El Sueño de Al-Zaqqâq / El Sueno de Al-Zaqqaq

These lush echoes of Moorish Spain celebrate the sensual poetry of 11th century writer Ibn Al Zaqqiq. ("Her sash undone, later I saw her wrapped only in her perfume.") Arabic culture fuses the poet and musician into one near-sacred role. Such respect and craft is taken with these treatments of Al Zaqqiq's verses. Luis Delgado thoughtfully blends subtle electronic drones or rhythms with a diverse cornucopia of ethnic instrumentation representing the Islamic Empire from Andalusia to Persia. The seven-string Turkish lutes, known as a baglama and saz, along with other varieties, sing alongside the santur and qanun zither variations. Folk flutes from Egypt and Thrace add a beautifully exotic and nostalgic color to some tracks. Percussion comes from the pottery, wood or metal darbuka and small goblet drum of East Africa known as the dumbek. Only five of the tracks are sung, but all are based on a certain poem, if only in cadence. Standouts include an instrumental, the mysterious synthesizer and lute paean to Luna, "La Luna Nueva (The New Moon)." The sung verses are either in the incredibly versatile tenor of Mohamed El Arabi Serghini or the honeyed and moving tones of Aurora Moreno. On one selection they duet. Text translations and instrumentation are given in the booklet.