Acoustic Tarab Alchemy

Odradek is a new label that produces and promotes artists on the simple basis of blind auditions from submitted demos. This has recently begun to include gorgeously recorded and fascinating world music fusions, such as last issue's Top of the World album by Koum Tara and now this one. Here, Houcine Ataa, a Tunisian singer from the Sufi tradition, works with an Italian jazz piano trio, seeking to create a new kind of musical language. The title implies an attempt to communicate the state of tarab, a kind of spiritual ecstasy, to audiences beyond the Arab world. The tracks are mostly written by the whole group, sometimes using traditional lyrics, and the playing by everyone is excellent. The trio of piano, double bass and percussion sound as though they have performed together a long time, with sensitive interplay between the musicians. However, while Ataa's keening voice can slide effortlessly among the microtones of Arabic scales, Gaia Possenti's piano cannot. At times they sound a little like they are searching for spiritual ecstasy in a cocktail bar. However, there are moments of real beauty, such as in the opening to the track ‘Salemi’.