About Dhafer Youssef's new album, Sounds of Mirrors (Anteprima 2018). The journey begins from a couple of concerts of Dhafer Youssef – oud and vocals and the genius Indian Zakir Hussain  on tabla. Later on, they are joined by Youssef’s long-time partners in crime Husnu Senlendirici with his heavenly clarinet and Eivind Aarset – guitars and programing. They record it in Bombay, Istanbul and Gothenburg…

Lost somewhere in between two cyclones, we stop running and dive straight into the magic of Manos Hatzidakis. In this world there is music that is not bound to time, just like there are books - no matter where they were written and why, some idea had to come out into the world, so it finds a way and it appears. Calling it poetry is an understatement for this magic.

Each one of Joseph Tawadros’s albums is a separate journey with new musicians, that you can rarely otherwise encounter – firstly, in terms of structure of the plays and secondly, virtuosity of the musicians. Beautiful and deep music.

Ilhan Ersahin’s Istanbul Sessions’s new album (Nublu records, 2018) literally sends us right into space! For the New York scene, the constant search for a newer sound is not a surprising move. The blurring of lines between different genres is in full force here – acoustic instruments combined with electronic sounds.

Avishai Cohen (the one that plays the bass) is so colourful and versatile, that I didn’t know what to start with… But with the release of the last album, 1970, he himself showed me the way. Short and sweet, about the music of 1970 and the bass (and not just) of Avishai Cohen. 

Hudson (Motema music 2017) is a new project created by Jack DeJonette on drums, Larry Grenadier on the double bass, John Madeski on keys and John Scofield on guitar. In this case it comes to real giants and the abstinence from qualifications becomes really, really hard.