The Rough Guide to the Best Arabic Music You’ve Never Heard

Compared to many other regions, the amount of Middle Eastern music released in the West is very small. And most is by Arab musicians based in Europe. The alluring title of this compilation hints at a wealth of buried musical treasures; sadly, it delivers much less than it promises and the uninitiated might be left wondering why contemporary Arabic music is so uniformly mild. The opener, by Algerian Anis Benhallak, is suitably ear-arresting before things then settle down to a very sedate tempo. The pace and pulse only start to quicken with the Arabic Rock Orchestra's shred-metal and Groupe Mazagan's bouncy Moroccan chaabi ‘Abdelillah’. There's little on this CD that is bad or offensive – but there might well be a very good reason why you’ve never heard it before…