Amina Alaoui - Arco Iris (2011)

Following her outstanding performance in collaborative work with Jon Balke and Jon Hassell on the Siwan recording of 2007/8, here the magnificent Moroccan singer Amina Alaoui presents her own border-transcending project, 'Arco Iris', an emotionally-powerful, musically-dazzling album, at once approachable and profound. She is superbly accompanied by her outstanding ensemble in which violin often echoes the voice and oud, flamenco guitar and sparkling mandolin surround it.

Born in Fez and originally schooled in the Moroccan Gharnati tradition, Amina continues to research connections between the musics of Spain, Portugal, and North Africa. Much of the research takes place in and around the music. She is a scholar of a note and a poet, but firstly she is an impassioned performer. When Alaoui sings there is, as she observes, "no need to discuss the origins of fado, flamenco or Al Andalusi" for the music itself explores the common crucible of these styles, and Amina's delivery makes the interconnections impossible to miss. And in the tradition of the greatest singers, she enters the texts - some of them a thousand years old - and makes them new.

Hers is a truly international ensemble. Violinist Saïfallah Ben Abderrazak and oud player Sofiane Negra are from Tunisia. Guitarist José Luis Montón from Barcelona has a strong following amongst flamenco adherents worldwide. Mandolinist Eduardo Miranda was born in Brazil, has lived the last two decades in Portugal, and links choro and fado styles through a vocabulary influenced by jazz. The group's youngest member, Idriss Agnel, son of Amina Alaoui, studied music at Maîtrise Notre Dame de Paris from the age of seven. He is meanwhile renowned as a multi-instrumentalist, contributing here deft percussion and (on one track) electric guitar.

Personnel: Amina Alaoui (vocals, daf), Saïfallah Ben Abderrazak (violin), Sofiane Negra (oud), José Luis Montón (flamenco guitar), Eduardo Miranda (mandolin), Idriss Agnel (percussion, electric guitar)

Track Listings

1. Hado
2. Búscate en mí
3. Fado Al-Mu'tamid
4. Flor de nieve
5. Oh Andaluces
6. Ya laylo layl
7. Fado menor
8. Búscate en mí, var.
9. Moradía
10. Las Morillas de Jaén
11. Que faré
12. Arco Iris