Arabic Poetry cd

El-Mutakallimun (Masters of the Word) mixes, and only Souad knows how to do this, folk and rock, singing in Arabic whilst combining Fado style and African soul music. Her melodic songs are universally appealing, covering topics from love to politics. On "El Mutakallimun", Souad Massi has immersed herself in Arabic poetry and used some of the most significant poems from across the Millennium as the lyrics for her most beautiful collection of songs.

While cynics have put Jane Birkin's motivations for this concert recording in question, their suspicions say more about them than about this music. Arabesque, which is finally available in America, is singer and actress Birkin's tribute to the music of the late Serge Gainsbourg, her mentor, late (and ex) husband, and producer. Recorded in March 2002 at the Olympia Theater in Paris, Arabesque puts the music of Gainsbourg, one of France's most unlikely and beloved national heroes, into an altogether different context.

Charming Hostess is a whirl of eerie harmony, hot rhythm and radical braininess. Our music explores the intersection of text and the sounding body– complex ideas expressed physically, based on voice and vocal percussion, handclaps and heartbeats, sex-breath and silence. We live where diasporas collide, incorporating piyyutim and Pygmy counterpoint, doo-wop and niggunim, work songs and Torah chanting. The texts speak of mysticism and sex; angels and demons; and the trials and joys of love and sex…