The music of northern Africa has enjoyed an increasing popularity over the past decade and its great variety is revealed on this follow-up to the equally worthwhile first volume of
Sahara Groove
. Balancing the traditional and contemporary Saharan music, the set moves along at a clip, each selection offering a different glimpse into the richness of the region's music. Morocco's
Chalf Hassan
(who has performed with
Led Zeppelin
's
Jimmy Page
and
Robert Plant
) welds trancelike percussion and lute with an intense
rock
-like rhythm on
"Tarida Hawzi,"
and Algerian
rai
singer
Cheb Nacim
brings a modified Western dance beat and female background singers into his
"Khabi Serak Ya Ghaefl Wa Aqra Hadrek."
Hossam Ramzy
, the superb Egyptian-born drummer, lends a persistent rhythm to
"El-Hawzy,"
playing in tandem with
Aziz Bin Salim
's airy flute solo, and
Ramzy
also teams with the Egyptian saxmant
Rafat Misso
on the album's nod to
contemporary jazz
,
"El Shouma."
Cheikha Remitti
, a true Algerian legend, is represented by the chaotic
"El Dzair,"
in which the Arabian clarinet called the magruna collides with an army of percussion to keep things lively. ~ Jeff Tamarkin