Natalie Zea Me In My Place Photoshoot 2011

One of the most renowned and uncompromising entities working in 21st century avant-garde Arab-Levantine art and music, Jerusalem In My Heart presents a new album of vital and haunting electronics and electroacoustics, framed by founder and producer Radwan Ghazi Moumneh’s spoken and sung Arabic, buzuk-playing and sound design. Qalaq is the most distilled, variegated and finely wrought Jerusalem In My Heart album to date – featuring a different guest/collaborator on every track, yet as cohesive, emotionally resonant, sonically adventurous and narratively powerful as any release in JIMH’s celebrated discography. Guests across the album's 13 tracks include Moor Mother, Tim Hecker, Lucrecia Dalt, Greg Fox, Beirut, Alanis Obomsawin, Rabih Beaini and many more.

As diverse and vibrant as the Swedish jazz scene may be, it’s not possible to avoid market trends even here. There are only two professional, continuously working big bands in the country - the Norrbotten and the Bohuslän Big Bands. The latter originated during the Fifties from a military band whose tradition dates back to the early 19th century. The Bohuslän region and the city of Vara support the orchestra, which allows the group to develop its diverse activities, ranging from performances at Swedish schools to regular appearances at the big international festivals with about 100 annual concerts worldwide.
Since 2007 Nils Landgren has been the artistic director of the Bohuslän Big Band, a role for which he is perfect in many ways…

The track list on René Marie's latest release reads like an iPod in random shuffle mode gone haywire: a Temptations classic is followed by a Jefferson Airplane classic, which is followed by Dobie Gray's hit "Drift Away." There's Dave Brubeck's "Strange Meadow Lark" and the American folk standards "John Henry" and "O Shenandoah," and a sensuous Latin ballad, "Angelitos Negros."