Aficionado – Flamenco Moro

This record bridges the Mediterranean Sea, uniting the sounds of the oud with Andalusian flamenco. Casablanca-born Alaa Zouiten is the ensemble’s Paco de Lucía, his oud lending an earthier timbre to the idiomatic flurries of notes. The addition of a string section heightens the inherent drama of flamenco. On ‘Shmisha’ their bow strokes evoke the graceful sways and crisp snaps of the genre’s iconic choreography. Violinist Roland Satterwhite’s interplay with the oud on ‘Graná’ has something of the Gypsy jazz energy of Grappelli and Reinhardt. Granada’s Generalife palace receives an ornately melodic tribute track of the same name, reminding us that the foundations of this project stretch back centuries to the era of Al-Andalus. Together, Zouiten and his collaborators have constructed something as poised and powerful as the Moorish palaces that still grace Southern Spain.