VA - Putumayo Presents: Acoustic Arabia (2008)

The Arabic pop world hasn't been the least bit shy about using high-tech studio technology; electronica and hip-hop have been highly influential in many different parts of the Middle East and Northern Africa. But you won't find anything high tech on Putumayo Presents: Acoustic Arabia -- no synthesizers, no sequencers, no samplers, no drum machines. Instead, this pleasing compilation focuses on the acoustic side of Arabic pop, and listeners are reminded that acoustic doesn't necessarily mean traditional when it comes to Middle Eastern and North African music; the '90s and 2000s recordings on this CD are every bit as western influenced as rai music (funky North African pop from Algeria), but the production is a lot more organic. A jazzy, smoky, dusky ambiance prevails on recordings by artists from countries that range from the Sudan (Rasha's '90s hit "Azara Alhai") and Algeria (Souad Massi's "Ghir Enta") to Syria (Zein Al-Jundi's "Wijjak Ma'ii"). Many of the songs are performed in Arabic, but Les Orientales' arrangement of the familiar "Alger, Alger" is performed in French -- and that combination of French lyrics and Middle Eastern/North African melodies is not usual for France, which has long had a large Arabic population. Meanwhile, the Europe/North African connection also asserts itself on "Les Larmes de Boabdil" by Mousta Largo, a Brussels, Belgium-born artist whose parents were Moroccan immigrants. One wishes that Acoustic Arabia were longer; the disc is about 43 minutes long, and Putumayo could have easily come up with another 30 or 35 minutes worth of appropriate recordings. Nonetheless, Acoustic Arabia is yet another rewarding and thoughtfully assembled collection from the adventurous Putumayo.