Customer Reviews

Six Degrees Collection: Arabian Travels

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I love all things Egyptian and so it is no wonder that I love this CD. It is the perfect blend of traditional ancient Arabic music with modern techno remixing. It is a diverse collection of Arabic instruments, voices, and sounds that thumps your soul and taps your toes. It's a perfect amalgamation of the modern electronic and the ancient traditional. Great for groove trancing, great for spiritual relaxing, and great for Egyptian bellydancing. I never tire of this CD. It takes me back to ancient Egypt and forward to an Egyptian future. Buy this CD!

"Arabian Travels" comp is chock full of modern Mid-East beats that hit you just right... "Blue Turban - Arabic Breakbeats" is my favorite trakk on this one... If you're a nu world music dj (especially lounge), like me, you must pick this cd up... As well if you are a nu world music fan... Amor y Paz - DJ Dakini-NYC...

Very good music... though when I first heard it expected it to be arabic-arabic, I have to admit that the second time was better, and it is better every time I hear it -especially Banco de Gaia and Ekova, who I know from my children.

One would assume that people my age (!) would not appreciate this sort of music, but I have to say that all the tracks have this techno kind of sound, gathered with traditional arabic tunes, and therefore, are the perfect mix between modern and traditional.

It has also given me the opportunity of listening to new sounds, which has inevitably made me open my mind -and ears- to new sounds, melodies and life!

This one is a good one, oh yeah! Basically tracks # 2, 3, 4 and 8 are amazing. Maybe the other songs aren't as good but this ones make up for the rest.

This music makes you feel alive, motivated, and anxious to go out and play the game of life...

To be honest, I'm kind of surprised by the mixed reviews this CD received, but glad to see most of them were good. As you might have guessed, this isn't so much 'traditional' Arabic music as it is a compilation of Arabic-themed electronica. And a very good one at that. Dissidenten, Germany's pioneers of ethnic-themed electronica, contribute a track here, which should please anyone familiar with the group. There are also great tracks by Dzihan & Kamien, Euphoria, Arabic Breakbeats and Ekova (featuring the delightful vocals of Dierdre Dubois, ). But the real highlights of this compilation are the remix of Dahmane el Harrachi's 'Ya Rayah' (a song made famous as a cover by Rachid Taha) and 'Indus Railway,' a collaboration between Karsh Kale, Ustad Sultan Khan and Hassan Hakmoun. The result of the latter is a Indian-tinged masterpiece that owes as much to Moroccan Gnawa music as it does Ustad Sultan Khan's playing of the sarangi. Is this album representative of what you'd hear in, say, Cairo, Beirut, Dubai or Oran? Probably not so much. But it IS one of the better collections of Arabic-tinged ethnic-techno music out there, and quite enjoyable to boot. I'd strongly recommend checking it out, if this sort of thing piques your interest at all. In fact, many of my friends who have heard this CD liked it, and I've seen it played at several clubs, so it seems pretty popular. There is also a second volume of Arabian Travels to check out if you like this CD, by the way. Just thought I'd point that out.

I love the vocals in this album, and the drum beats in some of the songs are just heavenly. Banco De Gaia's #2 track is my favorite, but there are a number of other songs in this album that I never tire of. Play this in your party, and the dance floor will soon get crowded ...

i'm a six degrees junkie and i've pretty much worn out my six degrees of asian travel. so this arabian travels release is making me happy. pretty much all the tracks are a cool, serendipitious mix of lush classical arabic orchestration and thumpingly good drum and bass grooves. this is especially sweet since arabic music on its own delivers some smoking percussion. the tracks i'm listening to over and over right now are Fifth Sun's Kamtarie... gorgeous and layered and my favourite belly dance solo song; also Just You and I by Dzhan/Kamien and Blue Turban by Arabic Breakbeat. Just buy it already.

Lets face it, most "various artist" albums are pretty poor. This one is actually quite good -with perhaps 75% of the songs being ones that you would want to listen to again and again. In most cases, successful Arabic/Western fusion and dance music.It seems there are more and more talented Arab artists who are becoming attuned to both musical styles sufficiently to make this type of music perhaps the "next big thing".

As others have noted, this is not arabian folk music, nor was that the intention! If you sample it before buying (try all music guide) you'd easily hear that. Arabian Travels is a groovy modern mix with authentic arabic influence. If you like Mirror Conspiracy by Thievery Corp, you should like this. Many of the songs are great for dancing, especially the first 4, and are on my ipod workout/run mix, but I also like the whole collection as background chill music. I have both vol 1 & 2: vol 1 is great and vol 2 is good but it's just not great.

I love this Cd- I love downtempo type music such as the Buddha Bar/Cafe Del Mar/Hotel Costes compilations. As a belly dancer I love arabic music with a downtempo twist, and this is it! If you like the Tantra Lounge CDs then you will really love this CD. The tempo is a faster and has somewhat more pronounced beats than the tantra lounge compilations. This CD is definitely dance worthy!!!