fRoots, October 2001
Cairo Road is an accessible though not always entirely cohesive selection of mostly vintage Arab music which centres on the "classic Cairo Sound" (big on strings!) and its great voices. There's also a fair amount of related music from the less familiar countries of Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, as well as artists from Sudan and Algeria. The live performance by Syria's Sabah Fakhri helps explain how he can be found in the Guinness Book Of Records for non-stop singing. Lebanese chanteuse Soumaya Baalbaki delivers a similarly charged performance on "Sehertou Menhou Allayali". And though she's really working in a rather different field, it's nice to hear the contemporary Sudanese singer Rasha holding her own in such revered company. My only question is: couldn't the compilers have found a more engaging example of the awesome Oum Kalthoum's work to open the collection?
--Jon Lusk © fRoots Magazine all rights reserved