CD REVIEW – MIDDLE-EARTH ENSEMBLE“PASSAGE” By Lucia, President of SAMEDA (luciadance.com) For those of you new to San Diego or to the Middle Eastern Dance community, let me introduce The Middle-Earth Ensemble, a talented San Diego based group* that performs and composes music for a variety of Middle Eastern dance and special events. The ensemble represents a unique fusion – a blend of Mediterranean and Arabic rhythms with folk, jazz, classical, rock and improvisational music. Track One: Gibraltar: 4:33 min- A classical, beautiful and soulful belly dance entrance piece – great for veil and spins with different melodic and rhythmic sections. The accents are soft with a nice tabla finale. Track Two: El Helwa Di: 5:41 An arrangement of a traditional Egyptian folk piece originally famed by Ahmed Abdalla. With guitar and flute infusion, this piece becomes a blend of Moorish and Gypsy inspiration. Track Three: Passage: 4:01 – The title track includes Indian tablas and demonstrates the fusion the Middle-Earth has created, capturing an urgency and tension/release throughout its journey Track Four: Uskudara Giderken: 4:56 - A beautiful classical Turkish song with heavy string instruments and flute accents. Enjoy the journey this gypsy journey. Track Five: Cairo Beats: 4:17 – Frank Lazzaro demonstrates his playful and keen percussion skills in this drum solo– an enjoyable piece for dancers of intermediate-professional levels. Great for teaching and performing! Track Six:Galiciana: 4:21 - Wonderful flute and percussion infused with violin and oud. A lively, smooth piece – nice to perform before a strong drum solo. Track Eight: Rompi-Rompi: 5:02 - This charming, lively and famed Turkish song is well performed and will appeal to many gypsy-Turkish dance aficionados. Enjoyable to performers of all levels. This song is one of my favorites on the CD because of the festive singing and instrumental blends. Track Nine: Mirayah’s Veil: 6:07 - a dream-like ballad set to a chiftetelli and marked by harmonics of 12 string acoustic guitar and stirring vocals. Perfect for veil, candles and slow dramatic moves. Track Ten: Shobi Time: 2:24 – Once again, Frank Lazzaro demonstrates his clean, distinctive style of percussion talents – a drum solo delight for dancers of all levels. Includes chobi, saidi, gawhazee rhythms with a nice finish. Track Twelve: Lileta 3:26. An Andalucían piece sung in Spanish. Very gypsy and passionately performed. A nice piece to perform with gypsy-flamenco attire, perhaps with a Spanish fan or manton. Track Thirteen: Nadya 3:55 - This is one of Middle-Earth’s notable folkloric pieces – with a nice Mizmar inspired section. This song contains a sassy and playful flavor – one can use a cane in the beginning section of the piece. Track Fourteen: Ottomar : 4:49 – This dramatic ballad contains a blend of violin-tabla instruments with a heavy bass at times. The melody is beautifully haunting, with distinctive sections for shimmies, layering and graceful arm movements. Track Fifteen: La Leyenda Del Beso: 3:43 – An original arrangement of a traditional classical Spanish ballad. With distinctive rumba sections, this piece can be performed in full skirt Gypsy attire, with fans/veil and passionate accents. ------------------------------------- *BAND MEMBERS: |