a kaleidoscope of styles and instrumentations, from ethnic to jazzy and everything in between. The music exudes a special kind of charm, and a kind of melancholic exuberance, at once happy and sad, a kind of feel that only Klezmer can bring. Featured ensembles on this release include The Burning Bush, who specialize in music of the Ashkenazi and Sephardi traditions, London-based ensemble She’koyokh, Canadian trio From Both Ends of the Earth, and many more. This release was compiled by world music specialist Diz Heller.

Classical Music

Music from different regions of Turkey played on traditional instruments, with the exotic sound of the ney (flute) particularly prominent. Features the Baglama (lute), ney (flute), zurna (shawm), zil (finger cymbals), davul and darbuka (drums) and kasik (wooden spoons). Striking traditional Middle Eastern and Persian beats and melodies will transport listeners to the bustling marketplaces and tea houses of Turkey. Fans of Joseph Tawadros and the oud will be captivated by this album.

"Traditional Turkish music and songs from various regions of Turkey: Black Sea Coast, Anatolia, Aegean region, South region (Adana) and from Lake Van near the Eastern border, etc. Played on traditional instruments, recorded live at the “Festival Mondial des Cultures” in Drummondville, Canada. Booklet notes, in English and German, include information about the music, instruments and dances."

The energetic rhythms and intricately woven melodies of traditional Iranian and Middle Eastern percussion get an exciting twist when paired with modern instrumentation. The complex traditional drumming wends through surprising elements like rock solos on electric guitar and permeates even remixes with Persian flavor.

Modern Bellydance from Lebanon

Bashir Abdel ‘Aal, flautist extraordinaire, presents an album of outstanding beauty with atmospheric, meditative, calming music, played with awe-inspiring mastery that is delicately accompanied and supported on keyboard.

Percussion wizard Pejman Hadadi is joined here by Imamyar Hasanov and Hamid Motebassem on kamancha and setar. Together the trio weaves a sumptuous tapestry of Persian and Azerbaijani music to relax and inspire the listener. This contemplative disc is full of innovative improvisation by masterful, musicians, but Hadadi often shines as the true star as he coaxes an astonishing array of sounds from his instruments with unerring sensitivity and fire.

Classical Music

The Pulse of Persia: Iranian Rhythms, Global Influences

Egyptian Sufi

Hilda Bronstein Sings Yiddish Songs Old and New

Hilda Bronstein’s passionate dedication to Yiddish Song stems from her close connection to the language that she learned as a child. She sees these songs as a cultural storehouse of Jewish history and identity. Her early training as a singer at the Royal College of Music in London, and her later work as an academic in English Language and Literature together inform her expressive interpretation of the music and words of these evocative songs. Since 2004, when she made her tentative return to the music of her childhood, she has become one of Europe’s leading interpreters of Yiddish Song. After the success of her previous album, Yiddish Songs Old and New, she competed in the International Jewish Music Festival at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw in 2008 and was awarded the Mira Rafalowicz Prize for the ‘Best Interpretation of Yiddish Song’. For this album, Hilda has joined forces with a group of talented instrumentalists who share her love of Yiddish song as well as the exciting sounds of klezmer and swing. The collaboration has enabled Hilda to expand her repertoire of beautiful traditional Yiddish melodies and new songs from Eastern Europe. She has also added a number of exuberant up-beat numbers from the days of New York Yiddish Theatre, and demonstrates the resilience of Yiddish song by bringing this album firmly into the twenty-first century with the cool beat of ‘Yener Langer Zumertog’. As on her previous album, Hilda uses her original Polish dialect on some tracks and the standard ‘Litvish’ or Lithuanian dialect on others. While her natural tendency is to the native Polish Yiddish of her childhood, she prefers the Litvish in those songs where the meaning and rhymes of the lyrics seem to demand it.

Sufi songs from India and Iran' contains field recordings of traditional Sofi music made in 1955 1979 and 1999.

Pure thoroughbred Egyptian dance music by Hossam Ramzy with a gathering of the best musicians of Cairo's Mohammed Ali Street, the music is re-mastered and partly shortened to better suit today's oriental dancers.

Hossam Ramzy, Egypt’s Ambassador of Rhythm, was born in Cairo. His musical career began early, when at the age of three he was given his first drum- an Egyptian table. His passion for percussion was noted by his family (many of whom were themselves involved in the arts), who encouraged him to master his craft by studying with the leading music teachers of Egypt. A move to Saudi Arabia introduced Hossam to many of the Bedouin tribes who gave the young Hossam a rich insight into the cultural origins of Middle Eastern music that became the inspiration for many of his later rhythmic directions. This album of beautiful Egyptian love songs for belly dancers and lovers of Egyptian music also features the incredible quarter tone accordion player Mohsen Allaam.

Ahmed Mukhtar is a master composer and virtuoso oud player known for his prolific discography and international performances. This album showcases his best work, presenting new visions rooted in the rich and complex Iraqi tradition and Middle Eastern music. Born in Baghdad, Mukhtar has been playing the oud and Arabic percussions since 1979. In 1983, he began studying both the oud and percussion at the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad. A few years later, in 1990 he attended the High Institute of Music in Damascus where he continued his studies of the oud and Western percussions. In 1999, Mukhtar earned an MA from the London College of Music, and in 203, he received a Masters Degree in Performance with a focus on Middle-Eastern and Arabic music from SOAS (the School of Oriental and African Studies), London.

From Caprice Records comes the only recording ever made of Moses Pergament’s The Jewish Song. The work has never been performed as a whole since this 1974 concert performance. Composed in 1944, The Jewish Song, written for soprano, tenor, chorus and orchestra, takes us through history and switches between moods of deep bitterness, pride and confidence in the future. During his time, Finnish-Swedish composer Moses Pergament (1893-1977) was regarded as one of the major figures in Swedish art music.

Modern Bellydance from Lebanon

Shafqat Ali Khan: Sublime Sufi - New Perspectives On Ancient