The Astounding Eyes of Rita

From the Editors

Another gorgeous, evocative musical journey from oud master Anouar Brahem who delivers an album of warm, dark sounds and<br>dancing, organic pulses. The music modulates between eastern and western cultures and disciplines yet the compositions are unmistakably Brahem s.
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Customer Response

Intensely Relaxing
My introduction to the music of Anouar Brahem came several years ago when I chanced to hear Astrakan Cafe. I liked and bought that as well as other Brahem recordings in the succeeding years. But I hadn't thought of him recently until I read several very positive reviews of The Astounding Eyes of Rita in the music press.
Like other Anouar Brahem recordings I own, this one is intensely relaxing. While it isn't the best Brahem recording I own, there are a few very good atmospheric pieces here. The best one in my opinion is definitely the title cut. But there are also a couple of others that rank with some of the best that Brahem has recorded. Those are The Lover of Beirut and Galilee Mon Amour.
As usual with ECM recordings, this CD comes very tastefully packaged and is accompanied by an attractive yet almost spartan booklet containing pictures, album info, and a poem by the late poet Mahmoud Darwish that quite possibly inspired the name of the album and to whom it is dedicated. Check this out, if you enjoy previous albums from Anouar Brahem you are almost certain to enjoy this as well.

Get lost in lush



Continuing an indomitable streak of atmospherically Arabian jazz-scapes, Brahem's encompassing, escapist sound beckons best when expansively addressing the moment in broad strokes as opposed to more structured songs based around minimalist repetition which is what some of his less impressive offerings consist of. On TAEOR his alluring aesthetic seems properly exploited to yield maximum transportive effect.

Soul of Rita
The Astounding Eyes of Rita has got to be one of the most beautiful recordings of acoustic instrumental music I've heard in my life! I've had the CD now for over three weeks and since it's been in my possession I've listened to little else. I compare "...Rita" with Shakti's Natural Elements and the David Grisman Quintet (first recording). This is instrumental music of an incredibly high caliber, and yet to write that doesn't do justice to the haunting quality of the music. Though I compared them favorably with the aforementioned groups, Anouar Brahem's ensemble burns with a quiet fire; make no mistake there is muscularity to this music but it is sinew of an ethereal matrix.

Honestly, I don't know how to stop listening to it. Each time I think I should unplug from it before I burn out on it another week has gone by and I'm still immersed in it, and I have 36 days of music on my ipod. Part of the reason could be that I'm a musician and Brahem's muse is just so enchanting. I find it impossible to listen to this album as background music. More than once I've had visitors who had a hard time engaging me if "...Rita" was playing.

My favorite pieces are Stopover at Djibouti, Al Birwa, Galilee Mon Amour, and of course the title track. Each of these pieces is captivating and lingers in the mind long after you hear them. This is music of the spirit, and of the heart. Don't miss it.

Sublimely wonderful
This a great album by one of the masters. Arent we so lucky to live in the time we do & to have the chance to hear wonderful music like this?

Anouar is genius!
Anouar Brahem is simply put, one of the finest musician/composers alive in the world today. His creations are sublime. Quietly intense, meditative, spontaneous, yet deliberate without any wasted notes or phrases. Anyone interested in serious modern music of exquisite beauty should at least have his last three albums, period. In a world full of 'stuff', here is an artist that remains unclutttered, and focused on his muse. Playing the Turkish oud, combining; piano, accordian, wind instruments, bass, percussion instruments, over the past two decades, Anouar has created a wonderful, essential discography that is continually evolving.

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