Hamza El Din - Eclipse (1978)

Utterly mesmerizing sounds from this Egyptian-Nubian musician. Nothing but his voice, oud, and tar. Partially due to his association with Mickey Hart (who produced this and his previous record, the equally great Escalay: The Water Wheel), and partially because he's supremely talented, El Din achieved as great a level of success in the US as one could possibly expect from an Egyptian-Nubian artist with seemingly little-to-no interest in catering to Western tastes. Eternally grateful to him for his music, and to the random yuppie-hippy who years ago sold his entire CD collection at my old work, inadvertently exposing me to this gem.

Track listing:

1. Helalisa (Nubian Song)

2. The Visitors

3. Ollin Azageed

4. Your Love Is Ever Young

5. Mwashah

All the years combine

They melt into a dream

You might also want to hear:

Pramad Kumar - The Indian Sitar: The Language of the Raga (1973)

David Ming-Yeuh Liang - Chinese Masterpieces for the Ch'in - Ancient and Modern (1980)