Eternal Egypt Musical Influences of Ancient Times composed by Grayson Wells
Reviewed by Anala Rabari
This CD is the soundtrack to the traveling art exhibit "Eternal Egypt: Masterworks of Ancient Art" by Wonders: The Memphis International Cultural Series and the British Museum. This is actually one of the first Middle Eastern CDs I ever bought. I really love the music on this CD as it mixes traditional with electronic and it tries to cover various regions, instrumentations, and classic rhythms. Instruments include the darbuka, riqq, camel bell, nay, crotale, tar, and quarqqab as well as others. I believe this CD is good for beginners to start with as the composer is from the states so the music is more structured and has steady beats. This will probably make the music more audience friendly as well since most audiences aren't use to the structure of Middle Eastern music. When you listen to this CD you can't help but be whisked away to fire lit dances at desert camps, Islamic inspired prayer ceremonies, crowded market places, and ancient rituals being performed in temples during the days of the pharaohs. My favorite tracks include Overture, Desert Dance, and Requiem.