O God! by Mehdi Alavi

O God! by Mehdi Alavi

I reviewed this one in 2001. I've started to add my reviews to Amazon.com, and then I discovered a review I wrote in 2001. Eek!

Labyrinths by Ayman Fanous and Tomas Ulrich

Dr. Ayman Fanous attended University of Virginia with me in the early 1990s. In addition to being a genuine human being, a gad'a, an ibn nas, he was an accomplished musician and played the `uud in various venues.

He has been able to continue making music, and I was fortunate enough to get his latest album. Lately, he has been combining his classical guitar with Tomas Ulrich's cello. The latest CD is entitled Labyrinths, and its out on konnex records, konnex-records.de. I purchased my copy from squidco.com.

Free the P

Free the P is a compilation of hip hop and spoken word performances to renew the spirit of resistance and self-evaluation for all activists for justice. There are two songs with a lot of Arabic lyrics, and the remainder use English. There are some "Eastern" musical features, but most of the artists' sounds are familiar to North American hip hop fans.

The bottom line for me is that the CD kept my interest, raised my pulse and kept the car moving.

A warning. There is some profanity and some use of the N-word. Immortal Technique's song "The 4th Branch" is an example of this.

It can be purchased from http://www.freethep.com.

Dissonance and Harmony: Arabic Music Goes West

Dissonance and Harmony: Arabic Music Goes West was broadcast on Georgia Public Television November 2. Catch it on your local station. It is not available on the PBS site.