Syriana

The album starts out slightly better than it finishes but there isn’t a bad moment in the whole hour that this album kept me entranced.

Syriana have made a real stir with their first EP ‘Al Abidayeh’ but the album knocks that into the proverbial ‘Cocked hat’.
It is full of Eastern influences, especially in the percussion and the qanun, an ancient Arabic version of the dulcimer but there are moments where the music crosses over and picks up Western influences or crosses over into Russian swing and the music takes on majesty and a sense of real power.
On tracks like ‘Galatian Bridge at Dawn’ there is a wonderful sense of the city beginning to wake and the major chords that peal out over the strings and bass work suggest a real Harry Lime feeling of both charm and danger. ‘Black Zil’ skitters and trips away with a lightness of touch that no Zil (a Russian Staff car) ever managed and you are transported to James Bond territory chasing houri’s through the streets of the Soukh. On the other hand ‘Al Mazzeh’ is classic Arabic head music. The Man in The White Suit is alive and well in ‘The Great Game’ and ‘Al Qaboun’ with its deep double bass is Omar Sharif appearing out of the desert vastnesses.
Clichés, yes, but the mind is drawn to the clichés because the music is so brilliantly evocative that you have find images to hang on it.

All through the album you will pick up the ensemble playing – all of the instruments, be they Eastern, Western or Eastern European – have moments in the spotlight but they never seem to hog the light; there as needed and then away again. The music lends itself to this style of playing and the musicians are able enough to bring what is needed and just what is needed.

This is an album that improves after every listening and somehow manages to remain fresh and also deeply aged.
World Music album of the year – might just be at that.