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Recordings: Recordings have two ratings, Music (M) and Sound Quality (SQ). Music refers to all aspects of composition and performance, while sound quality refers to recording and production. Both are rated from 1-4 stars. "OOP" refers to out-of-print titles. Simon Shaheen: Shaheen is an outstanding 'ud and violin player and composer from Palestine. A master of traditional Arabic music. Music Of Mohamed Abdel Wahab (Axiom) —Beautiful treatment of Abdel Wahab's music, with full chorus. OOP M & SQ = Saltanah (Water Lily Acoustics) —All improvised, with Indian slide guitar virtuoso V.M. Bhatt. M & SQ = Blue Flame (Ark 21) —Incorporates jazz and cuban/spanish elements. Excellent performances. M & SQ = Turath (CMP) —Very traditional, a must have. With Omar Faruk Tekbilek on ney. M & SQ = Rabih Abou-Kahlil: Odd Times (Enja) —Live recording, some great moments. Includes Howard Levy on harmonica, which is not the most effective instrument for this music. Not his best recording. M= SQ= Roots & Sprouts (Enja) —Somewhat more traditional record, with ney and violin. Some of his best work, IMO. M= SQ= Between Dusk & Dawn (Enja) —Includes jazz musician Charlie Mariano, several great tunes. M= SQ= Blue Camel (Enja) —One of his "jazziest" sounding records, with Kenny Wheeler and Charlie Marian. One of my favorites. M= SQ= The Sultan's Picnic (Enja) —Similar approach to Blue Camel, but with Howard Levy on harmonica. M= SQ= Yara (Enja) —Fantastic record with violin, 'cello, and percussion. Beautiful writing. M= SQ= Arabian Waltz (Enja) —With string quartet, tuba and percussion. M= SQ= Bukra (Enja) —Uneven record; still, some nice compositions and a handful of high points. Sonny Fortune's playing is not particularly sensitive, and the bass is poorly recorded. M= SQ= Al-Jadida —Slightly more focused and consistent than Bukra. M SQ= Anouar Brahem: Brahem is Tunisian ud player & composer, currently based in France. He has sparse, contemplative style influenced by jazz and Western classical music. Thimar (ECM) —Great record with jazz musicians John Surman (bass clarinet, saxophone) and Dave Holland (bass). M= SQ= Madar (ECM) —With Jan Garbaraek (sax) and Shaukat Hussain (Indian tabla). The saxophone tends to be too loud, overpowering the oud. I personally find the combination of 'ud and tabla somewhat unsatisfying. M= SQ= Barzakh (ECM) —More traditional record, with violin and percussion. Several solo 'ud pieces. M= SQ= Astrakan Café (ECM) —Excellent. With Turkish clarinet virtuoso Barbaros Erköse. M= SQ= Conte de L'Incroyable Amour (ECM) —Much like Astrakan Café, but add Kudsi Erguner on ney. M= SQ= Ahmed Abdul-Malik: Sudanese-American bass/'ud player, most famous for his role in Thelonious Monk's group. Jazz Sahara (Riverside) —Mid-Eastern jazz fusion from 1958. Including Johnny Griffin on saxophone. Amazing, forward-looking music. M= SQ= Wadah al-Safi and Sabah Fakri The Two Tenors and Qantara —Live recording, beautiful singing. Also includes a few pieces by Qantara, with Simon Shaheen. M= SQ= Munir Bashir Iraqi master of the 'ud. Developed much-imitated style of taqasim, and came up with a new kind of 'ud. L'art du 'ûd (Ocora) — Eight taqasim in different maqamat, with excellent liner notes about each maqam. M= SQ= Solo de Luth - Oud — Taqasim and compositions, with additional taqasim by Mohamed Elkassabgi. M= SQ=(Bashir) SQ=(ElKassabgi) Salim Al'Nur Al'Nur was an Iraqi Jew who emigrated to Israelin 1950, and was known primarily for his compositions. Salim Al'Nur (ZuTa) — Compilation of various recordings from several sources (of varying quality), including some informal taqasim performed at home for a small audience of friends. OOP? M= SQ= (overall) Omar Faruk Tekbilek Whirling —Very good record, with powerful performances by Tekbilek. He tends to use some synthesizer textures in the background, which gives it a bit of a New-Agey sound, but not offensively so. Still, not for the purist. M= SQ= One Truth —Good, very similar to Whirling. M= SQ= Salah 'Arram Salah'Arram & Firquat al-Awtar al-Dhabiyyah [The Golden Strings Orchestra] (Global Village) —Excellent record of classical Arabic instrumentals. Six sama'is, one longa, and one taqsim. M= SQ= Mahmoud Fadl Fadl is an Egyptian percussionist. Umm Kulthum 7000 (Piranha) —Very good recording of songs made famous by Umm Kulthum, with Salwa Abou Greisha on vocals. The percussion tracks get a little heavy at times. A good introduction to these songs, as the high recording quality and focus on shorter songs make it a little more accessible than many of Kulthum's recordings. M= SQ= Love Letter from King Tut-Ank-Amen (Piranha) —Good recording featuring Samy El-Bably on quarter-tone trumpet. This is the best available recording of El-Bably's work. Again, the percussion is a little overpowering at times. M= SQ= Ali Jihad Racy Racy is a multi-instrumentalist and ethnomusicologist from Lebanon, currently based in Los Angeles. He is an excellent composer. Taqasim (Lyrichord) —With Simon Shaheen. An incredible album of improvised duets. Shaheen plays 'ud, Racy plays buzuq throughout. M= SQ= Ancient Egypt —Haunting, atmospheric record, with Racy playing many different instruments. M= SQ= Mystical Legacies —Great record of duets with Souhail Kaspar (percussion). Racy plays Nay, violin, buzuq, and 'ud. M= SQ= Samir and Wissam Joubran The Joubran brothers are from Palestine and play 'ud. Tamaas —Beautiful record of 'ud duets. M= SQ= Oriental Music Ensemble Group composed of teachers from Bizreit University/Nat'l Conservatory of Music, Palestine. Emm el Khilkhal —Excellent recording of Arabic instrumentals by a traditional takht. M= SQ= Charbel Rouhana Rouhana is an excellent 'ud player. Vice Versa —Very good recording. Primarily isntrumental music, with some vocals. M= SQ= I'll be listing more recordings as I find them; I'm trying to collect some links to good online stores for Arabic music as well.