Azam Ali, Portals of Grace - 51m 38s

Tracks & Durations

1. Lasse Pour Quoi (Anon. early 14th century, French Provencal)	6:21
2. La Serena (Sephardic, Juedo-Spanish)	4:32
3. Breton Medley (Instrumental, Brittany)	3:57
4. O Felix (12th century, Latin)	5:18
5. Ben Pode Santa Maria (13th century, Galician-Portuguese)	3:08
6. O Quanta Qualia (12th century, Latin)	3:59
7. Sackpipslät (Instrumental, Sweden)	2:40
8. Aj Ondas (Early 14th century, Galician)	5:12
9. A Chantar M'er (Late 12th century, French Provencal)	6:31
10. Inna-l-Malak (Byzantine, Arabic)	5:23
11. El Rey De Francia (Sephardic, Judeo-Spanish)	4:30

Note: The information about this album is acquired from the publicly available resources and we are not responsible for their accuracy.

Review

Azam Ali, who was born in Iran and raised in India, also sings lead for Vas. Given her background, her attraction to Western medieval traditions (she cites the German abbess-composer Hildegard von Bingen as a major influence) makes perfect sense. After all, European early music was largely built on the Middle Eastern sounds and instruments brought home by returning crusaders. At times, Ali's vocals recall the great Spanish mezzo Montserrat Figueras, who explored the same connection but in a more earthbound, sensual manner. By comparison, Ali is an ethereal force, soaring white-winged and untouched over pungent period strings and percussion. She is equally at home in Latin, French, Ladino (the lingua franca of the Judeo-Spanish tradition), Galician (from Northern Spain and closely resembling Portuguese), and Arabic. This eclectic set will definitely thrill fans of ambient, new age, and world music, but adventurous classical listeners might also want to give it a try. --Christina Roden

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