Astrakan Cafe

Anouar Brahem

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 27, 2001)
• Original Release Date: February 27, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Ecm Records
• ASIN: B00004WMY2
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #19,606 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #2 in	Music > World Music > Middle East > Turkey
  #6 in	Music > World Music > Middle East > Arabic
  #28 in	Music > World Music > Europe > Eastern Europe > Gypsy

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Musical Magic, November 19, 2001

By	Joyce L. Tompsett "American expat returned" (San Francisco for now) - See all my reviews

I just saw them play this set in Munich. The interaction of the oud, the clarinet and the drums is wonderful. The rhythms seem to pull at each other and then one instrumental voice rises to lead the others before floating back into tight harmony with the others. The album was recorded in a cathedral in Austria and captures some of the feeling of the live concert. It is emotional, haunting. It manages to be both jazzy and middle eastern at the same time without sacrificing anything for either identity. This is music to play on a late night, on a snowy day, or in a smoky cafe.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Traditional music from a Master, August 30, 2003

By	Florida Reviewer "Engineer" (USA) - See all my reviews

I own around 1200 CDs, and I consider myself an expert in international music. This one CD stands out among a very few in my collection. I am going to try to describe it, but I won't be able to do justice; I can't find the right words. This fully instrumental CD (no singing) takes you to a magical land and recreates centuries of middle eastern imagery in the mind of the listener. This is not a CD like "Simon Shaheen"'s modernistic approach to Middle Eastern music. This is "traditional Middle East" with perfect harmony and perfect performance. I have played this CD hundreds of times since I purchased it. And I still love it like the very first time.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a taste of exotica, December 23, 2003

By	C. H Smith (Bowling Green, Kentucky United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This still certainly rates as jazz, but just as much it gives the impression of a visit to... --well, uh, a cafe in Astrakan. Especially atmospheric is the clarinet play of sideman Barbaros Erkose, which produces just the right emphasis of exotica to complement Brahem's virtuostic oud play (is there a greater student of this instrument now recording?) and the unobtrusive backing percussion (bendir and darbouka). This is a tuneful but rather laid back kind of jazz, occasionally giving itself over to flashes of brilliant play. It sounds more than just a bit mysterious, but it is a naked mystery. Stripped of the kind of mood cliches one often hears in the soundtracks to bad films about Arabic lands, this music reveals some of the emotional secrecies that can be found at the heart of the cultures it strives to portray.