Anne Dudley & Jaz Coleman - Songs from the Victorious City (CD)

All Music Guide

An unusual but strikingly beautiful work, Victorious City features what on the face of it is an unlikely collaboration but which in practice turns out to play to the strengths of both artists. While Dudley's work in classical-inspired spheres is clearly obvious, as her Art of Noise and numerous string arrangements can testify, more explicitly non-Western musical traditions don't immediately suggest themselves. As for Coleman, given his history in Killing Joke, the point would seem to be even clearer, though, in fact, he's also a fine violin player by training. Yet the result of their collaboration, done with a host of excellent Egyptian and Arabic musicians and partially recorded in Cairo itself, the "Victorious City" of the title rivals the exquisite fusions of Peter Gabriel's Passion. The liner notes indicate Dudley and Coleman carried out an intensive study of traditional Arabic instruments, prepared the basic arrangements, then recorded the work with their other collaborators, incl...uding percussionist Hossam Ramzy and strings conductor Tarek Aakef, among many others. Their skills bring the basic composition to swirling, passionate life, combining the more structured approach of the original pieces with their own additions and changes. Only the most churlish of "real world music" supporters would turn up their noses at the combination of synth bass pulses and sweeping string crescendos in "Endless Festival" or the exquisite shimmer and shake of "Hannah." Opening with the dramatic, beautiful build of "The Awakening," songs touch on both gentle, beautiful delicacy and full-bodied dancefloor action, plus many different points in between. The addition of spoken word samples and on-the-street recordings from Cairo add to the vibrant, lively atmosphere. Imagining what a dream collaboration with, say, Oum Kalthoum would have been like adds to Victorious City's appeal, but on its own it's still well worth one's time. - Ned Raggett, All Music Guide Read more Less