I just got two of his CDs, have listened to each only once through:
1) Taqasim, which he is touring now.It's in 3 parts each about 20 minutes, all of them with him on oud, Peter Herbert on double (stand-up) bass, and Bachar Khalife (his son) on percussion. Kinda movie score sounding, east-west-jazz-but not in a bad way. No lyrics. I am a little mystified at the choice of the album title because these are neither instrumental solos and nor improvised. Must be using some other sense of the word.
2) Promises of the Storm--5 songs ranging from 6:43 to 11:34. I think these songs are all lyrics of the poet Mahmoud Darwish. Translations for all songs provided (don't you wish they ALL had that?) Very different from the first one.
Neither one is danceable in my opinion.
Sorry I have barely even dipped a toe in but it's something.
Cathy
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